Regaining Our Birthright (Proper 15)

(Watch at https://youtu.be/Ww6PJwGmlkE)

Our hearts are restless. This is particularly acute in this time of pandemic, fear of death, social isolation and inactivity. Many of us are alone at home with too much time on our hands – or so we think. Now that we have run out of projects and distractions it may be time to do some serious reflection on our lives. One of the first questions we could ask is “Who are we?” Many people think of themselves as a teacher, lawyer, housewife, manager, librarian etc. But that is what we do – not who we are. The readings explain how easily we lose our birthright – our identity as beloved children of God; and how Jesus as the Word and the Holy Spirit help us regain our true identity and a life of joy.

 

1. How did we lose our birthright?

Our Birthright Is Spiritual Life In-Christ (Proper 15)

A “birthright” is something you are entitled to because of who your parents are. Esau is the first-born son who foolishly gives up his birthright of inheriting his fathers’ land and spiritual blessings. Our birthright as “Christians, “born again” in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, is eternal spiritual life. The Romans reading explains that while we live physically in a mortal body, we have a new spiritual life because the Spirit of Jesus lives in us and guides our life. As we live more and more fully in this spiritual life as we depend on the Holy Spirit to help us understand and overcome the temptations of our ‘natural self’ which can cause us to lose our spiritual birthright. Esau is a warning.

1. We get our spiritual birthright from the seed of the Word

What Must I Do To Have Eternal Spiritual Life? (Proper 15)

Jesus is asked the big question - and He gives the big answer. Notice that he does not give the usual Gospel of John answer about believing in Jesus. Instead, since he is asked as a test of Hebrew orthodoxy; he gives what we might call the “Hebrew” answer. In everyday use we tend to shorten this to “love God and your neighbour” We tend to:

·         Leave out the “With all your heart” part.

·         Define neighbour too narrowly

·         Skim over the “as yourself part”

Jesus deepened, widened and strengthened the definition of love.

Those Who Believes In Me Will Live Even Though They Die (Celebration of Life)

This is the Good News of Christianity. We all wonder what happens when someone dies. We all fear our own death. We also all hear a lot of platitudes about people being in Heaven who may or may not have been serious believers. The most common lie in our time is that good old uncle George is in heaven in spite of never having shown evidence of belief – but because they were a “good person”. The sad truth is that George is probably just dead. He had probably not developed a spiritual life, not asked for and received forgiveness for his sins, had no relationship with Jesus and his sin polluted soul and spirit could not survive in the presence of a holy God. The Readings (John 11 an 14) help us understand why we are celebrating the Earthly and continuing spiritual joy of our beloved Sister in Christ – who was also a very good person, but who had developed a strong spiritual life that could survive in the presence of a holy God.

1. We are not just physical beings – we have a soul and a spirit

In order to understand the joy of our spiritual life we need to understand how things work in the spiritual dimension described in the Bible. God, for example, is omnipresent – can be present everywhere, including in Jesus and including in us.