Sermon: The Twelth Sunday after Trinity

Preacher:

Date:

Sunday 26th August 2012

Service:

Evensong

Readings:

Exodus 4:27-5:1

Hebrews 13:16-21

Brother, sister... rival: so ran the headline of article recounting readers' tales of sibling rivalry –  the poignant,  mischievous and hilarious.  I'm sure my sister and I have our own memories of petty jealousy, perceived unfairness, pranks and squabbles.  We've  shared in many great joys and we've been shaped by the same sorrows. We've offered encouragement, support and understanding; we've come to appreciate our different gifts and personalities. If Viv was standing here, and I did ask her this today,  she'd agree that we still frustrate one another; sometimes; but having spent 2 weeks on holiday together we cherish our sisterly bond. 

Such bonds of kinship feature in the biblical outworking of God's purposes. Every ounce of rivalry is there – from Cain and Able shedding blood, to Jacob and Esau wrestling in their mother's womb.  There's encouragement as brother leads brother to Jesus, ambition as they jostle for position,  tensions  as Mary and Martha attend to Jesus in different ways.  Andrew Lloyd Webber famously celebrates the story of Joseph  - and his brothers.  Forgiveness and transformation are brought about in  the midst of sibling arrogance, jealously, treachery and loss.

But the story does not end with peace and plenty in Egypt. The people of Israel are so numerous that Pharaoh enslaves them out of fear.  Their liberty is brought about by the response of two brothers to God's call.  Moses and Aaron play their part in pursuit of the divine purpose of liberation.

The book of Exodus begins with an account of the Israelites' oppression, and the context of Moses' birth, adoption and growth into adulthood. As he stands on holy ground, the divine name I am who I am is revealed in the burning bush. The God of Moses' ancestors, the beginning and end of all things, has heard the cries of his people. He desires to act for freedom and justice through human intervention.  The voice of I am calls Moses; he responds saying I'm not articulate enough for this task.  I cannot do it.

I am who I am knows the capacity of the bonds of kinship. It is Aaron, the elder sibling, the one who can speak well, who is sent to Moses' side.  He greats his brother with a kiss; he listens as he tells of the words  entrusted to him, and the signs he's witnessed. Aaron does not usurp his brother; nor does he berate him for his insecurity.  He mediates for him and stands alongside him.  He speaks to the people: they  realize that their cries have been heard, they worship God.  As brothers respond to God's call,  the word of Lord is made known to a people.

Aaron and Moses must persevere in the face of an intransigent Pharaoh.  They face struggles and complaints in wilderness; they set before the people the law and the priesthood; there are disagreements and failings; but the journey continues, ultimately without them, as the people of God reach the Promised Land.

The biblical narrative is honest about siblings  – yet the complexity of relationships are vehicles of divine love.  Jesus  relativises  family bonds in his dismissive words to his mother and siblings; whilst extending the intimacy and preciousness of kinship to those who followed him.  Those called to mutual love by the writer to the Hebrews are named as brothers and sisters. God's purposes for the salvation of the world weren't accomplished in two brothers or one nation.  We  have been drawn in to relationship with the one who says I am who I am: in baptism, in our curiosity about faith, in our commitment to the teachings of Jesus, in our vocation to respond and support one another. We  form part of the outworking of the covenant between God and God's world.

The letter to the Hebrews sets out the substance of this pattern of live – in prayer, obedience and service. We are not to neglect our social responsibilities.  Responding to God in praise and worship is one part of the equation; responding in acts of love, compassion and practical action is the other. Such sacrifice is pleasing to God.

Service within and beyond the community of faith are dependent on our relationship to God in prayer. Prayer shapes us, aligning our actions with God's will.  In praying for one another, our relationships are transformed.  We are to obey those who are charged with the care for our souls; and those who lead us are to do so with joy and delight.  Aaron and Moses greeted one another with a kiss; they supported one another; but grumbling and human fallibility corroded their relationship.  Joy needs nurturing – in prayer, love, service and obedience.

We lack the capacity to do this in our own strength. Reliance on Jesus and the power of the Spirit enables us to embark on the journey of seeking to do our Father's will.  It is the work of God, the one who calls us in his I am, who makes our activity possible.  Just as the discernment of God's word in Aaron's speech is met with worship, so the writer of the Hebrews ends with praise in response to the divine call on our lives. In a full and richly expressed benediction, we are reminded that God is a God of peace; that the power of God was made manifest in the resurrection. We are reminded that in Christ an eternal covenant has been established between God and humanity.

But we are not left with a dense set of theological claims about God and salvation. We are left with a prayer of hope,  that God would equip us, make us complete, enable us to do God; that we might do God's will; that God might work within and among us.  In Moses and Aaron, in you and me, God seeks to accomplish that which is well pleasing in his sight. Let us pray, for a peaceable, generous and transformative coming together of divine will and human action – through Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.