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Sermon: Passion Sunday

 
Preacher:
Paul Thompson
Date:
Sunday 6th April 2025
Venue:
Guildford Cathedral
Service:
Cathedral Eucharist

Its true to say that most organisations today have a strap brand line of sorts, and the Diocese of Guildford has a very catchy one .........

Hands up if you can remember it !! Sorry, I forgot myself for one moment, in that I am not in a classroom full of teenagers!! And in fairness its still very early on a Sunday morning...and it would only be right to allow you some thinking time !! 😊

Anyhow that Diocesan strap line is of course transforming...... TRANSFORMING CHURCH AND TRANSFORMING LIVES !! Im expecting big brownie points from Bishop Andrew for me in being, on brand!!

Luckily it is also a most convenient line for my sermon theme this morning!!

Today, often referred to as Passion Sunday, might also easily be referred to as TRANSFORMATION SUNDAY as well !!

It’s what we are about this morning, from the Collect through to the appointed lectionary readings... More of this a little later.

Like many of us present here in the Cathedral, or for those participating via our live stream, I am on the mailing list of several theatres. And its always of great excitement to see a new season unfolding and the various productions on offer!! Maybe its that word transformation in the story and characters, that I love so much, as the stated plot unfolds in the creative narrative.

That said its always the ballet and dance productions that I will look to first off. Romeo and Juliet, and Swan Lake just for starters. It’s the stuff fairy tales are made of – seeing transformation.

None more so than “Sleeping Beauty”, who awakened from her hundred-year sleep by the courageous prince. Or “Cinderella”, where the poor,  orphan girl is treated as a slave by her stepmother, and transformed into a princess when her prince falls in love with her. Or even “Beauty and the Beast”, where a beautiful kind girl, unknowingly transforms the life of a prince who was turned into an ugly monster for his earlier unkindness.

These stories are often about specialness and beauty, recognising reality, and seeing potential. I want to suggest that they appeal to our human hope for transformation, a promise of new life, and that ordinary people really can live out a new vision. We are gradually immersed into an imaginative world, where we can dare to see life differently, in mundane or difficult surroundings, and then to reach out for life-giving transformations. 

Today’s readings set out a vision for us Christians to live within. A vision of God’s dream for creation, and our part in it.

Urging us to forget all that lies behind us – the successes and failures, deserts and valleys, journeys and crises, who we are, and where we happen to find ourselves............

We hear this in our epistle reading, where St Paul encourages us to fix eyes on the vision God has prepared for us, salvation in Christ and life in God’s kingdom. This transformative vision was the secret of Paul’s life for Christ.

It was also the transformative vision that captured Mary of Bethany, in St John’s Gospel. The woman who had listened deeply to Christ, who recognised the profound value and timing of his presence, and loved him extravagantly, with passionate service and devotion. Mary as it were offering herself sacrificially as a disciple of Christ.

The massive contrast she is to Judas Iscariot! Who had spent so much time  in the presence of Jesus, heard his teaching on the kingdom of God, witnessed his miracles at first hand, and been part of his chosen team of companions. Sadly,  Judas hadn’t even begun to really see and understand. Unable to recognise presence, power and love in Jesus, God’s Messiah.

Judas pretended only to see the conflicts and needs of “now”, refusing who Jesus was, and who he would be. The transforming vision of God’s incarnational reality – the prophecies, Jesus’ life and words, the new life in God’s kingdom – had not even touched him.

It is factually true however, that Jesus’ disciples needed evidence of His death and resurrection to really begin understand what God was achieving.  Judas’ heart was so totally unmoved that he planned to betray this innocent man for a handful of silver.

Judas who complained at Mary’s extravagance, and then chose to gain from the jealousy, hatred and legalism which eventually was to lead to Jesus’ death, the death for which Jesus had accepted Mary’s loving anointing with sacred oils. 

Now when we contrast Mary and Judas, we see such a variance in their response to Christ. But perhaps it is not so very different for us today either. God’s call to know him is still there for us all, and yet so many miss the point, and need to be reminded.

Jesus’ call to recognise God in neighbours, in ourselves, and then to live and work for the growth and glory of that kingdom, and its king.

All this is the work of God throughout the life of any Christian, and invites open hearts, minds and eyes. Transformation and change for all.

Mary displays a wonderful openness – to live with eyes wide open to the divine activity around us, and to be full of faith in our Christian involvement.

It is to see, that to walk with the needy, lift up the weak, feed the poor, speak gently, and love fully, is God’s transforming call in all of our lives.

It is to recognise that we all crave renewed hearts and minds, to know the radical transforming vision of Christ, and to experience the power and promises of God.

In the person of Judas we see what it is like to live with a divided loveless heart.

We need to be transformed, for any of us to have a part in bringing about change in God’s world.

A genuine and transformative vision of the kingdom of God, brings together a call for personal salvation, with political and social change.

Recognising the transformative presence of Christ is to see both his lordship and friendship, knowing that the promise and glory of God is the Holy Spirit’s daily work within us.     

So perhaps the next time one of those theatre mailings drops through you letter box and you head to the theatre.......may you enjoy your own personal transformation. Oh and dont forget that Diocesan strapline.......

Amen.

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