St Francis / Pet Sunday
Song of Three 52-65
Galatians 6:14-18
Matt 11:25-30
It’s good to be back with you, after two months away, and what better day to come back than the Feast of St Francis / Pet Sunday!
I’ve been in England, a bit of Wales and more recently, in South Waikato, studying, walking, sightseeing, catching up with family (living and departed), and simply unwinding. It has been a positive, re-creative time, made possible in no small part by the generosity of St Mark’s Vestry and St John’s College Trust Board, both of which will be getting reports from me on my sabbatical.
Let’s dive into the readings that have been assigned for today’s special service. They each speak of God’s creation.
The first reading speaks of creation’s ultimate purpose – which is the glorification of God – ‘Bless the Lord’ (This may be a slightly opaque concept, but it is made a lot clearer if we remember that, as St John reminds us, ‘God is love’ [1 John 4:8] – so we could legitimately say that the purpose of creation is the exaltation/furtherment/expansion of love); the second reading points to the way Jesus’ death has brought that loving purpose closer in a significant (even cosmic) way; and the Gospel is an appeal from love itself (our Lord) to us, his creatures, to reach out to him, in our pain, and be healed.
Drilling down a bit deeper, the first reading – the Song of the Three Jews (the song that Daniel’s companions offered up after they were miraculously rescued from the fire prepared for them by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon – [Dan 3]) – could be described as creation-filled but God-focussed. Everything, living and non-living, is called upon to praise God (or – as I’ve suggested, honour love). A hierarchy of created things and beings is presented, from the heights and the depths through to the creatures who inhabit them – non-human first, and then human. In the latter part of the mix, Israel is mentioned – a term which is helpfully defined in the second reading – but it isn’t the highest creature in the list. That privilege belongs to those who are holy and humble in heart. St Francis, surely, fits into that category.
The second reading is Christ-focussed. Creation is still there as a theme, but the talk is now about the new situation (in creation) that Christ’s death has wrought. Paul announces a new creation superseding everything that went before it, even the physical signs (such as circumcision for men) that were once considered necessary for being a child of God. In this new world or creation, admission to the ‘Israel of God’ as Paul calls it, is open to every human who recognises – and takes hold of – the costly, loving work of Christ.
The next comment Paul makes in his letter to the Galatians causes us to think of the saint whose anniversary we are commemorating – St Francis of Assisi. St Francis, who spoke a lot about creation, lived so exclusively for Christ that his body began to take on the signs of Christ’s suffering; that is to say, he developed the stigmata, which were painful marks or wounds on his hands and feet. This is probably something akin to the phenomenon that Paul was referring to when he said, ‘I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.’ [Gal 6:17] These marks didn’t make him holy (nor St Francis for that matter) but they were an indication that both of them were very closely connected to Christ.
The gospel passage, from Matthew, picks up on a theme that echoes through the New Testament (and a lot of the Old Testament too), namely, that God, and the values that God represents, are most visible to humble people – exemplified in the passage via reference to infants and everyone who is struggling ( ‘weary and carrying heavy burdens’).
It is those people, Jesus tells us, who will find true peace because their eyes are open to him and the Father who sent him.
Could we be more specific about who those infants and weary people are today?
Yes. I think it would be possible to come up with a very long list, but I will give you three examples to get your thoughts going.
- They are our young people today, who – on the whole – are deeply concerned about peace and justice within society and internationally.
- They are the people who cannot find a home or who live with the fear of having their home taken from them.
- They are the parents struggling to give their children a better future than they had, in a world where the cost of living is rising at a disproportionate rate.
We could go on and on, suffice to say that there is a silver-lining to the struggles that life imposes, and that is the channel it opens up for closer union with Christ, the Prince of Peace and perfect manifestation of love.
I am not suggesting here that we should pursue hardship so that we might grow in holiness. That would be perverse. But what I am saying is that when trouble arises – as it will – it will not have the better of us if we accept the hand that Jesus is holding out to us throughout that time.
To conclude then, what we, as followers of Christ look forward to, is the flourishing of creation and the realisation within every human (and ultimately every creature) that the purpose of life is love – the love demonstrated by Christ in a costly mission of suffering and death which was rewarded, redeemed and made right by the resurrection. And that love and that hope were the inspiration of St Paul, St Francis and now is ours. Thanks be to God.
Tony Surman