A challenge to think again!

The truth is that there are many parts of Scripture where the morality is at best questionable and even some parts, like the condoning of slavery that we now reject. In John 6 [the Gospel reading set for this day], the people come looking for Jesus. He has fed them once and they wanted to be fed again. He encouraged them to seek the bread of life, which he was longing to provide for them.
There are many in our communities who are hungry for acceptance, acknowledgement that they matter to someone, that someone cares about the pain they have suffered and the neglect they have felt, who long to be fed with love and kindness, to be appreciated for who they are. Most survivors of abuse do not seek revenge. Most are looking for assistance to thrive, to come to feel God and others really care about what has happened to them.
When are we as the Church in general going to freely acknowledge that Jesus is the Living Word of God and that there are a number of passages in Scripture that are not consistent with Jesus’ teaching of justice and mercy? Probably the closet story we have to this one of David and Bathsheba from Jesus is the one about the woman taken in adultery where Jesus said, “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.”[John 8:7] He didn’t treat the woman like an object and nor did he blame her. Instead he treated her with quiet dignity.
If your response to this sermon is one of discomfort or agitation; if you want to say that it is making a fuss about something that doesn’t matter much, I urge you to think again. God loves and honours each of us as individual persons. God does not treat us as objects or possessions. Christ longs for us to be filled with the bread of life. When we can assist more survivors to thrive, our whole communities will also thrive.
The writer of the Epistle to the Ephesians talks of us being part of the body of Christ. This body can only thrive if we seek healing and wholeness for all its members and God longs to bring us such healing. May we be open to listening to the prophets of today who bring us the truth, even when it is painful.
Rev Julianne Parker (for full sermon see sermons page)