Saint George's Anglican Church

 Trinity 12, 2008: Holy Eucharist  
Our sufficiency is from God... "
(2 Corinthians 3.5)

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen.

My father has a saying -- he says that, "The hardest thing to open is a closed mind." He especially likes to use it when one of his kids dare to suggest that something cannot be done. It was frequently used during our school days. If anyone of us said something like, "I just can't do chemistry. It doesn't make sense," Dad would quickly counter with, "Sure you can; you just have to work at it" "I have," we would say "but I just can't understand it" "Can't or won't?" he would ask. "Can't!" would come the quick reply. "C'mon now, " he would tell us "the hardest thing to open is a closed mind."

Strangely enough, this word of caution or encouragement is very close to the Lesson presented in this morning's Epistle and Gospel. What was it that my father was trying to defeat? Doubt He wanted us to open our minds to the many possibilities before us, rather than close them, and limit ourselves at the first whisperings of doubt

In this morning's Gospel, a man who had a speech impediment, and who was also deaf, was. brought to the Lord. And what happened? Jesus healed him, speaking this word, "Ephphatha!" --"Be opened!" As we have talked about before, this really happened. It was a miracle that demonstrated God's power and great mercy. It was a confirmation, in a sense, that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of God, through Whom all things were made, and by Whom all things are redeemed. However, we should use this miracle to see more -- see ourselves in the place of this man. As he was closed and bound up by these physical impediments, so are we spiritually by sin. We are, without Christ, closed and paralyzed to the Presence and Love of God. Without Him, we are bound to doubt the purpose of life or the goodness of God. We are inclined to see the dark side of things and to have a very limited idea of hope.

This past Thursday the Church Calendar called us to remember and worship the Holy Name of Jesus. Wonderful, really, that our spiritual mother, the Church, would remind us to do something so basic and yet so necessary. Anyway, the Old Testament Lesson read for the occasion was from the Prophet Isaiah. It began like this, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” That is a description of Israel before Christ died and rose again; it is also a picture of the man in this morning's Gospel; and, "the people that walked in darkness" -- the people "that dwell in the land of the shadow of death" -- that people is us. We were closed and living in doubt and fear, disabled by the powers of darkness and sin, and the great enemy of death. But now, through Christ, our souls have been freed and opened to the new life of God's grace and charity. In our Baptism, Jesus washed us with His precious Blood. He washed us and He said to us, "Ephphatha! Be opened!"

In today's Epistle, St. Paul draws our attention to that time in Israel's history when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments. And what about it? Well, St. Paul tells us that "the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance". In other words, they couldn't look at him because his face glowed with the glory of God. Having been with the Lord forty days and nights, Moses' skin was transfigured; it reflected God's glory with such brightness that he had to wear a veil over his face. Why? Because the people were afraid to come near him. That's what the Bible tells us: "When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him". (Exodus 34.29)

This raises an important point: even though God's glory was reflected by Moses to the people, there was need for a veil. This is a reminder of the incompleteness of the Old Testament without Christ. Think of it, the veil symbolizes a separation between God and His people, similar to the veil worn by a bride before she and her husband come together to be joined in Holy Matrimony. But the veil over Moses' face was not the only veil -- there was a great veil in the Temple that kept the people from entering into the Holy of Holies -- the inner Sanctuary. It was closed to them. Sadly, the spiritual union -- the Holy Communion -- between God and His people, which in the beginning, before that first disobedience and sin, was beautifully expressed by the nakedness of Adam and Eve, was now broken, and there was need for a veil.

