Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 14 May 2023.
Saint Paul delivering the Areopagus Sermon in Athens, by Raphael, 1515. (Source)
• First Reading: Acts 17: 22-31 (He is not gold, silver or stone or the product of human skill)
• Epistle: 1 Peter 3: 13-22 (In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Be prepared to answer anyone who asks you about your hope)
• Gospel: John 14: 15-21 (If you love Me, keep My commands … The world will not see Me but you will see Me)
There is something strange about the way we plan our journeys. We know where we want to go and the route for getting there but the reality of travelling can really change our sense of where we are.
There are the uncertainties of it all – people and places we do not know, circumstances we cannot control, and all the risks and happenstances that add to the adventure.
It is only when we arrive that yes, the journey is over: that is, before we check the baggage to ensure that we really did not miss anything when packing.
This sense of uncertainty can also apply to our life of faith. We start with only a dim idea of where we are going and what we are looking for. Then little lights come on and there are those times of inspiration when things clear for us – a little bit and only for a while.
In speaking to the Athenians Paul was speaking into this sense of uncertainty. He had seen their dedication to ‘An unknown God’. Maybe they were hedging their bets since they had so many images of deities from which to choose. What if they had missed one?
And there is the story that when confronted by a plague of some kind, that they came to pray for deliverance to ‘The unknown God’ and strangely enough, their deliverance came.
But they had to start somewhere and for Paul this was the point of departure. He would speak into this sense of uncertainty and show them that there was indeed more to their Unknown God than they had been expecting.
He explained that this was the One who had created all things and given them lands and limits. He was made by none and so could not be worshipped though human-contrived idols and neither did He need their temples. But He still sustained them, and more than that had set moral standards before which they would be judged by one who had Himself lived a fully human but perfect life.
And so Paul was giving the Athenians a starting point for their own journeys of faith. The reality of God, the reality of His justice and the reality of His mercy.
But then there was something more in what Peter was writing to the church. They did not have to be showy in their faith but they did have to be sincere.
They might not be academic or great in their speeches but they could still give an account of their faith when asked. Indeed simplicity and directness were going to be their greatest allies in an uncertain and sceptical marketplace for ideas.
So Peter was calling on them to revere Jesus Christ in their hearts – to let Him be Lord and to lead their thinking and their prayers.
Let Him be the centre of their relationships and transactions. Let the simplicity of their faith help them to find their way through the thicket of rules and customs, of mixed loyalties and of the hazards of everyday life.
It did not have to be complicated, and as they remained open to the Holy Spirit so He also would be with them when they were tested.
Yet it is in the gospel that Jesus makes the most radical of gifts as He promises the Holy Spirit to the church.
This is the One who would be the presence of Jesus in every church fellowship and in the life of every believer. He would be accessible in all times and places, unlimited by hours or locations.
He would be worldwide and He would be there for the church as a whole and for each member. He would be the presence of Jesus at all times.
And the commands of Jesus were quite simple. Love God above all things, believe in Jesus and love one another.
Love their neighbours as they love themselves, and yet love not the world.
Let Jesus define the realities around them and He indeed would be their security in the Spirit.
As they held together so their fellowship would become stronger and deeper, and so also they would be able to maintain their Christian witness.
For us the tasks are the same, even if the state is even more demanding and intrusive and if the common currency of life seems to be the trade in guilt and inadequacy.
Even when there are so many distractions to claim our time and efforts and interests, and when they have so many different agendas.
But then this in where we need the presence of the Lord in the Holy Spirit that much more urgently, and yet where we are also told by Jesus:
Abide in Me and I in you. For without Me, you can do nothing.
