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Unwrapping Faith
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 8th June 2008
Colleen Nichol
Romans 4:13-25; Mt.9:9-13, 18-26
Both of the readings this morning are massive pieces of Scripture.
Both address head-on the sometimes sticky issue of faith.
The two are marvellously connected as they seek to illuminate in different - & perhaps not-so-different – ways this foundational piece of a life lived in relationship with God.
I have found that the contemporary theologian, Marcus Borg, has helped me to unwrap this mighty and at times perplexing notion of faith. He does so by pointing out that only in the last 400 years have we managed to flatten out the concept of faith to mean primarily "intellectual assent" … believing certain things about God, about Jesus … faith as a "matter of the head". (1)
Prior to this, Christian tradition readily understood faith in three additional rich ways and Marcus Borg helps us access them through their Latin translations.
- Firstly, there is faith as "fiducia" – with its closest English translation being "trust". Trust not in a set of statements about God, but trust in God. Trust in the 'buoyancy' of God to hold us always and ever in his love.
- Secondly, there is faith as "fidelitas" – fidelity – faithfulness to our relationship with God in the way that we would be faithful to a marriage partner or a treasured friend.
- Thirdly, there is faith as "visio"— as vision – faith as a way of seeing. While Borg explores this in terms of how we see God, I would like to add another dimension with which it is intricately entwined … how God sees us. In effect, not only our faith in God but also God's faith in us.
It is this third aspect of faith – visio – that I want to focus on this morning, in both of its dimensions, by exploring together the Gospel reading. (Unless you're willing to linger on into the afternoon, we'll regrettably have to leave Abraham for another time).
Our story opens with Jesus catching sight of Matthew the tax collector.
"As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting
at the tax booth; he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and
followed him" (9:9)
Whatever could have possessed Matthew to so instantaneously turn his back on all that he had been, to pull up stakes and follow Jesus? Whatever did he see in Jesus to inspire such a radical move?
I think Matthew caught a glimpse of the DIVINE in Jesus … and in seeing this, a whole new life flashed in front of his eyes … a glimmering vision of what he could become. In this flashing connection with the Divine, Matthew experienced a release from the excluding, confining definition of himself as merely "Matthew, the tax collector" … a definition imposed on him not only by society but even more 'de-soulifying', by his very own self ('Surely I can be nothing more than this').And so this first leap of faith – this decision to drop everything, this willingness to be so ignited by grace that he would wholeheartedly follow Jesus – was very much about visio … vision … seeing the transformative power of God.
And what of Jesus' perception of Matthew? Jesus sees Matthew already as so much more than "tax collector". He sees Matthew in his totality. … And then he offers a gift of immeasurable value: his faith in Matthew to become all he was created to be. Jesus graciously welcomes Matthew into a life of continual transformation, exalting the very heart of Matthew's being by summoning him to be a blessing to others.
Then we find Jesus on his way to the home of an important leader of the synagogue.
En route, he is intercepted by a woman – a haemorrhaging woman – a continually unclean woman by the standards of the day – an outcast. And while Mark's parallel account in 10 descriptive verses is far more detailed and therefore more poignant than this morning's Gospel reading, there is something piercing about the very simplicity and starkness of Matthew's rendition. He goes straight to the heart of the matter in 3 crisp verses:
- The woman approaches Jesus & touches his cloak
- Jesus turns and SEES her
- She is instantly made well.
What did this woman see in Jesus that set him apart from the string of physicians she had consulted over the years? Like Matthew the "more than tax collector", I think she recognized in Jesus something of the DIVINE. Her readiness to see this enabled her to boldly go against all protocol and dare to tap directly into the power of the Divine. And in that explosive moment of faith, of "visio", she was made whole.
Now, whether we choose to read this as a literal-factual account ofhealing or as powerful metaphor (and here again I find Borg so helpful in his explanation of metaphor as being the "more-than-literal" meaning,
the surplus of meaning carried in the language) … regardless of which interpretation we embrace, the heart of the message is the same: a life that dares to glimpse & touch the Divine is gifted with a hitherto unimagined wholeness. It is a life that, despite any outward appearances or physical deficiency, is in its depths restored to a healed and healing relationship with God.
And what about Jesus' perception of the woman?
"Jesus turned, and SEEING her he said,
'Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well' " (9:22)
Jesus SAW the woman. Seeing her as beloved and complete and already one of his own – "daughter" he calls her! – Jesus had faith in this woman's capacity to seek and accept and embrace this new life of wholeness.
Finally we accompany Jesus on the third momentous encounter of this day: a leader of the synagogue approaches and prevails upon Jesus to come and – unbelievably – raise his daughter back to life. Matthew's account again is sparse and almost formal where Mark's version captures a far greater emotional intensity. In Mark, the father doesn't simply "kneel" before Jesus (a posture me might interpret as one of respect) … he literally "falls at Jesus' feet" – a posture of desperation and inconsolable grief. He doesn't just "say" to Jesus "come and she will live"; he "repeatedly begs" Jesus to come. In fact, in Matthew the child already is dead – by all logical standards beyond hope – where in Mark she is "at the point of death". And in Matthew Jesus goes into the child's room alone, but in Mark, with eminent compassion and empathy, he takes the child's father and mother in with him. Where else would they want to be?
But what both Gospel writers agree on is that a TOUCH of Jesus will bring LIFE.
"Come lay your hand on her
and she will live" (9:18)
What did this man of high repute and education see in Jesus, the itinerate teacher? Again, I wonder if he caught in Jesus a glimpse of his God, the mighty Yahweh of his Hebrew Scriptures who called Ezekiel to prophecy:
"Dry bones, … I am going to make the breath enter you
and you will live" (Ezekiel 37:4-5)
"And [Jesus] went in and took her by the hand
and the girl got up" (9:25)
Again, I think that whether we choose a literal-factual interpretation or lean toward a metaphorical reading (with its "more-than-literal" meaning), the heart of the message is the same:
Where we connect with the Divine, breath-taking and breath-giving
LIFE emerges from what appears to be certain death.
And one last time we ask: What of Jesus' perception of this man? Jesus saw him not in terms of his profession – Leader of the Synagogue. He saw him as a father, desperate enough and willing enough to expand his vision & see – really see – God wondrously embodied in this unassuming person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus had faith in this man's ability and courage to hope against hope (remember, his daughter was dead or most assuredly destined for death at the time of his request). Yet Jesus had faith in this man's ability and courage to hope against hope and therefore in his openness to receive the impossible: a certain dead-end subverted into inconceivable LIFE.
And so, I wonder what it would be
to live not only with our vision of God
but to live into God's vision of us … God's faith in us.
What would it be
… to be welcomed into a life of continual transformation,
where the hearts of our being are exalted by God's summons to
be a blessing to others.
What would it be
… to be seen as beloved and complete and one of God's own,
seeking and accepting and embracing a new life of wholeness.
What would it be
… to live as though our perceived dead-ends are not dead-ends at all
but windows into vibrant new life
"endowed with the charisma of eternity made real in the here-and-now" (2)
So be it …
Amen
(1) Marcus Borg - The Heart Of Christianity. pages 28-37
(2) Jonathan Sacks - The Dignity of Difference. page 158
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