exultemus

Tag: god

  • Making the kingdom real

    The Church of St Neot, Cornwall

    This is the text of a sermon preached at the Church of St Neot, Cornwall.

    The readings were, Genesis 181-5, (211-7) Romans 51-8 Matthew 935-108, (9-23)

    Proclaim that the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those suffering from virulent skin-diseases, drive out devils.

    In last week’s gospel (the call of Matthew the tax collector, the raising of the official’s dead daughter and the healing of the woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years) Jesus showed us what the kingdom of Heaven is like and modelled for us what it is to be citizen of that kingdom.

    That may not be exactly what Ian told you last week, but I’m sure that if you unpack it a bit you’ll find that is, more or less, what he was saying.

    Following on from that today’s gospel has Jesus sending his disciples, the Twelve, out to make the kingdom real for a whole range of people – the sick, the dead, the lepers, the possessed.

    They are sent to transform lives; the lives of the people who need it most – the weak, the vulnerable, those in need, the lost, the lonely.

    Where the kingdom of Heaven is to be found these are the things that you will see.

    It would be overstating it to suggest that Jesus doesn’t say anything about what we should believe about God. But he certainly does say a lot more about the people that we should aspire to become and the things that we should be doing.

    Even something like the Sermon on the Mount (one of the most significant passages of teaching of Jesus) is not very much about God, in the sense of telling us what God is like. It’s much more about how we should live our lives and how our faith in God means living in ways that make a difference in the world.

    In the Beatitudes he calls blessed the poor in spirit, the gentle, the mourners, those who long for righteousness, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who suffer for righteousness’ sake.

    He calls us to be salt for the earth and light for the world.

    He sets a higher standard for us, turning the other cheek, offering the shirt off our back, love enemies.

    And so on.

    And now we see the outcome of all this. This new order that Jesus institutes requires us to act.

    Just as the disciples are sent out, not to tell people what God is like but to transform lives by curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the disfigured, driving out demons.

    They are to tell them that the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand. But then it’s a question of showing them what it looks like – the sick are cured, the dead raised, the possessed released, making it real.

    Throughout Christian history the Church has served God best by making a difference for those who are marginalised by society, or afflicted by sickness or disease, disadvantaged by poverty, ignorance, oppression or prejudice.

    I know that last week Ian spoke about how we can be making a difference in our society by supporting organisations such as St Petroc’s, working with the homeless, our local foodbank and baby basics. And I make no apology for mentioning them again.

    And there is much more that we can be doing. Many other charities and organisations that we can support. Many organisations that we can volunteer to work for, both locally and globally.

    And it may be that you notice gaps in local provision that you might be able to fill – supporting children and young people, visiting the housebound and elderly, being a listening ear to the bereaved, or a friendly face to the lonely or isolated.

    All of these are exactly the sorts of things that Jesus is telling us are signs of the presence of the kingdom. Lots of small things that can make a big difference to our community and our world.

    Heaven may be what awaits us after this life ends, but Jesus constantly reminds us that the kingdom of Heaven begins here and now – in the difference we make to the needy, the vulnerable, the powerless and the oppressed.

    Perhaps, if we’re not making a difference here, in this life, our place in Heaven, in the next might be less assured than we hope.

  • Modelling the Kingdom

    The Church of St Tallanus, Talland, Coprnwall from the South East

    The text of a sermon preached on the First Sunday after Trinity, June 7th, 2026, at the Church of St Tallanus, Talland, Cornwall.

    The readings were, Genesis 121-9 Romans 413-end Matthew 99-13, 18-26

    Many of Jesus’ parables begin with words such as, the kingdom of heaven is like …, or, with what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

    But Jesus doesn’t just tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like – he shows us.

    By the way he lives, by the things he does, by the things he says, by the way he treats other people, Jesus consistently shows us what the kingdom is like.

    But he does this not simply to show us or tell us what it’s like – but to model the way in which we too can make it real – in our own lives and in the communities in which we live as we emulate his actions and attitudes in our own society..

    This morning’s Gospel reading is one such example – or perhaps even two or three!

    He doesn’t mention the kingdom of God here at all – he lives it out; he makes it real; he invites people into the kingdom by transforming their lives.

