Acts 16: 6-12a and Διῆλθον δὲ τὴν Φρυγίαν καὶ Γαλατικὴν χώραν κωλυθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος λαλῆσαι τὸν λόγον ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ

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1 Christ Church October 18 th 2015 Fr Nicholas King SJ Isaiah 35: 3-6, 3 ח ז ק ו י ד י ם ר פ ות וב ר כ י ם כ ש ל ות א מ צ ו 4 א מ ר ו ל נ מ ה רי ל ב ח ז ק ו אל ת יר א ו ה נ ה א ל היכ ם נ ק ם י ב וא ג מ ול א לה ים ה וא י ב וא ו י ש ע כ ם 5 א ז ת פ ק ח נ ה עינ י ע ו ר ים ו אז נ י חר ש ים ת פ ת ח נ ה 6 א ז י ד ל ג כ א י ל פ ס ח ו ת ר ן ל ש ון א ל ם כ י נ ב ק ע ו ב מ ד ב ר מ י ם ונ ח ל ים ב ע ר ב ה (Isa 35:3-6 WTT) Acts 16: 6-12a and Διῆλθον δὲ τὴν Φρυγίαν καὶ Γαλατικὴν χώραν κωλυθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος λαλῆσαι τὸν λόγον ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ 7 ἐλθόντες δὲ κατὰ τὴν Μυσίαν ἐπείραζον εἰς τὴν Βιθυνίαν πορευθῆναι, καὶ οὐκ εἴασεν αὐτοὺς τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ 8 παρελθόντες δὲ τὴν Μυσίαν κατέβησαν εἰς Τρῳάδα. 9 Καὶ ὅραμα διὰ [τῆς] νυκτὸς τῷ Παύλῳ ὤφθη, ἀνὴρ Μακεδών τις ἦν ἑστὼς καὶ παρακαλῶν αὐτὸν καὶ λέγων διαβὰς εἰς Μακεδονίαν βοήθησον ἡμῖν. 10 ὡς δὲ τὸ ὅραμα εἶδεν, εὐθέως ἐζητήσαμεν ἐξελθεῖν εἰς Μακεδονίαν συμβιβάζοντες ὅτι προσκέκληται ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εὐαγγελίσασθαι αὐτούς. 11 Ἀναχθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ Τρῳάδος εὐθυδρομήσαμεν εἰς Σαμοθρᾴκην, τῇ δὲ ἐπιούσῃ εἰς Νέαν πόλιν 12 κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Φιλίππους, ἥτις ἐστὶν πρώτη[ς] μερίδος τῆς Μακεδονίας πόλις, κολωνία. (Act 16:6-12 BGT) Luke 10: 1-9 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνέδειξεν ὁ κύριος ἑτέρους ἑβδομήκοντα [δύο] καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς ἀνὰ δύο [δύο] πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ εἰς πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ τόπον οὗ ἤμελλεν αὐτὸς ἔρχεσθαι. 2 ἔλεγεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς ὁ μὲν θερισμὸς πολύς, οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι δεήθητε οὖν τοῦ κυρίου τοῦ θερισμοῦ ὅπως ἐργάτας ἐκβάλῃ εἰς τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτοῦ. 3 ὑπάγετε ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς ὡς ἄρνας ἐν μέσῳ λύκων. 1

2 4 μὴ βαστάζετε βαλλάντιον, μὴ πήραν, μὴ ὑποδήματα, καὶ μηδένα κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀσπάσησθε. 5 εἰς ἣν δ ἂν εἰσέλθητε οἰκίαν, πρῶτον λέγετε εἰρήνη τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ. 6 καὶ ἐὰν ἐκεῖ ᾖ υἱὸς εἰρήνης, ἐπαναπαήσεται ἐπ αὐτὸν ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν εἰ δὲ μή γε, ἐφ ὑμᾶς ἀνακάμψει. 7 ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ οἰκίᾳ μένετε ἐσθίοντες καὶ πίνοντες τὰ παρ αὐτῶν ἄξιος γὰρ ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ. μὴ μεταβαίνετε ἐξ οἰκίας εἰς οἰκίαν. 8 καὶ εἰς ἣν ἂν πόλιν εἰσέρχησθε καὶ δέχωνται ὑμᾶς, ἐσθίετε τὰ παρατιθέμενα ὑμῖν 9 καὶ θεραπεύετε τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ ἀσθενεῖς καὶ λέγετε αὐτοῖς ἤγγικεν ἐφ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ. (Luk 10:1-9 BGT) 2

