God’s Love in Christ Jesus

31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?³²He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.³⁴Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.^*35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?³⁶As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Nothing can spearate us..” Grunewald Crucifixion detail.

These are some of the most famous and heartening words in the Bible. Of course they can be misused. “If God is on our side, who can be against us” might be misappropriated by any Christian Jihadist at any time but it is applied by Paul to those who are “counted as sheep t0 be slaughtered”, the faithful poor and and humble people who are always bullied by the established religious and political establishments. (I notice the bully boys (and girls!) of the Church of England have been yet again putting down women as unfit to be Bishops, citing “theological” reasons, as if the prejudice was the Creator’s rather than their own.) God is on the side of those who trust in his love for all, Paul says. This love is not a mere emotion but is the act of “giving up his Son for us all.” The only human being to share the nature of God is given/gives himself so that God’s love may be made clear. Nobody can put God’s children in the wrong, for God has put them right. Nobody can condemn God’s children for Jesus Messiah is their advocate. Paul sums up with the ringing declaration that neither worldly suffering nor cosmic powers can come between God’s children and God’s love in Messiah Jesus, for all these separating evils have already been defeated in the cross and resurrection of Jesus. This is so important an affirmation that we ought to use it to deny all the circumstances in our own lives that may pretend to do so:

“What can separte me from the love of God,” we should ask, “Can this-this illness, this poverty, this unemployment, this betrayal, this loved one’s death, this war, or this sin I have not conquered?”

“No,” we must answer firmly, “No, nothing can separate me from the love of God.”

Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees

23Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,²‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat;³therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach.⁴They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,^* and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.⁵They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.⁶They love to have the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,⁷and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi.⁸But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.^*9And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven.¹⁰Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.^*11The greatest among you will be your servant.¹²All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

“call no man “Father”…

Jesus reminds his disciples that amongst God’s children there must be no “religious status”. This is such a clear warning against setting up a privileged group of clergy, that all Christian churches with clergy should look at their arangements very carefully, especially those who deny particular bits of humanity the right to be clergy. Jesus would have choked with laughter or rage at the doctrine of “apostolic succession.” The only succession which mattered to him was the succession of service, humility and willingness to learn. The usual criticicism of this position is that it mmake everyone the same. Not at all! It makes everyone equal but with different functions. Paul’s image of the body is relevant here. Some may be better at preaching,some at caring for the sick, some at cooking food, but all are equal in God’s family. Those who think this is extreme should look at Jesus’s scorn for those who enjoy the trappings of religious power and ask themselves what he would think of them. I’m a good preacher and am grateful to my church for giving me the opportunity to use this skill, but sometimes I catch myself revelling in the influence it gains me. Then I pray Jesus to give me a good smack on the ear to bring me back to my senses.