Rev’d Peter Balabanski

Pentecost 23 C – Isa 65 17-25, Isa 12 1-6, 2 Thess 3 7-12, Lk 21 5-19

My grandmother was born in Australia in 1896. I’d sometimes hear her talk about family members and friends who’d ‘gone home’ to visit friends and family. By ‘home’, she meant the British Isles. And she was still saying it in her nineties. It was a ‘home’ where she’d never lived, but it still loomed large in her sense of herself, and who she belonged to.

In our reading from Isaiah today, the prophet is writing for people who’ve been exiled from their home for about sixty years (597-538 BCE). So two generations of them have been born as slaves in captivity. They are only now being allowed to return home. But it’s to a Jerusalem in ruins. Of course they wanted to go home. But to do so was like it is for people today after a time of conflict and displacement returning with their children and grandchildren to the ruins of their homes. Isaiah’s people returned to find a ruined city, ruined Temple, ruined Judah, ruined home.

But Isaiah shares a wonderful vision with his people; a vision that God has given him. And it’s about much more than just a ruined homeland. ¹⁷ I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. ¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. We meet this same vision in the Revelation to St John 21.1-4. What a vision! Everything renewed – not a replaced home – a renewed, restored one. We love the heavens and earth we know, and long for them be restored to the way they should be. It’s a wonderful vision.

But today, we’ve been sandwiched between this joyful vision of renewal in our first reading, and in our last, the Gospel, Jesus warns that the grand, rebuilt Temple will soon be no more; that life will soon become very dangerous for his hearers. The people who remembered him saying these things were actually living through this suffering at the time they wrote the Gospel. Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in 70 CE. The Temple was utterly destroyed, and most of Judah’s population was forcibly displaced.

So what can all this mean for us? Most of us probably can’t relate to either Isaiah or the Gospel in any sense as survivors or victims of settler colonialism. If we leave home, it’s usually by our own choice; not at the end of a Kalashnikov. And when we return, it’s not to the devastation that colonised and invaded people return to.

So where does this touch our lives as St John’s? What are we called to do in our path as followers of Jesus? We are people to whom God’s passion for justice, and God’s compassion for the poor and oppressed have been drilled into us by the prophets, and most profoundly by the self-offering of Jesus. And if we are followers of Jesus, what does he want us to do; what did he show us to do?

The key word is home. Today, Jesus tells us what he wants his followers to do. He calls us to remain true to the Way he showed us, no matter what push-back we may encounter. And we know that Jesus’ Way was one which meant active intervention in the lives of poor people, of social outcasts, and of the sick and needy; helping them be at home in their own land. Jesus constantly challenged social conventions. We have such conventions today that denigrate all but the so-called deserving poor.

Jesus challenged those conventions and carried on, quite aware of where that would lead for him. His was the same Way the prophets had called all God’s people to walk; the Way of justice, mercy and faithfulness. And they were persecuted for doing it. As I said two weeks ago, in the Church, this Way has always been seen in the lives of people whose character is formed anew by the teachings and example of Jesus; people whose actions proclaim the Kingdom of God to the world.

Our life as a congregation must reveal this transformed character if we are to be true to the Way of Jesus. Talking about his values is not enough. Action is the only proclamation that cuts the mustard. But what action? Two weeks ago, I spoke of the immediate and growing need of homelessness on our doorstep. The great thing is that St John’s has been involved in addressing this need through St John’s Youth Services for 45 years. But I’m concerned that over the years, new people have joined us and I haven’t kept everyone up to date with the amazing work of SJYS. Our grocery and toiletry basket support its work. But we need engage more fully.

I’ll sketch the work of this unique organisation at notice time and I’ve made written information available in my weekly newsletter. But for the moment, let me remind you that SJYS AGM is happening after our service next Sunday and everyone in the congregation is – at the cost of $10 –a financial member of SJYS. Parish council will be discussing our financial support for mission and outreach at our next meeting. As part of that, it would be good to have input from all of you about how we as a congregation might consider supporting SJYS in its commitment to ensure that every young person in South Australia can make a place to call home.  Amen