Reflections...

Meditations, Reflections, Bible Studies, and Sermons from Kowloon Union Church  

“When the Many Become One”

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 7 October 2018, World Communion Sunday, Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, by Timothy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Genesis 2:18–24, Psalm 26, Mark 10:2–16.


Good morning friends, as Rev. Judy has already mentioned, today is the World Communion Sunday. You can see we have set up the communion table differently, and you may be able to find out the theme throughout the liturgy. I am also tempted to pick a scripture which fits today’s theme, but I did not, I stick to the scripture of the church calendar. As we have read the scripture just now, seemingly, it is about marriage, two become one, but I realize it is also talking about Christian unity and how God envisions our community life. Before I try to draw together the World Communion Sunday with today’s scripture, let us pray:
God of all nations, help us to understand your Word, and help us to live in peace with each other in a relationship which enriches our lives, and bring us closer to you. Hear our prayer in Jesus’ name, Amen.

1. When I first read the scripture today, particularly the Gospel of Mark, the first word coming into my mind is “divorce”. The Pharisees were testing Jesus whether he would abandon the teaching of Moses by asking him how it can be lawful to divorce one’s wife. Then Jesus simply answers, “Two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” So, seemingly Jesus did not agree with any divorce.
However, we must realize the fact that how we understand divorce in the 21st century is way too different from the understanding in the 1st century Roman empire which the Jews are influenced heavily by their own tradition. And the way we understand marriage is very different from the people in the 1st century.

In the biblical time, it was a patriarchal society, the sexuality of a woman is owed by her father, and then to her husband. Marriage was more like a family business, women have VERY little say on whom to marry, it depends on the father. The society back then was not as free as today’s where women can go to school, and choose whatever jobs they want to, to support their own living. Women have to rely on their household to maintain a position in the community. But very sadly, women had no say on whether they can be divorced or not. Therefore, the teaching of Moses is more concerned about the social system, the welfare of women after being divorced, etc. Jesus knew the Pharisees were testing him, he did not even care to respond directly.

Jesus deflects their question away from matters of the law and turns it instead to relationship and, in particular, to God’s hope that our relationships are more than legal matters. Jesus is promoting a relationship based on equality and mutual responsibility by quoting Genesis, reminding people of the Creator’s intention for us. Maybe some of you are still asking whether it is okay to divorce, but I think God is more concerned about the quality of the relationship, rather than the form of it, and how we can live a life of abundance and mutual dependence.

2. The Gospel reading today includes the story of Jesus blessing the children. It gives us a bigger picture of how Jesus envisions the kingdom of God where the weak and vulnerable are protected and welcomed. Children are welcome, women’s right are protected. In response to his disciples stopping children to approach Jesus, he said “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

How should we receive the kingdom of God as a little child? People would say, children are pure and innocent, it is really true. The way children approach a relationship is very direct and simple. I once saw online a social experiment video, it is comparing children with adults on how they react to a stranger’s need. There are different strangers they have prepared, there are black stranger, white stranger, poor stranger, and rich stranger, male or female, and the result shows that adults are more selective on who they would help, and the children would reach out to help all the strangers in need. It is not a surprising result, for our society has given people different labels and stereotypes, we are more prone to judge before we try to understand. For example, oh you divorced, you must not be a good Christian, and there are still many churches in Hong Kong wouldn’t accept a divorced person to be baptized or to serve in church.

We are called to be children, so that we can look through all these labels and stereotypes given by the society or by the church, to build relationships with understanding and respect. Today we have too many categorizations to define people, some use it to keep certain group of people out, and some use it to consolidate their status quo, but the Kingdom of God is a community of mutual dependence and sharing. Almost no one can live all by himself/herself, we are all needing some help from others to live. 

It happened long before in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord said “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” This scripture is used by men for centuries to justify their superior position over women, that women are made to be men’s helper, until a female scholar pointed out that only the weak would need help, so the women are made to rescue men. Well, it is quite true, for I look up the Hebrew dictionary, and the word “Helper” here is not someone who is inferior. Instead, the word is used to describe how God saves the Israelites, it carries a meaning of rescue.

After all, either we are the helper or someone who needs help, it is not because we are superior to any other. We must realize the original status of humankind, “It is not good that the human should be alone”, we need one another to complete each other. Therefore no one shall be excluded from the Kingdom of God, and no one shall be excluded from the fellowship of God’s people.