The design of our Church with this beautiful Rood Screen, reminds us of this. However, it says that although we were once separated from God, the Way has been opened for us through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The idea of His Death is not communicated in words, but through the physical construction of this Rood Screen. View it as a work of art. See the six giant nails which represent the six wounds in our Lord's Body: His two feet, His two hands, His side, and His Blessed Head? And see also the thorns incorporated into the open panels -- these remind us of His Crown of Thorns. But, of course, that's the thing, the panels are open so that all may enter into the Holy Place -- so that all may approach the Lord's Table and feed upon Christ Who is the Bread of Heaven. This is all symbolic of what happened on Good Friday. As St. Luke records, after the thief on the cross asked Him, "Jesus, remember me when Thou comest in thy kingdom," Jesus said to him, "Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. " After that, "there was a darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, the sun's light failing; and the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst." What had been previously closed for centuries, was opened by the Blood of Christ. The Way to Heaven was cleared for us through Him.
And yet, in spite of this momentous act of mercy, we often doubt God's love and purposes for us. Whenever something difficult comes upon us, we recoil and shut ourselves in, doubting the Lord's Presence and goodness. Leaving our faith behind, we quickly regress and become again "the people who walk in darkness" and "those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death". We close our ears and become deaf to the Good News of Holy Scripture, just like the man in today's Gospel. The things of the world and the flesh -- all that is visible -- are given the precedence and the room in our souls once again. Self retakes its place in the driver's seat; and doubt and fear rule supreme. But did you hear what St. Paul said in this morning's Epistle? He said, "that we are NOT sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God. " So, it is not good for Self to be driving us. We must live by faith according to the rule of Christ's Charity. Jesus must be our Shepherd and King. Our sufficiency, after all, is only from God.

This presents a real challenge for us this morning: do you think that you are sufficient in yourself? Or, do you trust that your sufficiency is in God alone? That's the question. What hope do any of us have against sin and death without Christ? We are small and pathetic, closed and bound without Him, riddled with doubts and fears, and dying without hope. Therefore, the miracle healing in the Gospel is really about us opening our hearts to the Presence of Christ ..and to the will of God. That's what the word 'Ephphatha'means: 'Be opened'. The verb used to describe the opening of the channel in the man's ear is the same verb used to describe the opening of a person's heart to the Lord -- the opening of the heart, that has been closed by suspicion, to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the second century, a Christian man named Hermas had a number of visions which he eventually recorded in a book which became very popular among the early Christians. It was similiar to what you may have read in John Bunyan's, 'Pilgrim's Progress'. In any case, in his fourth vision, Hermas saw a frightening representation of what he called 'the tribulation that is to come'. He was on his way to a country house that was located a mile and a bit off the main road in a very isolated area. As he was walking, he was praying -- he was praying for strength for himself and for his Christian friends to be faithful to God so that His great Name might be glorified. In the midst of his prayer, he became aware of the Lord's voice: "Doubt not, Hermas. Doubt not." That's strange, he thought, what reason have I to doubt?

Just then, he saw some dust in the distance rising from the road. There must be some cows ahead, he thought. But the cloud got bigger and bigger, and in an instant, just as the sun's rays shone through at the right angle, he could see that this dust was not from cows, but rather from a mighty beast, oddly enough, a mighty beast that was like a whale, from whose mouth fiery locusts (grasshoppers) poured out. As you can imagine, Hermas began to tremble and to weep, and he cried to the Lord to save him from this monster. Then he remembered the word which he had heard a few minutes before: "Doubt not, Hermas. Doubt not." Clothed, therefore, with faith in the Lord, he faced the beast. The noise it made was deafening; however, as he approached it, it laid down on the ground and stopped all its flailing. As Hermas wrote, "The monstrous beat stretched itself out on the ground, and showed nothing but its tongue, and did not stir at all until I had passed by it"

Then, about thirty feet behind the beast, Hermas met a beautiful virgin, a bride dressed for her wedding. She was clothed entirely in white, and veiled up to her forehead, and she had white hair. Immediately, Hermas knew that this was the Church, and he became filled with joy. After greeting each other, the lovely Lady asked him, "Has nothing crossed your path?" ..."Yes, "Hermas answered "I was met by a beast of such a size that it could destroy peoples, but through the power of the Lord and His great mercy I escaped from it" "Well did you escape from it," she said "because you cast your care on God, and opened your heart to the Lord, believeing that you can be saved by no other than by His great and glorious Name. "

Dear friends, we all will meet this great beast in some form or another. Every day he sends us his messengers. They try to close us in; they shoot their arrows of doubt and fear; they snort and make a lot of noise; they flash pictures of desperation across our minds. And they will win in destroying what is good and true and right and holy if we listen to them. They will succeed in binding up our souls if we do not open our hearts to the Lord and trust that He is stronger, and that He truly loves us and desires our happiness and peace; and that, in Christ, He alone has conquered all the forces of the monster and of death and hell for us. Our sufficiency is from God. Cast all your cares on Him. Be opened to His Presence, and doubt not Doubt not, dear friends, doubt not.