The Rector Writes – December 2009
Dear Friends
“All Things Bright and Beautiful” is one of the best-known of hymns. Modern hymn-books omit the following verse:
The rich man in his castle,
the poor man at his gate,
God made them, high or lowly,
and ordered their estate.
It’s not difficult to understand why this item is not usually sung these days as it appears to make God in favour of the extreme differences of wealth and poverty which Jesus seems to condemn as unjust in the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus in St Luke chapter 16 verses 19 – 31. However, I would suggest that God does intend that the different orders of existence, in heaven and on earth do have their proper place, and that whenever there is movement between these there are profound consequences. Let me demonstrate what I mean, with a phrase of explanation against each category:
This situation was threatened by the pride of one of the angels — Lucifer, later known as Satan. Isaiah chapter 14 tells us how he tried to rise to a higher position than God, but he did not realize that he was dependent on Him for his status as an angel, so he was thrown down from heaven. See Obadiah verse 4 for another instance of this. Satan can be caricatured as having horns and a forked tail but his real trademark is arrogant pride leading to alienation from God. Not content with his loss of position he tried to increase havoc by persuading the first man and woman to disobey God so as to become like Him, ‘knowing good and evil’ (Genesis chapter 3). Soon they realised their mistake and the damage which this had caused to their relationship with each other, with God and with the world they had been given as their home. It was as if that section of the column which included adults and children had descended out of the range of influence of God’s life-giving Spirit. Only rarely in the Old Testament was it said of people that the Spirit had come upon them. Whilst physically alive, Adam and Eve became subject to death and estranged from God. The diagram now looks like this:
Was God’s beautiful creation to be spoilt for ever by this act of rebellion? In due time, He took decisive action to restore the situation. If an angel or if humans arrogantly aspiring to a higher position than God intended had led to alienation and loss of innocence what would happen if someone who had the right to a high status took a lower place for a while in humility and obedience? This is what we celebrate at Christmas. There is an early Christian hymn in the letter to the Philippians about Jesus being prepared to relinquish his exalted position in heaven in order to take our human nature upon him, to the extent of being born as a baby amongst the animals in a smelly stable. He grew up to be a man, but then encountered the jealousy of evil men who resented his obvious experience of God’s wisdom and power. They put him to death, but having trusted God, he was raised by Him, first back to a life he would share for forty days with his followers, and later, to a higher position than he had had before he accepted his mission on earth.
If the devil’s trade-mark is pride and disobedience which led to his downfall, the distinctive characteristic of Jesus is humility, trust and obedience leading to restoration of harmony with God and other people. Let’s consider the diagram again to appreciate something of what Jesus has done for us through his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension.
At each stage of Jesus humbly submitting to his Father’s will, represented by a downward movement in the diagram, God affirmed him with signs of acclamation. When he accepted birth as one of the race he came to rescue, hosts of angels sang on the hillsides (Luke chapter 2 verses 13 & 14), and foreign dignitaries brought gifts from afar (St Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 12). When he accepted baptism, which John the Baptist had offered as a sign of repentance for wrongdoing, although he had done no wrong, the Spirit came on him like a dove and a voice from Heaven declared God’s favour on him and that he was His Son (St Mark chapter 1 verses 10 & 11). When he accepted death in our place he was only three days in the tomb before he was raised by the glory of the Father.
The hymn from Philippians (chapter 2 verses 5 to 11) mentioned above helps us respond to what Jesus has done for us. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, ‘Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’”
We can have our own place in God’s purposes, as represented by the diagram. Just as Adam and Eve followed Satan by pride and arrogance into alienation from God, from each other and from their environment, so we may follow Jesus into harmony with God and reconciliation in our relationships. In St Matthew chapter 18 verse 3 Jesus told his disciples that, ‘unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of God’. He might have been referring to children’s readiness to trust even if they don’t fully understand – yet. St Paul wrote in chapter 6 (verses 3 to 5) of his letter to the Christians in Rome that in baptism we share in the death of Christ in order that we may share in his resurrection. Both these are instances of accepting a lower position in humility so that we may be restored to where we were meant to be – within the influence of the Holy Spirit and able to enjoy the privileges of being the sons and daughters of God. Paul would have had in mind baptism of an adult by immersion in a depth of water rather than a baby’s Christening at a font.
Considering the diagram one last time with respect to ourselves:
Pride and arrogance, humility and obedience, all have a bearing on worship. If we refuse to worship God in any sense, that is, we will not acknowledge His worth-ship or His worthiness of our praise and prayers, then we are saying that He is no more important than us. Satan went wrong by trying to get above God’s level, but it is little different to attempt to bring Him down to ours. If we do worship God and express both his greatness and holiness, and our need for forgiveness, strength and guidance, then we can expect His gracious promise to restore those who trust Him.
Heavenly truths often have earthly parallels. People who set aside their own pleasure some of the time in order to submit to the discipline of gaining a useful skill will develop their character and the value of what they have learnt may well be recognised by others so that they are given the satisfaction of fulfilment and responsibility.
This Christmas remember that Jesus came down to earth in humility to reverse the results of the devil’s arrogance, and bring us back to God.
Yours sincerely
Martin Snellgrove
Rector of Hope