    But not only that but shows us that the kingdom is for all, regardless of their background.

    The kingdom is not about who we are, but who we can become.

    In this morning’s short except from Matthew’s gospel there are no parables and only one brief piece of teaching from Jesus – but it is packed with things for us to learn about God’s kingdom.

    It begins as Jesus, walking past the tax office, spots Matthew and invites the tax collector to Follow me. Matthew immediately rises and follows Jesus.

    Does Jesus already know Matthew? Have they talked before? Has Matthew seemed like a possible disciple? We don’t know. But the short story that follows tells a lot about the kingdom – and who is called to be a part of it.

    Jesus, at table with tax collectors and sinners, is criticised by the Pharisees, Why does you master eat with tax collectors and sinners?

    Jesus’ reply is very telling. Not only does it put his critics in their place, but it also provides us with plenty to think about. He could have introduced what he said to the Pharisees with the words, In the kingdom of God …, because that is what he describes,

    It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the upright, but sinners.

    Clearly, the Pharisees need to learn that lesson, but so do we who aspire to be citizens of the kingdom of God. These are words which remind us of the need to understand that no one, in particular sinners, are beyond the love and mercy of God. Indeed the sinners are the people who have the most need of God and his mercy.

    Jesus is so clear, it is not the healthy, but the sick; mercy, not sacrifice; I came to call not the upright, but sinners.

    These words are surely as much for his disciples as they are for the Pharisees, and therefore, for us.

    The next part of our reading this morning features two acts of healing. The one of the official’s daughter, the other of the woman with the haemorrhage.

    They come form very different backgrounds. The official’s daughter has status in her community. Her father holds an important office; her life is, no doubt, comfortable and her death is mourned by the crowd and the musicians gathered at the official’s home.

    By contrast the woman has suffered for many years. She has, because of her condition, been an outcast in society. She is almost certainly poor and has probably been reliant on the generosity of others. She has not been able to attend synagogue worship for twelve years because her haemorrhage renders her unclean. She is even taking a risk just being part of the crowd around Jesus; and risks everything by daring to touch Jesus. According to the Law he should avoid her and she him.

    Jesus asks no questions, does not try, in any way, to establish whether these people are worthy of his healing, life-giving authority.

    The official comes up to him, saying,

    My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.

    There is no hesitation. Jesus doesn’t check with the locals that the official is worthy, or that the daughter is deserving. Immediately Jesus rose, and with his disciples, followed him.

    When the woman comes up behind him and touches his cloak, he turns to her. There is no, What do you think you are doing? At once, Jesus recognising her need says to her,

    Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.

    At the official’s home Jesus enters at once, after rebuking the crowd and sending them away, goes inside and takes the girl’s hand and she revives and stands up.

    Jesus is unconcerned about status, wealth, rank or worthiness; only by need.

    The tax collector, the official’s daughter, the woman with the haemorrhage. He asks no questions, does no checking, does not criticise or rebuke, requires no profession of faith; he simply responds to their need.

    I started by saying that Jesus models for us what the kingdom of God is like. And here that is what he has done.

    In his dealings with these three individuals he has shown, by the way he responds to them, and their needs, what the kingdom of God is like.

    It is inclusive, nobody is rejected or turned away.

    It offers forgiveness, mercy and acceptance, not judgement, criticism or shunning.

    It offers healing and renewal.

    It is life-giving and affirming.

    Time and again throughout the gospels these are the attitudes that Jesus models for us.

    As individual Christians, as a Church, at our best we share those attitudes.

    But too often we can be judgemental, exclusive, uncaring, indifferent.

    Jesus is consistent in the way he reveals the kingdom. He reveals it to be inclusive, merciful, healing and life-giving.

    That is an example for us. But it is also a challenge. And a challenge we dare not ignore, because for us to act otherwise is to reject the values of God’s kingdom.

  • Spirit of truth

    Church of St Neot, Cornwall

    The text of a sermon preached at St Neot, Cornwall on the Fest of Pentecost, May 24th 2026.