3. One of my favorite theologians Paul Tillich describes sin as a state of separation, of estrangement and of alienation. The biggest sin today is how we destroy the unity of God’s people, we marginalized people by their sexual orientation, by their religions, and their different skin colors. We promote fear in our society rather than promoting acceptance and understanding. We keep building invisible walls to keep people away from our comfort zone. To a point that even we need help, we would keep it to ourselves, because our trust to other people is broken.

Recent medical research points out that loneliness and isolation are growing into the biggest health threat to humankind, and it suggests that being connected socially is a fundamental need, crucial to well-being and survival. If sin is a state of alienation and separation, then the salvation and rescue would be reconciliation and reconnection. For me, the scripture today is not about marriage or about divorce, it is about how we shall build a community of mutual respect and dependence, and how we shall tear down the invisible walls we have made, to welcome people into our community and, more importantly, into our life.

4. Today is the World Communion Sunday, it is a reminder to all the Christians that we might have different theologies and traditions, and it is obvious that we have very different views on political issues or moral issues. We are challenged today, to think of what is more important, whether our differences would be bigger than the love that unites us together?


Only when we come back to the love of God, we see how he broke his body for all of us, for the Muslims, for the Christians, for the Atheists, and for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer, and for those who are married, who are single, who are divorced, and for those who are old and who are small. The salvation God has prepared for us is a relationship, in Chinese churches, we always say, believe in God so you can have eternal life. But isn’t the greatest gift of all is to reconcile and reconnect with God, so we can have a relationship with God? When Jesus says “and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” I would take this flesh mentioned in this text as the body of Christ, through sharing the body of Christ, we are all no longer many, but one flesh. May we be reminded on this World Communion Sunday that we are called to be the peacemaker by living out a loving relationship and to include the marginalized into our community. May God help Kowloon Union Church to be the place that the many are one in Christ. Amen.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, October 07, 2018



<< Home

Archives

May 2004|July 2004|September 2004|November 2004|December 2004|April 2005|July 2005|August 2005|September 2005|October 2006|November 2006|December 2006|January 2007|February 2007|March 2007|April 2007|May 2007|July 2007|August 2007|September 2007|October 2007|November 2007|December 2007|January 2008|February 2008|March 2008|April 2008|May 2008|June 2008|July 2008|August 2008|September 2008|October 2008|November 2008|December 2008|January 2009|February 2009|March 2009|April 2009|May 2009|June 2009|July 2009|August 2009|September 2009|October 2009|November 2009|December 2009|January 2010|February 2010|March 2010|April 2010|May 2010|June 2010|July 2010|September 2010|October 2010|November 2010|December 2010|January 2011|February 2011|April 2011|May 2011|June 2011|July 2011|October 2011|November 2011|December 2011|January 2012|February 2012|March 2012|August 2012|September 2012|November 2012|December 2012|January 2013|February 2013|March 2013|April 2013|May 2013|June 2013|September 2013|October 2013|November 2013|December 2013|February 2014|March 2014|April 2014|May 2014|June 2014|July 2014|August 2014|September 2014|October 2014|November 2014|December 2014|January 2015|February 2015|March 2015|April 2015|July 2015|August 2015|October 2015|November 2015|December 2015|January 2016|February 2016|March 2016|April 2016|May 2016|June 2016|July 2016|August 2016|September 2016|October 2016|November 2016|December 2016|January 2017|February 2017|March 2017|April 2017|May 2017|June 2017|July 2017|August 2017|September 2017|October 2017|November 2017|December 2017|January 2018|February 2018|March 2018|April 2018|June 2018|July 2018|August 2018|September 2018|October 2018|November 2018|December 2018|January 2019|February 2019|March 2019|May 2019|June 2019|July 2019|August 2019|September 2019|October 2019|November 2019|December 2019|January 2020|February 2020|March 2020|April 2020|May 2020|June 2020|July 2020|August 2020|September 2020|October 2020|November 2020|December 2020|January 2021|February 2021|March 2021|April 2021|May 2021|June 2021|July 2021|August 2021|September 2021|October 2021|November 2021|December 2021|January 2022|February 2022|March 2022|April 2022|May 2022|June 2022|July 2022|August 2022|September 2022|October 2022|November 2022|December 2022|January 2023|February 2023|March 2023|April 2023|May 2023|June 2023|July 2023|August 2023|September 2023|October 2023|November 2023|December 2023|January 2024|February 2024|March 2024|
Archived sermons by the Barksdales

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?