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Archbishop, Pharisees and Sharia Law
(Sermon preached by Simon
Perry - 10 February 2008)
I wonder how British
Newspapers would have reported the incident we heard of in
the Gospels. Jesus has been in the home of a Pharisee, happily
enjoying the affections of a prostitute! Surely he should
have known better. Surely if he was the Messiah, he should
media-savvy and aware of the sort of hostility such behaviour
would attract from those for whom he is supposed to be the
ultimate religious leader! So I wonder how the British papers
might have responded to such an incident?
The Sun would probably have sent two page
three girls around in a big red bus, called for his resignation,
and set up a poll asking everyone what they thought! Then
they would get Jeremy Clarkson to offer his moronic rhetoric
to appeal to the lowest common denominator in society, to
win support for the ‘axe him’ camp.
The Telegraph, obviously a more sophisticated
defenders of the establishment, would probably brand him as
stupid before having got all the facts, and call for his resignation.
Evangelical Christian leaders would condemn
him because he is supposed to defend the religious interests
of his own people and nation – not go trying to include
those who don’t belong to our in-crowd.
And so, the media as a whole might simply
say – come on, if he really is the Messiah, he would
have known the sort of controversy this incident would ignite,
so he should not have done or said these things in public.
If you have followed the news at all this
week, you will see that this is precisely what has happened
to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The fact that at least 99
percent of those with a strong opinion on the matter have
not bothered to find out what the context was – there
are calls for his resignation because he said that it is inevitable
that Sharia law will find a place in the British legal system.
There is something very similar at work here, to the dynamic
of the incident of Jesus and the prostitute.
To begin with, there is the implicit claim
on the lips of Jesus that religion as people understood it
was not the way of life it was intended to be. Jesus offers
forgiveness to someone who should not have had forgiveness.
By offering forgiveness of sins, Jesus is claiming that the
Kingdom of God has arrived – and this is the first meaning
of sins being forgiveness. Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah,
and he is claiming that the Kingdom of God means welcoming
those who we might find utterly disturbing in our religious
gathering.
Now think of the archbishop. The implied
point is that our divorce laws for instance are far from perfect.
It is utterly beyond me that anyone has the nerve to fear
Sharia law when you take a proper look at the divorce law
we have in Britain when it is compared with that of other
countries. I have experienced this law at close hand, and
seen the horrific injustice of it – that is based not
upon the well being of those concerned, but upon the will
of a market-driven divorce industry that makes its profits
from the misery of its victims. And all sorts of social evils
that we happily condemn today are attributable to our apparently
sophisticated and just laws – from gun crimes to housing
crises. And there is plenty of evidence to show that fact
in reality, conjecture and anecdotal evidence is substituted
for hard fact.
And just as those who murmured at the meal
Jesus attended were complaining about Jesus being the kind
of religious leader people did not want because he did not
seem to be pushing for the best interests of God’s chosen
people, so even Christian archbishops have claimed that Rowan
Williams should resign because he is speaking up for other
religions when he ought to be jolly well speaking up to defend
Christianity!
Well the Evangelical leaders and the imbecilic
dictates of Right wing press stand together in playing out
the role of the Pharisee. Condemning others, for the sake
of the precious values and customs that they themselves have
come to treasure. No ability to hear what Jesus was saying.
No ability to hear what the archbishop was saying. Just a
descend into crude slogans – and the complaint that
he is not defending their interests.
Thank God that this is not what Jesus is
about, and I believe we can thank God for Rowan Williams is
about, because in this – as in many other issues –
we can see him reflecting the character of his Lord. Anyone
who actually bothers to pay attention to the Archbishop’s
public statements will see that he is a fine communicator,
in technique and in spirit, of the Christian faith –
but as is often the case – his views are usually twisted
and distorted by the time they arrive in the world of popular
opinion. And didn’t the same thing happen to Jesus?
The Meal
Jesus is sharing a meal with a journalist
from the Sun newspaper. He has not been shown the customary
respect that an honoured guest would often have enjoyed –
but the prostitute who is present lavishes her affections
upon him instead. Just try to imagine being in Simon’s
position. If you are waiting for the kingdom of God –
waiting for all that is morally reprehensible in your country
to be put right, and the one who claims to be King pitches
up, and allows himself to be caressed by some prostitute –
I think we may be tempted to join the camp who call for his
resignation. (Well, the first century media machine might
a little more violence to harm – or otherwise kill their
victims). Although – the sheer, unwarranted ferocity
of Christians and media unleashed upon the archbishop, shows
that the spirit that crucified Jesus is alive and well in
modern Britain. And we think that Sharia law is medieval!