    The set readings were, Acts 21-21 1 Corinthians 123b-13 John 2019-23

    The late John Taylor, a former Bishop of Winchester, in his book, The Go-Between God, wrote,

    It is the function of the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus ceaselessly to our remembrance so that we may live and make all our choices in reference to him. The Spirit-filled life is the Christ-centred life.

    How do you experience the Holy Spirit?

    How did the first disciples experience the Holy Spirit?

    …suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. (Acts 22-3)

    After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 2022)

    John, in his gospel, and Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, have very different accounts of how the first disciples experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    The accounts are so different that it appears that they can hardly be describing the same phenomenon.

    Are they two separate events?

    I’m not going to attempt to answer that question now, because I don’t think that it very much matters for us this morning. It is enough to say that the first Christians had a powerful experience of what it meant for them to have received the Holy Spirit. It fulfilled the promise of Jesus that God would give you another Paraclete [or Advocate] to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, as we heard in the gospel of John two weeks ago; and it empowered their mission as they proclaimed the gospel and grew the early Church.

    But it was more than this. The Holy Spirit in their lives renewed their relationship with God, helped them realise more fully what difference Jesus had made in their lives and in the world. She deepened their faith and reassured them on their pilgrimage through life towards union with God.

    John recorded the experience of the giving of the Spirit in one way and Luke in another. The Holy Spirit will not be limited by our expectations of how she will come to us.

    Wind; Fire; Breath; Power; Tongues; Stillness; Terror; Beauty; Energy; Quiet; Noise; Unsettling; Calming. But always drawing us to focus on Jesus – who he is, what he has done – and is still doing; and, most importantly, how we make sense of what his coming means for us. Making us pay attention to what is truly important – what God has done and is doing in Jesus.

    Let’s think about each of these two accounts and see what they might teach us about what the Spirit’s coming means to us.

    John’s account takes place on the evening of the day of the resurrection. The disciples have heard about – and seen – the empty tomb. They’ve heard what the women – so far the only witnesses of the risen Lord – have had to say, and they’re unsure what to make of it all.

    The disciples are locked away in the upper room, where they had shared a final supper with Jesus. They have seen him die on the cross in a grotesque and brutal form of execution and fear that a similar fate may now await them. They’ve heard that Jesus has risen, but they are unready to believe it.

    Then Jesus appears, greets them with a blessing of peace – shalom – as he surely has many times before and breathes on them – Receive the Holy Spirit.

    This is the moment when everything changes for them. There can now be no going back as things were before.

    Luke’s account could hardly be more different.

    Fifty days after the resurrection the disciples are gathered together, still in the upper room (where they seem to have spent the whole time since they witnessed Jesus’ ascension a few days earlier), there comes a violent wind – the very antithesis of Jesus’ greeting of peace. Shalom! But that’s not all. After the wind come tongues of fire settling on each of them, compelling them to give utterance to words, not from themselves but from that same Spirit.

    Although Luke’s narrative doesn’t say this we must assume by the context of the story that the disciples rushed out of the room where they were gathered – driven by fear, or by a new found enthusiasm? It’s hard to be sure.

    But, notice now that the first thing that the disciples do in both accounts of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    In John they proclaim Jesus to Thomas when he returns, We have seen the Lord.

    In Acts they rush out into the city and immediately speak to the crowds, who hear them preaching … about the marvels of God.

    In both cases they seem to be reassuring their listeners – and perhaps themselves – that the crucifixion was not the end. They talk about Jesus.

    They’re not thinking any longer about Jesus’ death, but about his life – the life he shared with them – the things he taught them; the things he did and they did together.

    This is the proclamation of the gospel – Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again!

    But it’s also a reminder of who Jesus was; what Jesus did; how Jesus changed everything. What might have been a time of introspection – of thinking about what could have been – has become a moment for going out and telling the world that God, in Christ, is doing something entirely new.

    Newness is something of a theme in Jesus’ life and the life of the early Church.

    New life, new wine, a new commandment, a new creation, the new Jerusalem.

    These are the things that the Holy Spirit has revealed about what Jesus has done, constantly reminding those first disciples – and us – that all of this was achieved only in Jesus.

