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Mark 1.1-8
SERMON – 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 7th December 2008
Revd. Matthew Vernon
John the Baptist was a fundamentalist.
But he was not a militant, a violent fundamentalist.
He did not resort to violence.
The Gospels show John's fundamentals.
Mark says he proclaimed "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
And that his clothing was "camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey."
It's from Matthew and Luke that we get a clearer image of John the Fundamentalist.
According to Luke 'John said to the crowds ... "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? … Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."'
Such violent language makes John a frightening fundamentalist.
We are terribly familiar with that today.
But a fundamental difference between John and the terror-wagers of Mumbai is that John chose a peaceful path
John could have chosen violence.
Other people did in his day.
Amongst the many Jewish sects of the time, the zealots formed armed uprisings –
• remember Barabbas.
They took up arms against the Roman oppressors and presumably believed their faith justified their actions.
John though was an Essene –
• a extreme Jewish sect that lived in the desert, some near the Dead Sea.
• They withdrew from the immoral, unholy world into their desert communities.
At the annual clergy retreat last week, we were encouraged to be fundamentalists.
That is to recognise that our faith has fundamentals – core beliefs.
We were asked what our fundamentals are and why are they fundamentals.
It's worth taking some time to reflect on that.
It takes longer than a few minutes in a sermon,
• so think about your fundamentals over the next few days.
Our retreat leader was Father Nadim Nassar, an Anglican priest in London.
He is Syrian and a great character –
• speaking with typical Middle Eastern passion –
• "from the belly" as he described it.
He is all too familiar with the rise of fundamentalism in the Middle East.
He was a student in Beirut in the 1980s, so lived through daily bombings.
The appalling Mumbai attacks happened towards the end of our retreat and were a terrible reminder of the realities of our world.
Nadim asked "how can we rediscover our fundamental Christian convictions, without becoming militant 'hard-line' fundamentalists?"
Advent is a season of fundamentals.
It's an uncomfortable season when we remember themes of judgement, light and dark, social justice, righteousness.
So far this year I've been particularly struck by the light and dark imagery.
That's partly because of watching Star Wars for the first time with Samuel and Josh.
• with its stories of the Force and the dark side
• and people choosing between good and dark, between goodness and hatred.
Advent is uncomfortable because it reminds us of the light and dark within each of us.
We are children of light,
• but we know the daily, the hourly struggle to choose the light over of the dark forces within us.
I've told before the story of the big, tough Samurai once went to see a little monk.
"Monk," he demanded, "teach me about heaven and hell!"
The monk looked up at the mighty warrior and replied,
"Teach you about heaven and hell? I couldn't teach you about anything. You're dirty. You smell. Your blade is rusty. You're a disgrace to the samurai class. Get out of my sight."
The samurai was furious.
He shook with rage and his face turned bright red.
He pulled out his sword and was about to slay the monk.
"That's hell," the monk said softly.
The samurai lowered his sword slowly, overwhelmed that this little monk had risked his life to teach him, to show him hell.
He was filled with gratitude and suddenly peaceful.
"And that's heaven," said the monk softly.
A final thought on fundamentals is that we usually think of fundamentals in terms of what "I believe".
Christian fundamentals though are about what is required of us:
• forgiveness, patience, humility, kindness, generosity, self-control…
So as well as thinking about your fundamentals,
• it's worth reflecting on God's fundamentals at the same time and God expects of us.
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