Sermons

Sun, Nov 14, 2021

A provocative conclusion

Series:Sermons
Duration:13 mins 11 secs

In my early teens, I was a keen Scout.

And, each year, our Scout troop organised a major hike for the older boys…

normally through an iconic, picturesque, but challenging location.

One year, they would go to the Flinders Ranges.

The next year, they would go to Kangaroo Island––

which is where my brother went.

But, when it came my year’s turn, they decided to go somewhere new.

We went to Burra.

Well, to be precise, that’s where the hike began.

But our destination was, in fact, a place called “World’s End”.

It was a tiny dot on the map…

some eighteen kilometres southwest of Burra itself…

in the middle of nowhere.

And, given that that was the endpoint of our hike––

and our hike was scheduled to last for a full week––

it meant that we were taking a fairly rambling, circuitous route to get there.

So, I assumed that it had to be a pretty amazing location.

I assumed that it was a sort of reverse example of that ironic Australian sense of humour…

whereby things are described as the opposite of what they really are––

like tall men being nicknamed “Shorty”…

and all of that.

So, for a whole week, we trudged through dry, grassy paddocks…

over rocky terrain…

and, finally, along a seasonal creek bed…

and down through a gorge…

until we came to rest beside a small, brackish, mosquito-infested waterhole.

While eating lunch––

and constantly swatting monstrous mosquitos that were seemingly the size of small dragonflies––

we asked our scout leader how much further it was to our destination.

“But we’re here”, he announced;

accompanied by a slightly cartoon-villain laugh from the assistant scout leader.

There was nothing humorously ironic about its name at all.

It was exactly what it suggested.

All of our blister-inducing work––

all of the sleeping on hard ground…

all of the traipsing over rocky terrain through the heat—

for a whole week…

for this! 

It was a cruel disappointment…

and I felt thoroughly cheated.

 

This morning we finish our hike through the Book of Hebrews.

And it’s been slightly tough going.

The terrain has been quite rocky…

and it hasn’t necessarily been particularly picturesque along the way;

but now––

as we approach our final destination––

we’re probably all hoping for something more like Kangaroo Island…

than a small, brackish, mosquito-infested waterhole––

metaphorically-speaking, of course.

And, to be honest, there is some good material in the later chapters of Hebrews.

But…

for some inexplicable reason…

that’s not where the lectionary compilers have decided to leave us.

Instead––

if you excuse me pushing the hiking metaphor beyond breaking point––

we’re going to do another loop back over terrain that we have already crossed…

and stop at a small, seemingly nondescript waterhole.

 

Once again, the author plugs away at his favourite themes:

Jesus as our High Priest…

interceding for us with God;

and Jesus’ death as a purifying sacrifice…

which enables us to enter the sanctuary of heaven.

And I’m not going to go back over any of that again.

But, having offered a brief summary of the preceding three or so chapters…

at the start of our reading this morning…

the author begins to address the “so-what” bit.

Since––

because of what Christ has done––

we may approach God with confidence…

he urges us to do three things:

“Let us approach with a true heart”;

“Let us hold fast to the confession of our faith without wavering”;

and “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love”. 

In encouraging his readers to “purity” of heart…

he’s actually encouraging them to purity of values…

because…

in their worldview…

the heart wasn’t the seat or the source of emotion…

but of values and value-informed thinking.

So, in effect, he’s encouraging them to a change of heart…

a change in the way that they perceive and value…

and how they respond…

because of what Christ has done;

because they have been made clean and whole.

Holding fast to their “confession of faith” is consistent with that.

In effect, it’s a call to integrity.

It’s a call to live out…

in real terms…

what they know, and have experienced, of the liberating love of Christ.

And…

in various ways…

and in various words…

I have often encouraged you along those sorts of lines.

In a sense…

to this point…

there’s nothing particularly new or interesting about this scenery.

 

And yet…

the third of the author’s injunctions is actually quite novel.

“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love”. 

It’s a curious expression.

I think it would qualify as a genuine oxymoron.

And, just to refresh your memories…

in a literary sense, an “oxymoron” is a figure of speech…

that combines “oppositional words”…

to create a unique expression…

that seeks to stir an emotional response and reveal a deeper meaning.

In this particular case…

when else have you ever heard of “provoke” and “love” used together in the same sentence?

I certainly haven’t!

We normally speak of “provoking” in terms of either “anger”…

or, more specifically…

in terms of “violence”.

And when we do speak of someone being “provoked”––

to anger, rage, and to violence––

we don’t think in terms of something that’s calmly…

rationally…

or carefully thought through.

Rather…

“provocation” conjures a sense of something that’s rash or spontaneous;

something that’s primal…

instinctual…

almost reflexive;

something over which we have no real control.

And…

although we may think of “falling in love” as an experience when we can act irrationally…

spontaneously…

almost instinctively…

that’s not really how we think of love, normally…

in a general sense.

I have a whole wedding sermon…

based on that quintessential ‘hymn’ to love in One Corinthians Thirteen…

which argues that love…

in Paul’s understanding…

is not an emotion;

rather, it’s how we choose to act in any given circumstance.

Love…

in the Bible…

is generally conceived as something rational, conscious, and careful;

it’s seeking to do what is best for another person…

regardless of how we might feel;

seeking to treat them in the way that God has treated us.

But here…

in our reading this morning…

the author thinks of love as something quite different.

He urges us “to provoke one another to love”.

That implies that love…

for us…

ought to be something almost rash and spontaneous;

that love ought to be instinctive or reflexive…

even primal…

something over which we have little control.

Without thinking about…

without weighing up the consequence or implications…

without wondering how our actions might be interpreted…

or even misconstrued…

the author thinks that love and compassion…

should be our default, instinctual response.

 

In effect, the whole point of everything that he has been saying thus far––

about Jesus as High Priest, interceding with God for us;

about Jesus sacrificing himself for us––

reaches its climax here.

This is…

in the end…

what it’s all been about.

The whole point about what God has done for us in Christ––

the love that God has shown us in and through Christ––

is to bring us to a place…

where love is, for us, a spontaneous, instinctive response…

to each other…

and to our world.

That, as Christians, is our ultimate destination.

Powered by: truthengaged