    This is what the early Christians knew and what they proclaimed – in the gospels; in the Acts of the Apostles; in the letters of Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude; in the letter to the Hebrews and in the book of Revelation. It’s all about Jesus; all the result of the Holy Spirit keeping his memory alive in his disciples.. This is what they proclaimed in the synagogues, towns and cities of the Roman Empire and beyond. Inspired by the Spirit they talked, preached, wrote about Jesus and how he had transformed their lives and made them new.

    And Christians have done the same ever since. In every generation, prompted always by the Spirit, they have talked about Jesus, remembered the things he said and did and from those memories have shaped their proclamation.

    And our own time is no different. The Holy Spirit still leads us to remember Jesus and to talk about him – to each other and to the world.

    This is the reason that the Holy Spirit has been given to us – so that we do not forget who Jesus is and why he is important. So that we can talk about Jesus in order that Christ is at the centre of all that we do.

    As Jesus said to his disciples at his last supper,

    when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.

    The Holy Spirit constantly reminds us about Jesus and gives us words to proclaim him to the world.

  • Another Paraclete

    The interior of St Melor’s Church, Linkinhorne, Cornwall

    The text of a sermon preached at St Melor’s Church, Linkinhorne on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, 10th May 2026.

    The readings were, Acts 1722-31 1 Peter 313-end John 1415-21

    During these weeks of Easter at Morning Prayer we have been invited to read the story of the Exodus – that great formative experience for the people of Israel as they journey from slavery in Egypt towards their settling in the Promised Land.

    During that whole journey God has travelled with them – a cloud leading them by day and a fire by night. Moses has spoken often with the Lord and has received the Law by which the Israelites will live for generations.

    Their story is a story of a pilgrimage on which they embark, not only to find God but with him. He walks alongside all the way through the forty years during which they become more fully God’s people.

    God has walked alongside them and will remain with them always.

    Words from today’s gospel,

    I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you for ever,

    Our attention begins to turn now towards the sending of the Holy Spirit as we approach Ascension Day and Pentecost, or Whit Sunday.

    Here in today’s gospel reading, at his last supper, Jesus promises his disciples that God the Father will send another Paraclete (or in the translation we heard read this morning the Advocate or in the Authorised Version the Comforter).

    The word paraclete comes from the Greek παρακλητος and means something like called to be alongside. In a legal context it had a sense of an advocate or someone who represents you in a court. It also carries a sense of one who comforts or consoles.

    Jesus is preparing his disciples for what they should expect after his death and resurrection. It is inevitable that he must return to the Father, and so will no longer be with them as he has been for the three years of his ministry around first Galilee and later Judaea.

    But he reassures them that they will not be left alone. Jesus promises his disciples four times that he will send the Holy Spirit – all of them in John’s gospel – and he uses the word Paraclete of the Spirit when he does so.

    Jesus is not silent on the Holy Spirit in the other gospels. In all of them he tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit will be with them and that by the Holy Spirit they will be given the words to speak when they are persecuted and put on trial for their faith. They need not worry about what to say because the Spirit will speak in them.

    Let’s think for a moment about the ways in which Jesus has been with his disciples, rather than with the crowds, or the scribes and Pharisees – both through his ministry and after the resurrection.

    Jesus’ ministry was an itinerant one. He travelled from town to town. There he spoke in the synagogues, to crowds on the mountain, or on the lake.

    But with his disciples he walks and talks with them. It is both companionship and dialogue; but it is also a time for him to teach them about who he is and what he is called to achieve. Together they walk the roads between places and discuss who Jesus is – and who they are in relation to him; how God is using Jesus to change the world and what their role will be in that mission.

    When he calls them to follow him he walks up to them and invites them to follow him – to walk with him. They are criticised by the Pharisees for plucking the wheat as they walk and eating it without washing. Jesus takes Peter, James and John aside and leads them up the mountain where he is transfigured. Jesus comes alongside them in the boat when he walks on the water.

    There are many events and moments that take place when they walk together, when they rest together – when Jesus is alongside them, away from the crowds.

    And following his resurrection Jesus always comes up to his disciples and comes alongside them – Mary at the empty tomb; the disciples in the upper room; Thomas in the upper room; the disciples on the road to Emmaus; the disciples at the sea of Galilee.