But Jesus turns this hostility into a living
parable. And how does he do it? He takes the example of the
woman who is most definitely outside the people of God, beyond
the limits of God’s blessing – and places her
instead in the mainstream of the people of God, living the
life of peace for which all people were created.
It is important to hear Jesus in context.
The real point of his story is that this woman is forgiven,
because of her devotion to Jesus. And we have to try to extract
from our psyche the belief that forgiveness is simply about
a set of transactions between individuals and God. That we
sin, because we can’t get through the day without doing
that – so that every day we have the slate wiped clean
– before we go off and dirty it all over again. And
at the end of it all, we end up virtually echoing the dying
German poet, Heine – who said that ‘God will forgive
me, that’s his business.’ Forgiveness for a first
century Jew, meant something that affected the whole people
of God.
The context is the exile, that took place
in the sixth century bc. The prophets had said that the people
had been unfaithful to God, and as a result, God allowed them
to be carried off into captivity – into exile –
in Babylon, where they sat down and wept, and asked serious
questions about their faith.
Picture of child being sent to room – one minute per
year of your life!
And they knew that they would only return
to the promised land when God had forgiven them of their sin.
So when a first century Jew, back in the promised land, but
still living under pagan rule, heard about the forgiveness
of sins – they heard about a new return from a new exile.
Time after time in the old testament prophets,
when we hear of the forgiveness of sins, it is referring to
the return from exile – a new stage of history when
God would bless his people. So when Jesus announces the forgiveness
of sins to this woman – he is declaring that a new age
has dawned – and by forgiving her sins, he is claiming
to be the King of the Kingdom of God! And yet, as King, he
is blessing the wrong people!
And isn’t this precisely what we see
with the arch-bishop – who has been branded the arch-enemy
in one headline’s pitiful attempt at wit – has
done. He has blessed the wrong people. Gregory Venebles, another
Anglican Bishop has said – the archbishop is supposed
to be speaking out on behalf of Christians, not muslims! Well,
maybe this bishop and his evangelical bible-thumping punditry
would do well to take their Bibles more seriously!
But the communal context of forgiveness does
not detract from the personal restoration that lies at the
heart of Christianity. The whole religion just remains a nice
academic theory removed from the real life and the real experiences
of real people if forgiveness is an idea, a pipe dream. There
is a real woman in this story, and she encounters real forgiveness.
She becomes a living, walking parable that the Kingdom of
God has come.
But we do well to remember both aspects of
forgiveness. That forgiveness is personal and communal –
it cannot be one without the other. Because this woman’s
sins had cut her off from her community – she was alienated,
despised, marginalised. Forgiveness restores her to the community,
and restores to her the peace for which she was created. Forgiveness
is about the restoration to the community, restoration to
the body of Christ – and as such, it is restoration
to Christ himself.
I’m not sure if you have ever sought
or granted real forgiveness. When you see it, and receive
it, it is a messy, ugly business – because the deep
heart of our sin and its consequences rises to the surface
– but here it is dealt with in the most liberating way.
This is why we are encouraged to confess our sins to one another
– because here we experience the seriousness of our
sin, and the sheer release of forgiveness. There are no short
cuts!
The essay in which Rowan Williams made his
statements about Sharia law is dense and difficult. But if
you go to his website, you can read it, and a summary of it.
And you see that his point is to try to do precisely what
Jesus has done with this woman. It is to seek for those who
are marginalised and vilified and victimised in our society,
because of their religion, to find a place where their humanity
is taken seriously in our communities – where these
people are restored to their communities and granted the peace
that accompanies that restoration.
We have written a letter to support
the archbishop – that does not compel us to agree with
his statement – but that offers the encouragement of
those who sign it, to affirm him as a worthy representative
of Christ in our society, in accordance with the Jesus that
we see revealed in Scripture; the Jesus who brings forgiveness
of sins here, and now, this evening, in this place.
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