Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

In his sermon for Epiphany (06 January 2019), Rev. Geoff McKee looks ahead to the series of sermons forming the season of Epiphany. Look for an online definition of epiphany and you’ll find the narrow definition as “the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12)” (and that is the Scripture for today) and the wider definition as “a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation”.  Concentrating our attention on the Magi / Wise Men, Geoff considers (1) what do seekers after truth look like? – and (2) what is an appropriate response to the revelation of the light of Christ? Ultimately, it’s about how the lessons of Epiphany challenge narrow assumptions about the reach of the light of Christ.

You can download a PDF version of the sermon if you wish by clicking here.

Matthew 2:1-12 (New International Version)
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Is the good news of Jesus Christ for people like us?

The right answer to that question is ‘yes’. Of course it is!

But also, the right answer is ‘yes, but…’

If the good news is only for people we feel comfortable with or familiar with, generally, then it’s a very particular ‘good news’, isn’t it?

The lessons of Epiphany challenge narrow assumptions about the reach of the light of Christ.

After all, the star that drew the Magi to Christ, was visible to all who had the inclination to look up and see it. It was not a private viewing for the privileged but a guide to the seeker after truth.

What did Jesus say later in his ministry? ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7).

The season of Epiphany (for its significance is experienced through a series of epiphanies from the visit of the Magi through the baptism of Jesus culminating in the Transfiguration) is in many areas of the world a bigger holiday than Christmas. [Read more…]

We’re all familiar with the pure joy of children at Christmas, which is a good reminder of the Christian duty to be joyful – which Rev. Geoff McKee explains, on this Third Sunday of Advent 2018.

As usual, the Scriptures – from Isaiah and John – are first, with the sermon after that.

If you would like to download a PDF version of the sermon, you can do so by clicking here.

Isaiah 61:1-4 and 8-11 (New International Version)
The Year of the Lord’s Favour
61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendour.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

…

8 “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

10 I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.

 

John 1:6-8 and 19-28 (New International Version)
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

…

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptise if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptise with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

There is no doubt that the key theme on this third Sunday in Advent is rejoicing.

The word ‘rejoice’ is sprinkled throughout today’s readings: in the reading from Isaiah, the prophet proclaimed that God had sent him to bring “glad tidings to the poor” and “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul”. [Read more…]

Rev. Geoff McKee considers the New Testament story of how blind Bartimaeus receives his sight from Jesus – Mark 10:46-52 – and how that contrasts with the “blindness” of Jesus’ disciples at that time, as they neared Jerusalem and Jesus’ death on the cross. Vision or sight is absolutely critical to truly understanding the good news of the Kingdom of God. As Geoff explains, we can take this lesson from sources as diverse as Bartimaeus and Sylvester Stallone.

You can download a PDF version of this sermon by clicking here.

Mark 10:46-52 (New International Version)
Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

In his book, Catching the Light, quantum physicist Arthur Zajonc (Zye-unts) wrote of what he describes as the “entwined history of light and mind”.

From both animal and human studies, we know there are critical developmental “windows” in the first years of life. Sensory and motor skills are formed and, if this early opportunity is lost, trying to play catch-up is hugely frustrating and mostly unsuccessful.

Prof. Zajonc wrote of studies which investigated recovery from congenital blindness.

Thanks to cornea transplants, people who had been blind from birth would suddenly have functional use of their eyes.

Nevertheless, success was rare.

Referring to one young boy, “the world does not appear to the patient as filled with the gifts of intelligible light, colour, and shape upon awakening from surgery,” Zajonc observed.

Light and eyes were not enough to grant the patient sight.

“The light of day beckoned, but no light of mind replied within the boy’s anxious, open eyes.”

Zajonc quoted from a study by a Dr. Moreau who observed that, while surgery gave the patient the ‘power to see’, “the employment of this power, which as a whole constitutes the act of seeing, still has to be acquired from the beginning.”

Dr. Moreau concludes, “To give back sight to a congenitally blind person is more the work of an educator than of a surgeon.”

To which Zajonc added, “The sober truth remains that vision requires far more than a functioning physical organ. Without an inner light, without a formative visual imagination, we are blind,” he explained. That “inner light” – the light of the mind – “must flow into and marry with the light of nature to bring forth a world.”

We might not expect this principal section of Mark’s Gospel, ending before the account of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, to detail the simple story of a blind man being healed by Jesus.

There are many accounts of Jesus healing in the Gospels and we are accustomed, quite rightly, to read these healing stories as an example of the compassionate response of Christ to human need.

And here it is no different.

Jesus responded to the longing of Bartimaeus to see, by commending his faith and healing him.

But there is so much more here than that.

This story has been chosen by the compiler of the Gospel narrative to end a major section of the story and so we would expect to find more going on – and indeed there is! [Read more…]

Rev. Geoff McKee’s scripture for 21 October 2018 is Mark 10:35-45, in which James and John make their child-like request to Jesus to be allowed to sit at his right and left in his glory – not realising that these places would be crosses, not seats.

You can download a PDF version of the sermon by clicking here.

Mark 10:35-45 (New International Version)
The Request of James and John
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?”

39 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

It’s interesting to take a look at a number of Renaissance paintings of Jesus’ crucifixion scene.

Many will have the solitary cross of Christ with the key figures, his mother and some disciples, gathered by the base of the cross. Other paintings will depict the three crosses with the criminals either side of Jesus. Some painters have given a greater weight of prominence to the three cross scene than others.

In the verses just before the Gospel text this morning, Jesus had told the disciples that he would be condemned, humiliated and killed.

Then, almost immediately, James and John put their request to Jesus that they be allowed to occupy places to his right and left in his glory, not realising that those places would not be seats, but crosses either side!

They then dug even deeper holes for themselves as they committed themselves to be baptised with his baptism and to drink from his cup.

Fools!! Or were they?

And are we? – as we too are baptised with his baptism and drink also from his cup every time we gather around his table?

A teacher was once handed the following note by one of her pupils: “Dear Teacher, Please excuse Harriet for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it on Monday, we thought it was Sunday.”

How’s that for confusion?

Welcome to the world of James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Welcome to our world! [Read more…]

The Rich and the Kingdom of God – the theme of Jesus’ answer to a young man’s question, reported in Mark’s Gospel – is a challenging passage of Scripture, which Rev. Geoff McKee discusses here. Camels and eyes of needles.

If you would like to download a PDF version of the sermon, you can do so by clicking HERE.

Mark 10:17-31 (New International Version)
The Rich and the Kingdom of God
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.’”

20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

This is a fascinating passage of Scripture.

The image of the camel trying to squeeze through the eye of the needle dominates our thoughts.

It’s an absurd image, isn’t it?

The Greek word for camel, kamilos, and one of the Greek words for rope, kamiilos, are so similar – and the same applies in Aramaic – that some have suggested Jesus was misheard: a rope through the eye of a needle fits metaphorically in a way that a camel doesn’t.

However, I wonder if Jesus’ well-developed sense of the absurd was a factor here and so we mustn’t part with the camel prematurely!

Regardless, the point is the impossibility for those reliant on wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

Now, that should cause us at least a little unease and maybe even more than that – a bit of anxiety – because we’re all basically in the “rich young ruler” league, as far as Jesus would be concerned. [Read more…]