    Much of the experience of being one of Jesus’ disciples, and all of the most significant moments, happen when Jesus is alongside them. For them Jesus has been the one who comes alongside them – a Paraclete – the one who is beside them.

    And now, here, at his last supper with his disciples he is alongside them again and he promises them another Paraclete.

    Jesus has been the Paraclete for them for three years, now the Paraclete, fulfilling the same purpose for them will be the Holy Spirit – teaching, guiding, strengthening, comforting, counselling, leading, inspiring – just as Jesus has been doing with them for the last three years.

    All the things that Jesus has done for his disciples during these three years will now be done by the Holy Spirit. In a sense nothing is changing – except that Jesus will not be physically with them.

    There is a real sense of continuity in all of this.

    God is a God who walks with his people and accompanies them on their journey giving them the Law.

    Jesus walks alongside his disciples and reveals what he will achieve for them on the cross and in his resurrection.

    The Holy Spirit is alongside us to guide, strengthen and renew us as we journey though our journey of faith always walking alongside us – making it for us a lifelong pilgrimage in which we deepen our relationship with the God who walks with us every step of the Way.

  • Light of the world

    The East Window in St Bartholomew’s Church, Warleggan, Cornwall

    The text of a sermon preached at St Bartholomew’s Church, Warleggan, Cornwall on Sunday 15th March 2026

    the readings were 1 Samuel 161-13 Ephesians 58-14 John 91-41

    You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; behave as children of light, for the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and uprightness and truth.

    These are the opening words from the verses of Ephesians read as this morning’s New Testament reading. They are all about light – and in particular about the light in which we live as Christians as a result of our having been baptised.

    Paul, here, is reminding the Ephesian Christians to whom he is writing how much their lives have been transformed by their faith in Christ. It is like the difference between darkness and light. Not just walking out of darkness into light, but actually becoming light. They are not in the light, but they themselves are light.

    And now, having become light, they are called to show up the works of darkness for what they are. Having themselves been transformed they are to transform the world around them.

    In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus proclaims himself to be the light of the world.

    I am the light of the world is one of the seven I am sayings in John’s gospel – I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the door; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the way, the truth and the life; I am the vine.

    Each of them reveals something important about who Jesus is and what his ministry is to achieve. They all appear in John’s gospel and on every occasion John seems to be saying to us, Pay close attention to this bit – it’s really important!

    Jesus sees the man, a man who was born blind, not, he says, because either he or his parents sinned but so that the works of God might be revealed in him.

    And immediately, before anything else happens he says,

    As long as I am in the world
    I am the light of the world.

    The placement of this saying here seems to suggest that we need to interpret all that follows with the knowledge that Jesus is the light of the world, and to expect that this blind man will find his world filled with the light which Jesus brings..

    John’s accounts of the events of Jesus’ ministry can be quite lengthy and complex. But this is how the story develops.

    Jesus makes a paste, daubs it on the man’s eyes and tells him to wash in the pool, which he does and is now able to see.

    His neighbours find it hard to believe that this is the same man who was blind. How can such a thing happen? He reassures them that it is he and that the man Jesus healed him.

    The Pharisees interrogate the man, he tells them what Jesus did and how he received his sight. They debate among themselves whether Jesus can possibly be from God. How can he be? He breaks the Sabbath. The man tells them that Jesus could do this because he is a prophet.

    His parents are questioned, How is it that your son can now see? – but they dodge the question by telling the questioners to ask their son, he can speak for himself.

    So they do. They say Jesus is a sinner. The man responds with a remarkable profession of faith,

    Whether he is a sinner I don’t know; all I know is that I was blind and now I can see.’

    When they say that they don’t know where Jesus is from, he replies,

    That is just what is so amazing! You don’t know where he comes from and he has opened my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but God does listen to people who are devout and do his will. Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of someone born blind; if this man were not from God, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

    When he meets Jesus again Jesus asks him whether he believes in the Son of man. When Jesus tells him that it he, who has given him his sight, who is the Son of man he responds,

    ‘Lord, I believe,’ and worshipped him.

