Tomatoes, Wisdom and the Light of the World

Here is the sermon from the Broughton Civic Service 2015

(Readings: 1 Kings 3:5–14; John 8:12-20)

Those of you who are on social media may have come across a picture that says this: “Knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein was not the monster. Wisdom is understanding that Frankenstein was the monster”. Or perhaps the quote attributed to Miles Kington: “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad”.

In our first reading we see King Solomon being offered anything he wants. And rather than going for power or wealth, popularity or good looks, he asks for a discerning heart – for wisdom. God commends Solomon for his wise choice and says that he will give it to him, and on top of wisdom he will also give Solomon wealth and status. Solomon goes on to be one of the main contributors to the book of Proverbs in the Bible, a book crammed full of wise words and sayings, written mainly as instructions to the young, but valuable for everyone. The basic theme of the book is that we have a choice between being wise and being foolish. “Wisdom is like honey for you” it says “if you find it, there is a future hope for you” (24:14). Elsewhere it says, “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!” (16:16), and famously “wisdom is more precious than rubies” (8:11).

I'm sure we'd all agree that wisdom is a good thing, and that we would all like to be wiser, and we would certainly like our government, parliament and other authorities to make wise decisions but the question is: how do we become wise? Happily, our readings give us the answer.

Firstly, wisdom comes from God. St James in his letter which we have in the New Testament says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God...and it will be given to you” (1:5). The first stage in being wise is knowing that we don't have, and can never have, all the answers on our own. We can never truly understand ourselves, other people or our world because we can't step outside of them to see the big picture. Our own thoughts and opinions are always coloured by our experiences, our environments, our prejudices – we can never be truly objective and so can never be truly wise. This is why truth cannot be decided by a majority vote. However, the good news is that God is truly objective and he wants to share his wisdom with us! God reveals himself to us through his word in the Bible, so the more we read it the better we know him, and the better we can know ourselves, others and the world, so we can act in a wiser way.

The concept of wisdom can be quite abstract so the second answer our readings give us to the question of how we become wise is concrete and practical. In our reading from the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (8:12). The New Testament tells us that Jesus is, literally and metaphorically, the personification of wisdom, of God himself, so if we want to know what wisdom looks like in real terms, in the flesh, we can look at Jesus. He is the light of wisdom in the darkness of our human ignorance. If we want to be wise we need to imitate him, we need to follow him, but inevitably we will fail. We will act foolishly and selfishly, we will want to be rich or powerful, or popular or good looking rather than wanting to be wise and Christ-like. But the good news is that our weaknesses, whether they are unintentional or deliberate, can be forgiven and more than that God will give us his power, his Holy Spirit, to help us to be like him. Our failings die with Jesus on the cross so that we can rise to a new, wiser life with him.

So today, in Jesus' name, I bless you with the knowledge of God's will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Amen.

Paris and the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds

This is the sermon from yesterday's Scawby Civic Service.
(Readings: Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24–30 and 36-43)

With the recent news about the attacks in Paris, the reading from Matthew's gospel seems more relevant than usual. Jesus describes a world where good and bad co-exist, where good people and bad people live and grow together. A world his first hearers would have recognised and one that is still recognisable today. But that is one of the points that Jesus is trying to make: that the world will be mixed until the 'end of the age' that is until he comes again.

But why doesn't God do something about it? That was a question that was asked in Jesus' day and is still asked today. Why don't we do something about it, why don't we take matters into our own hands? is the question the servants in Jesus' story ask; why don't we seek revenge and justice? is rhetoric we hear all over the media. Jesus, however, counsels caution. Don't pull up the weeds he says, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.” The problem with us taking revenge is that our judgement is imperfect, and we are likely to do more harm than good. Those who worked on the land in Jesus' time would have understood the dilemma in his story well. The weeds and the wheat were almost indistinguishable until it came to harvest time – trying to sort them out before harvest time risked destroying good crops by mistaking them for bad crops as well as by disturbing their roots.

This year we commemorated the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. It's very easy to tell who your enemy is when they're wearing a different uniform and speaking French. Nowadays, however, the threat we face from people wishing to destroy our way of life can often come from people who have been brought up amongst us. In seeking to weed out threats from so-called extremists, we risk vilifying innocent people as well as destroying the roots of good community growth. On top of that, legislation to outlaw 'extremism' will have the consequence of stifling debate and free speech and demonising any view that differs from what the current trend is.

So much for our imperfect judgement, but what about God? Surely he could distinguish between wheat and weeds? Well, Jesus assures us that God will act, that justice will be done, that evil will be punished and good will be rewarded – but all in the fullness of time. Jesus encourages us not just to have confidence that God will sort it all out, but that he will do it when the time is right. Just as our judgement about right and wrong is imperfect, so is our judgement about timing – we want it all sorted out now, but as Paul says in his letter to the Romans, although we and the whole of creation is groaning in expectation of when this will happen, we must wait patiently.

As we look at the world around us, at the seemingly never-ending and ever-increasing violence and horror, it is tempting to despair and think that there is no hope. But Jesus told his parable to explain about the kingdom of God. He wants us to understand that even when all around seems wrong and evil seems to be in the ascendant, that the kingdom of heaven is still to be found. That no matter what happens, the kingdom of heaven will be victorious in the end. And that each of us is invited to be part of it, to be those who are 'people of the kingdom', 'children of God' who are led by the Spirit of God. In a world where good and bad co-exist we have a choice – are we going to be weeds or are we going to be wheat?