Sunday 8 A (2011)

Our Gospel says:

‘Look at the birds of the sky’

‘Think of the flowers growing in the fields’

which still sounds more familiar to me as:

‘Look at the birds of the air’

‘Consider the lilies of the field’

In these words,

before I hear teaching,

I hear delight:

Jesus’ delight in observing the birds and the flowers.

As we move into spring time,

with snowdrops up and crocuses breaking through,

let one effect of Jesus’ words today be that

we take the time to stop

and look,

and enjoy nature breaking forth.

Let’s share Jesus’ delight.

Jesus also says:

Do not worry.

Do not say:

What are we to eat?

What are we to drink?

How are we to be clothed?

What was Jesus getting at?

Galilee at the time was relatively prosperous.

These are not supposed to be questions

arising from desperation;

Jesus is not speaking to people whose basic human needs were difficult to meet.

In that sense the situation of the people Jesus addressed then

is much like our own.

In ‘do not worry’

we should hear

‘worry’ as carrying the sense

‘pre-occupied by’ or ‘absorbed by’.

That is clear,

for Jesus goes straight on to say:

‘it is the pagans who set their hearts on these things’

‘worry’ is here about

what we have our hearts set on

what we are absorbed by.

In contemporary culture,

Jesus’ examples still ring true:

Clothes do seem to be the main thing some people care about.

And,

to judge from the number of television programmes about cooking,

I think the same must be true of food.

However, were he speaking in this country today,

Jesus might well add other things to the list of pre-occupations,

as well as food, drink and clothes:

Status and image, 

Homes and their decoration,

Football,

Cars,

Computer games

Television soaps,

Having a quiet life;

I am sure you can think of others.

Now, as I think I have just demonstrated,

I don’t have too much difficulty diagnosing some of the things ‘the pagans’ seem to be pre-occupied by:

the contents of my Sunday Newspaper and what is on television

give many clues.

However, we don’t listen to the Gospel,

and to Jesus,

to work out more accurately where other people are failing.

Today, Jesus wants us to know our own hearts,

and what they are set on.

This isn’t so easy:

it is exactly our human condition

in need of salvation

that our hearts are mixed up

and that we are confused about what we really want.

Sometimes, life shakes us

and we realise how our heart has been pulled away from what

deep down

we know is important.

Many will have had the experience of serious illness in the family

and will know how,

at least for a time,

this brings home the unimportance of so many day-to-day concerns.

Jesus tells us:

Set your hearts on our Heavenly Father’s kingdom

and on his righteousness.

‘Righteousness’ is a quasi-legal word,

hearts set on God’s righteousness are

hearts set on living by His law,

hearts set on living according to His code of justice.

For several Sunday’s now,

in the earlier parts of the Sermon on the Mount,

we have heard Jesus reveal the law,

the principles of order,

of the kingdom:

let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’;

love your enemies;

pray for those who hurt you;

go the extra mile;

turn the other cheek.

Jesus himself lives with his human heart set on the kingdom.

He must speak the truth, sharing his knowledge of his Father;

He must pray for the enemies of the kingdom.

He must turn the other cheek,

He must offer himself.

This is not a kingdom in which the ruler is ‘above the law’,

So are hearts are to be set on being ruled by God.

This is what we are to ‘worry’ about,

to be pre-occupied by,

to be absorbed by,

just as Jesus was in His earthly life.

How do we set our hearts on the Kingdom?

Well, in a real sense, we don’t:

what we do is allow God to perform heart surgery.

The season of Lent is ten days away:

a time of spiritual resolutions,

a time of self examination,

a time of conversion.

Now is the time to wonder what shape Lent should take;

what rearrangement of our lives

will signal that we do want God to work on our hearts:

maybe it is dispensing with television, or radio;

maybe it is getting up earlier to pray;

maybe it is reading the gospel daily.

For we allow God to change our hearts

by giving time to prayer;

by reflecting on what Jesus’ words mean

in the context of our lives;

by being honest about what we devote ourselves to;

and by feeling the pull

created by God

deep in our hearts

into his kingdom,

a pull to goodness, to truth, to beauty,

to peace, to justice, and,

ultimately,

a pull to the self-sacrificing, forgiving, love

that we celebrate in the Eucharist.