EVENSONG SERMON ON GENEROSITY
9th July 2023
Psalms 56&57, 2 Samuel 1-11, 3:1,
Luke 18:31-19:10
5:45pm
Prayers
Let us pray.
As we are in the Cathedral’s season of generosity, we give thanks for all we have; that we willingly share it with others and God to assist the mission in this place.
A prayer of stewardship thanksgiving
Generous God, your loving grace fills the whole world with your goodness.
Help us to see the gift in all things, that with thankful hearts
we may be generous in turn with all you give to us.
Help us to see that as all things come from you so they find their true fulfilment when offered in your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
As the crowd pushed the blind man away from Jesus and grumbled at the decision of Jesus to stay with Zacchaeus, we remind ourselves that it is not up to us to decide who is welcome in the Kingdom of God.
A prayer for welcoming as Christ
Give to us, O Christ, your grace to welcome all as if embracing you,
for in strangers angels have been met.
Bless us in our encounters with others, and may our hospitality
be a treasure to lay before each guest, for in serving them we serve you.
May the generosity of your love overflowing bring us all to delight and flourish in your peace. Amen.
We give thanks to God for the gifts of spiritual insight. And as Jesus healed the blind man, we pray for those who have visual impairment, and for those who enable them to lead an ordinary life. We pray for those who work in all parts of the NHS, giving thanks for the gifts of medicine and research.
We pray for those who are struggling in body, mind or spirit, and whose troubles are known only to themselves and God.
A prayer of St Augustine
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight,
and give Your angels and saints charge over those who sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest Your weary ones.
Bless Your dying ones.
Soothe Your suffering ones.
Pity Your afflicted ones.
Shield Your joyous ones,
and all for Your love's sake.
Amen.
In the Anglican Communion we pray for the Church of Burundi, and in the Porvoo Communion, for the Diocese of Newcastle in the Church of England, and the Diocese of Møre in the Church of Norway.
Bishop Jonathan, The Dean, and diocesan representatives meeting at the Church of England’s General Synod in York at the moment.
And as the Cathedral of the Sea, we pray for all those at sea this night/day/evening and for those whose task it is to support them in their work.
Creator and Father of all, we pray for those who go down to the sea in ships and serve upon the waters of the world.
Bless them and those who serve their needs,
that they may put their trust in you
and find in you a strong anchor for their hopes
and so be filled with your peace
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Joining together the prayers said aloud and in the silence of our hearts, we say The Grace:
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all, evermore.
Amen.
SERMON
Psalms 56&57, 2 Samuel 1-11, 3:1, Luke 18:31-19:10
May my speaking and our listening be in the name of God, creator, redeemer and sustainer. Amen.
What do you think are the things that get in the way of a generous relationship with yourself, those around you and God? What are the things that create a barrier between you and God?
For me, the list is long, which in itself speaks volumes…! A mix of overthinking, a tendency towards depression, with a sprinkling of recovering perfectionism, emotional eating, and self-criticism, to name but a few! To be honest, I could go on for hours about my perceived failings. But do they really matter? Do they really get in the way? That’s really up to the Almighty to decide, not me. I’m sure I should be more generous in my attitude to myself, but old habits are hard to break.
This evening’s reading from Luke gives us two wonderful snapshots into expectation and reality, a reminder not to be complacent, but also not to judge or be mean spirited. To expect the unexpected, but if you’re not careful, you will still miss the point. And to recognise that things happen at the appointed time. Whereas Chronos is the Greek for linear time, hence where we get chronological from, the Greek concept of Kairos, an opportune moment, is taken by Christianity to mean God’s time, the time for God’s intervention.
Biblical beliefs were that physical ill health was a divine punishment for individual and communal sins. Therefore, people who were sick or disabled were best to be avoided in case you were sinful by association. The blind man begging on the side of the road going into Jericho. He is already at a disadvantage in life because he is physically blind and there is a general notion of sin attached to it. After finding out what is going on, “he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He knows what he wants – mercy.
The crowd tells him to be quiet, not to disturb Jesus or them, but he persists, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He is the only person in Luke’s gospel to use this title of Jesus, linking him firmly to the Messianic nature of salvation history. They say that not having the use of one of your senses heightens the others. Perhaps this man has a deeper spiritual insight than the others?
If social propriety had won, the crowd would have prevailed and he would have stayed begging by the side of the road, forgotten. Would you have been part of the crowd who wanted him to be quiet and not make a fuss? The blind man knew this was his opportunity and pushed and pushed. When he is asked by Jesus to be more specific about what he wants from him, he says, “Lord, let me see again.”
In his commentary on Luke’s Gospel, Leon Morris concludes that it isn’t actually the man’s faith that created the cure, but the means by which he is healed. His response to being healed? To follow Jesus and glorify God, being the conduit of others praising God.
Our next character has a few things against him. Not only is he a tax collector for the Romans, but he is also a chief tax collector – a double whammy. He’s also short, so couldn’t see who Jesus was. Given his job and role, I expect people in the crowd who knew him thought it would be amusing to prevent him from seeing Jesus. Why? Let’s tease – not, it’s baiting, because teasing implies a relationship more like a friendship – let’s bait the short man, because already he is not deserving of Jesus’ time and attention because of his job.
Men of shorter stature have always been discriminated against. In an article on being a short man, the 5’2” Canadian writer Allan Mott researched the correlation between height and salary. His research showed that an inch of height is worth an extra £700 pa in salary. A man who is 6’ tall will earn around £7000 p.a. more than Mott at 5’2”, which amounts to around £300,000 in a 40-year career. I wonder if Zacchaeus was drawn to tax collecting because he was already an outcast in society, why not go all out and get a job that makes you despised?
Zacchaeus climbs a tree so he can see Jesus. It is a sycamore tree, a symbol of protection and regeneration, of humility and repentance. ‘When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” This is an unpopular move and there are grumbles about it. He is undeserving. But what makes us so perfect that we think we can protest?
The result of Jesus’ treatment of him is that Zacchaeus exclaims that he will give half of his possessions to the poor, and if he has defrauded anyone he will pay back fourfold. Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus is to be generous, and Jesus’s generosity prevails as he proclaims, ‘“Today salvation has come to this house…”’.
I expect his followers would have been perplexed. This was not what they were expecting, even if they were getting used to this being the case. They may have assumed they were on the side of righteousness. This is, of course, deeply problematic, as any reaction to a school of thought, any bid to reform the status quo, can end up being as inflexible as the dogma that is being challenged. What Jesus does in these stories is show us that we, his followers, cannot become complacent in our ‘rightness’ because it, too, can leave us wanting. The grumbling of the crowd that Zacchaeus has made favour with Jesus shows this. At any moment, we could be the blind man, Zacchaeus, the crowd, the grumblers, the disgruntled Romans who have lost a good tax collector.
A definition of generosity is the quality of being kind and generous. The quality of fact of being plentiful or large. A willingness to give help or support, be it time, money, food, kindness to those in need, especially more than is usual or expected. Looking through a lens of generosity, giving people the benefit of the doubt, acknowledging that we don’t have ‘the answers’ or indeed the monopoly on God. Generosity requires the humility and repentance of the sycamore tree; it requires taking risks, responding to situations, placing trust in yourself and other people. It isn’t as straightforward as we think it is. But it is worthwhile. If God is generous with us, then we are expected to be generous too. Amen.