    Notice how the man has come to confess Jesus – from the man Jesus, who opened his eyes at the beginning of the story, to a prophet, when the Pharisees ask him who he thinks that Jesus is, to a man from God, when he is challenged to agree with the Pharisees’ assessment of Jesus as a sinner, to, when he learns who Jesus truly is, calling Jesus Lord and worshipping him.

    For this man it has been a journey from blindness to being able to see, but more importantly a journey from darkness to light.

    And, a journey from being ignorant of who Jesus is to worshipping him as the Son of God.

    The Pharisees, on the other hand, remain in darkness. They cannot recognise the truth of who Jesus is. They cannot come to the light because they are wilfully blind,

    Jesus said: It is for judgement that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see and those with sight may become blind.

    Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, ‘So we are blind, are we?’

    Jesus replied: If you were blind, you would not be guilty, but since you say, ‘We can see,’ your guilt remains.

    Those who acknowledge Christ are in the light – indeed they are light.

    And this is where we started with Paul and the Ephesians.

    You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; behave as children of light, for the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and uprightness and truth.

    But being light, as well as being a blessing to us, is a challenge as well. It is not enough to be in the light but it is a call, a commission – to become light and to be light in the world.

  • Glory on the mountain

    The Church of St Neot, Cornwall

    This is the text of a sermon delivered in the Church of St Bartholomew, Warleggan and the Church of St Neot, Cornwall. The readings appointed were, Exodus 2412-end 2 Peter 116-end Matthew 171-9

    George Mallory, who died in 1924 on his third attempt to climb Everest, when asked why he wanted to climb the mountain famously replied, “Because it’s there.”

    Mountains undoubtedly have a strong grip on the human imagination. People climb them, they ski down them, they paint them, they photograph them, they write legends about them, they compose symphonies about them, they imagine them to be homes of their gods, sometimes they even worship them as gods.

    I suppose it’s the sheer size of them, the effort required to reach their summits, the imposing grandeur of them.

    In Matthew’s gospel Jesus ascends a mountain three times. The first time it is to deliver his famous sermon on the mount,

    Seeing the crowds, he went onto the mountain. And when he was seated the disciples came to him. Then he began to speak.

    He ascends a mountain again at the end of the gospel when he appears for the last time to his disciples,

    The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him they worshipped him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations…”

    The third occasion is recorded in today’s gospel reading – the seemingly strange story of the transfiguration.

    Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain on their own. In their presence he was transfigured: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as dazzling as light.

    These events which take place on mountains are all key moments in the life of Jesus.

    On a mountain he delivers the central messages of his teaching. On a mountain his glory is revealed to his closest disciples. On a mountain he takes his leave of his disciples, commissioning them to continue the proclamation of the gospel and to make, and baptise, more disciples.

    But it is the second of these events that we are concerned with today.

    Jesus leads his closest disciples – Peter, James and John – up the mountain where he is transfigured. His appearance is changed and his face shines like the sun. His clothes become dazzling as light. This is unmistakably an image of glory. The three disciples are seeing Jesus, not as a mere man, but as the Son of God, as his divine nature is revealed in his transfiguration – and the voice heard from heaven confirms this truth,

    This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.

    These words were spoken at his baptism by John, but that was before these disciples had been called. These words are for their benefit – and they clearly made an impression as Peter recalls them in his second letter (2 Peter 116-17),

    we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. He received glory and honour from God the Father, when a voice came to him from the transcendent glory, “This my Son, the Beloved…”

    And through all this time Jesus has been accompanied on the mountain by two great heroes of the Old Testament – Moses and Elijah. Representatives of the Law and the Prophets.

    They had both had their own visions of God’s glory on mountains.

    Elijah, when he was fleeing the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel. He hid in a cave on Mount Horeb and the Lord passed by and Elijah was strengthened by the Lord’s appearance in the still, small voice.

    Moses was called up onto Mount Sinai to receive the Law. In the presence of the Lord on the mountain Moses’ face became so radiant because he [the Lord] had been talking to him. He covered his face when he came down the mountain and removed the veil when he went up the mountain to speak with Lord.