3 Feast of St Luke 2015 It is the feast of St Luke today, and it seems appropriate to think of healing; and, yes, I know that the evidence for identifying Luke the doctor with the author of the Third gospel and Acts of the Apostles is not as clear as it was once thought to be. And I know that you may feel that your healing skills are not what they once were, and that a good deal of what passes for religious healing is a pious fraud, done for money. And perhaps you are feeling that that was Jesus and this is us. Nevertheless, each of the readings that you have just heard speak of healing, and what I should like to do is look at each of them, for what they have to say about your Monday morning healing mission. The first reading almost certainly comes from that tricky moment, in secular Babylon when the Exile was drawing to its end, and the unknown prophet became aware that his task was to persuade his fellow-exiles back along the desert to Jerusalem. It was a momentous occasion, and what does he say to them? There are three things: They are to strengthen the weak hands, make firm feeble knees, and tell the fearful of heart to be strong They are not to be afraid: Look! Your God! is the mantra, without which we cannot do our healing mission. 3

4 Finally he uses metaphors: blind, deaf, lame, dumb, all the ones who do not belong in Israel s sacred community, are to be healed, made to belong And it is no use your saying but he was a prophet of long ago ; for your task of healing begins on Monday morning, and what happens when you and I get our mission right is that people who feel that they do not belong in the establishment get healed in remarkable ways. You can probably think, now, of examples in your own lives. The second reading, from Acts 16, chronicles another momentous occasion, when the gospel, which was first preached in Aramaic and in the East, arrives at last in Europe. And there are three ways in which the Spirit directs the move: 1. They are stopped by the Holy Spirit from going into Asia 2. The Spirit of Jesus would not let them go to Bithynia 3. A night vision from Macedonia invited them into Northern Greece, and the rest is history, as the cliché goes. Did you notice in the reading the rapidity and directness of the journey? That is because God is in charge. And where are they going? To Samothrace in the Northern Aegean, then onto the mainland itself and to Neapolis, with its excellent communications ( a good harbour and the best Roman road in Greece), and to Philippi, perhaps Paul s favourite community, and as Acts describes it, the Number 1 city of Macedonia, a 4

5 Colony. This is unmistakable language for the Roman Empire; and the alert reader will remember that way back in chapter 1 Jesus instructed his disciples to be his witnesses, in Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, which is where they are now (and perhaps also Oxford in 2015). We are now a bit over halfway through Acts of the Apostles, and by the last chapter we shall be in Rome, when the healing message of the gospel may be said to have arrived, for all roads lead to Rome, in the words of the medieval cliché. This is a very unexpected journey of healing, directed unmistakably by the Spirit of God; and you may care to recall moments on your journey when you were unexpectedly prevented from filling your plans, and how that turned out to be the healing leading of God. And what of the gospel that you have just heard? It is the mission, not just of the 70 (or 72 in some manuscripts), but also your mission, which starts, remember, on Monday morning. What are the missionaries doing? They are Jesus precursors, to every city and place They are to go in pairs: the Christian mission of healing is not something that we do on our own They are to ask God for other workers to join them; we need our fellow-workers They have a tricky mission, among wolves They are to travel light: no trainers, and no tazers or sticks 5

6 They are to live off the food given them by their generous hosts Then (and this is where you may tremble a little) they are to cure the sick, and tell them The Kingdom of God has come near you So that is your mission, starting tomorrow, to carry a message of healing into the world in which you live and work. Do not be appalled by it, but be encouraged by the readings. Reflect, above all, on the number of times that you have seen healing take place, that time when you unexpectedly smiled that stranger on the Tube, or the beggar in the Cornmarket; what happened when you choked back your angry retort; what it was like when someone forgave you that terrible thing that you had done. There was healing there, and the presence of God. And let me end with two examples. First, I spend a certain amount of time each year in the pilgrimage shrine of Lourdes in SW France; that is a place of healing, not of the spectacular miracles beloved of lazy journalists, or angry atheists, but of deep healing, of bitterness removed or integrity restored of people suddenly enabled to live with the worst that life can throw at them, able to cope even with death. Secondly, there are two people present in this church who today celebrate 40 years of marriage. I shall not name them, or I should be talking myself out of a good lunch, but I invite all of you to reflect how the world is healed, made a better place, when people manage a journey of that sort. It is not easy, indeed at times it seems a close-run thing, but 6

7 simply doing that, and creating a family of love, is part of our mission of healing. And yours, remember, starts tomorrow morning. 7