Stewards of Grace

A Sermon by Andrew Colman based on Ephesians 3:1-12

Happy New Year Everyone

We are here. We have made it through another year, and there is another one right ahead of us. New Cat Themed Calendars of all kinds are being pinned to the walls everywhere…

The Daily Audio Bible is back in Genesis once again, and holy smokes, does that book move fast! It's only day 5, and I feel like I've heard most of the Old Testament stories I read when I was a kid.

We are right here at the beginning.

It is not just the beginning of the year, but we are right here at the beginning of the story of Jesus’ ministry to the Gentiles. It is Epiphany! (Well, tomorrow is today is actually the 12th Day of Christmas) But Tonight we are celebrating the the arrival of the Wise Men or the Magi.

Tonight, we heard the story of some men from the East; we don't really know where, probably Persia, but everywhere, as far as India has been speculated, we hear the story of these men from the East discovering something. They found a star that meant a king had been born. These are men who would have known their books well. And something like a star foretelling a King probably would have stuck out among the various ideas in their books.

So when that star appeared in the sky, you can imagine that night. Magi all over the land are out there watching the stars as they had been doing their whole lives, making mental notes that this one moved a little that way, as it had done their whole lives; there was a little shooting star off to the left, a little change is nice but nothing that they hadn't been seeing their whole lives.

But then, one night, something new, something totally other! Just hanging there. Not moving, not shooting away, not flickering away. Just hanging there.

Maybe one of the younger Magi who knew they knew something about "a star and someone important" will have watched a few minutes, blinked, splashed his face with water, gone back out and looked. It was still there... and then lit a couple extra candles and ran off to the library to confirm what it is that they thought they were seeing. Probably one, the skeptic of the group, who saw the star but didn't want to see it, who, for whatever reason, didn't want it to mean what it meant, and so ended up not seeing it for what it was. And then there would have been one magi who just fell asleep that night and missed the first glimpse.

But then there would have been one of the older magi, maybe too old to travel, who had the words of this star written on her heart. It had been the one she had been waiting for her whole life. She knew she couldn't follow it, but that didn't matter. The King had finally come... whatever that means. And she got to see the star and got to live on Earth at the same time as this King.

They were there right at the beginning, the beginning of God's Promise opening up to the whole of humankind.

They were there at the beginning of the Promise of God's Grace and Peace being poured out on all of the world - without discrimination of any kind. No matter who you are, what you've believed, what you've done, where you come from, what you look like, nothing. They were there at the beginning of the Grace of God being opened up to all. They couldn't have known that, of course, and probably none of the magi that were alive at the time ever did know what it really ended up meaning.

But there was another Religious man who did know, and his name was Saul - he knew in a very different way than the magi. He had his books, and he knew them very well - but in the beginning, he was like the one Magi who saw the star and didn't want to see it - who didn't want to mean what it meant - he just wanted it to do away. Saul worked ruthlessly to make it go away. He didn't want the star, this King, the Messiah, to interrupt. If it did, it would mean that his whole life would have to change. Whis whole like would have to change.

And he had devoted his whole life to serving God in one very particular way - to change that would mean that everything he had done would be shattered - and it would all turn to garbage. And he would have to go a different way. That's hard enough for any of us to hear - that what we have been working for our whole life has been completely turned upside down and inside out.

But as we know, Paul Acts nine goes like this: “Suddenly, a light from heaven (a star?) shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said,"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. That was it for Saul, so much so that he was to change his name to Paul - his whole identity changed in that moment. He had met the King. Now, Saul persecuted the Christians with fervour. That is a euphemism, for he encouraged the murder of Christians. Christians feared him because of "how much evil he has done to the saints at Jerusalem." But even that was not enough to stop God from using Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles. That was not enough to stop God from pouring our God's Grace and Peace on this man who had hated and killed other human beings. That is the absolute scandal of Grace. If Paul was not beyond God’s Grace and forgiveness and Love - no one is.

By the rules set out by our world, Paul would have been arrested and locked up, never to live another free day in his life. That would be fair - that would be just. And it is part of our call as Christians to work towards a world where Justice is given. Where the oppressed are set free, and the poor are not only fed but given a real chance to live a full and good life. It is part of our calling to hold those who need to be held accountable accountable for their actions. Paul // did not deserve to be the greatest of all of the apostles. He did not deserve anything more than a jail cell, and he knew it deep, deep in his bones.

But God works within a cosmic understanding of the whole. God's Mercy and Grace run deeper than we can even hope to understand. While we have to live with the consequences of our actions here on Earth - which is a good thing. Our God, in the end, is not a punishing God but a forgiving God. One who sees the places from where we came from and offers us refuge every single time we seek it.

This is the Grace that was given to Paul, and not only given for his sake but for the sake of the world. Paul was given Grace as one of the gravest of sinners so that he could give it away and teach it. And who would be able to teach such a depth of Mercy and Grace than one who knows the depths from which he has been saved? In our reading from Ephesians tonight, Paul calls himself a steward of Grace. This is just beautiful because A steward is not an owner - they have no ownership of that which they have care. But they do have care over it. And Paul had the care of the message of the Mercy and Grace of The God of Israel through the life of Jesus Christ being made free for everyone.

It was his to teach well- no cheap grace here; we are called to live a life as Christ would have us; it was his to give, it was his to forgive both others who persecuted him, who wronged him, as Jesus said 7x77 times, and to know that he was forgiven by God himself when he strayed from the way it was his to embody.

Like the Magi, who met Jesus and went home on a different Road - Paul was now walking a totally different Way. Because none of us can meet Jesus, whether for the first time or the 1000th, like here at the table tonight, and walk away unchanged. And that means that we now, too, are all stewards of this Grace that Paul knew.

It is ours to teach - well- no cheap grace here, it was ours to give, it was ours to forgive both others who persecuted have us, who wronged us, as Jesus said 7x77 times, and to know that we are forgiven by God when we stray from the way, every single time. Not punished or shamed - but forgiven and welcomed home again and again and again it is ours to embody. Which is such a gift - more than we can ask or imagine. Amen