    The significance of both the mountainous location of the transfiguration and the appearance of these two figures from history will not have been lost on Matthew’s Jewish audience (Matthew certainly targetted his gospel to Jewish Christians).

    Mountains are places where God is encountered, and are associated, through Moses and Elijah with the the revelation of his glory.

    Moses ascends the mountain to receive the Law and Jesus, the new Moses, delivers his new Law on the mountain.

    The Jews believed that Elijah would return before the great and awesome Day of the Lord. The prophet Malachi tells us so in the very final verses of the book of the Old Testament that bears his name. So his appearance here with Jesus would support Christians’ claims that Jesus is the Messiah in the minds of the Jewish converts Matthew was writing for.

    This is the purpose that this story has for Matthew and the Christians he was writing for, but what does it say to us today? Why does it matter for us that Jesus was transfigured?

    Jesus, by the way he lived and the things he said set us an example of how to live in the way God requires of us. But, important though it is, that is not principally what Jesus is about.

    The context of this short story in Matthew’s gospel is important. In the preceding verses Jesus has asked his disciples, who do you say I am? Peter answered him,

    You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,

    And then, having praised Peter for his perception, Jesus makes the first prophecy in Matthew’s gospel of his passion,

    Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.

    Then, from this point Jesus’ story becomes more and more focussed on his death and resurrection.

    In this context this story of transfiguration becomes a vision of what will be true about Jesus in eternity because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a glimpse of his glory before the resurrection.

    It is what John, who let’s not forget was on the mountain with Jesus, said in the prologue of his gospel,

    The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

    Many commentators have suggested that the story of the transfiguration could have been a resurrection story which – by accident or deliberately – has become misplaced. A theory supported by an account of the resurrection itself in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter which bears a remarkable similarity to this account of the transfiguration.

    This story is told to make clear to us who Jesus is.

    It says that what is really important about Jesus, and what Jesus’ life is really all about is his death and resurrection and what that achieves for us.

    We’ll have plenty of opportunity to reflect on that during the next three months, of Lent, Holy Week and Easter.

    But for us today it is enough to be reminded that Jesus, the incarnate God, died on the cross and rose again for our salvation.

    And, because the death and resurrection of Jesus makes sense of everything from the story of the creation in Genesis to the account of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation, that is what this story does – it tells us that this is all about Jesus’ death and resurrection and our salvation!

  • Who do you say I am?

    St Wyllow, Lanteglos by Fowey, Cornwall

    This is the text of a sermon preached on Sunday 18th January 2026 at the Church of St Wyllow, Lanteglos by Fowey, Cornwall

    Isaiah 491-7 1Corinthians 11-9 John 129-42

    Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

    I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.

    Look, there is the lamb of God.

    Three things that John the Baptist says about Jesus to his disciples in this morning’s gospel reading. In what he says he uses two of the titles of Jesus that are applied to him in the New Testament – Lamb of God and the Chosen One of God (in the second case some of the original Greek texts have Son of God rather than Chosen One of God).

    These are just two of the many titles applied to Jesus – Lord, Master, Rabbi, Son of God, Son of Man, Lamb of God, Son of David, Logos, Messiah – there are others.

    Some of them Jesus uses of himself, some are used by others.

    When John uses them here they are intended to draw his disciples’ attention to Jesus. They are spoken as a witness.

    The previous day John had told the priests and Levites who had come to question him about who he was that he was not the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet, and that there was another to come after him whose sandal strap he was not fit to undo.

    And now as he sees Jesus coming towards him. Look, he says to his disciples, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

    John points away from himself and towards Jesus. The principal role of John the Baptist in John’s gospel is not as a baptiser but as a witness. Indeed, in this gospel the baptism of Jesus is not recorded at all. What is recorded is John’s witness. This is what he came to do – point the way to Jesus.

    And very effective he is. Immediately two of John’s disciples go after Jesus and spend the day with him, as a result of which one of them, Andrew, finds his brother Simon Peter and tells him, We have found the Messiah.

    Andrew takes Simon to Jesus, who says to him, You are Simon son of John, you are to be called Cephas (which in Hebrew means Rock. In Greek it is Petros or Peter).

    In the few verses following our reading the next day Jesus, meeting Philip, calls him to, Follow me. Philip fetches Nathanael and tells him that Jesus is the one written about by Moses and the prophets. When told that he is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth. Nathanael expresses surprise that anything good could come from Nazareth, but after meeting Jesus and being told by Jesus that he had seen him under a fig tree replies, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.

    In just a few verses of John’s gospel we have heard Jesus given the titles, Rabbi, Messiah, Lamb of God, Chosen One of God, Son of Joseph, Son of God and the king of Israel.

    Clearly, to each of the characters here who use a title for Jesus that title is significant to them. These titles mean something important for them.

    So important are these titles that they are the means by which they tell other people about Jesus. They immediately give others a clear sense of who Jesus is and why he is important.

    They use the titles as a means of witnessing to Jesus.

    All of which begs the question, Who is Jesus to us?

    This was a question that Jesus asked his disciples (Matthew 1613), Who do people say the Son of man is? And when they answer he asks them, more pointedly, Who do you say I am?

    We all need to ask ourselves, Who do I say Jesus is?

    It’s a crucial question with a crucial answer. And it is a question that no one else can answer for us. Each of us has to answer that question for ourselves. Why is Jesus important to me?

    And in our answer we might use one of the titles from the New Testament – Master, Lord, Teacher, Saviour, Son of God.

    But there is a good chance that we will want to use a title, or a phrase, of our own – the One who answers my prayers; he teaches me the right way to live; he forgives me and shows me how to forgive; he is the one who challenges me to be a better person; he sacrificed himself on the cross for me.

    There are many things we could say about him. You’ll have your own ideas. Your ways in which he has touched your life and transformed it.

    That is what makes us a Christian – recognising in Jesus someone who touches and transforms our life by the ways in which he has answered our prayers; by the way he challenges us to review our life; by the manner in which he shows us the way to walk in life; by the way he opens up for us the reality of eternal life – even if we aren’t always clear what that means.

    For each of us it is the way that he has touched our life that will dictate how we see him.

    And how we see him will affect what title we will apply to him. And for us those titles will matter – in just the way they mattered to John and Andrew and Nathanael because they speak of what he does for us.

    They also matter because they give us a way of speaking about him to other people. And because we are then speaking from experience and our witness, like that of John, or Andrew will be all the more compelling because it will be genuine – we will be speaking of what we know rather than simply saying what we’ve been told.

    The traditional titles of Jesus are important because they speak of the experience of the Church across the centuries, but the titles we give him today speak vitally of our own personal experience.

    As an example: to say Jesus is Lord to a person who has no experience of him could well be meaningless to someone whose only experience of a lord brings up an image from the TV of an old codger dozing on the red benches of the House of Lords.

    But to speak of the way in which Jesus has answered your prayer or made you a better person might elicit a more positive response.

    The Lordship of Jesus could make more sense into the future.

    Jesus comes to us and touches our lives in many different ways – and it is the ways in which he affects us that will give us ways to name him and to witness to him.

    Jesus says to us time and again, Who do you say I am?

  • This is my Son, the Beloved

    An icon of the Baptism of Christ

    This is the text of a sermon preached for the Baptism of Christ, Sunday 11th January 2026, at the Church of St Melor, Linkinhorne, Cornwall

    Isaiah 421-9 Acts 1034-43 Matthew 313-end

    Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John.

    Up to this point in Matthew’s gospel all that has been recorded is the genealogy of Jesus – tracing his ancestry back to David and then to Abraham, a story of his birth, the account of the coming of the magi and the gifts they bring – gold, and frankincense and myrrh, the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt and their return to Nazareth, and an account of the proclamation of John the Baptist.

    And now with these words Matthew begins his record of the adult ministry of Jesus,

    Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John.

    This is Matthew’s way of telling us that it is what follows that we need to pay close attention to. All that has come before is important because it tells us who Jesus is, establishes his credentials if you like – a descendant of David and Abraham, affirms his status as an Israelite and as the anticipated Messiah; conceived by the Holy Spirit; that he is Immanuel, the God who is among us; recognised by the Gentiles in the persons of the magi; and witnessed to by John as the one who inaugurates the kingdom of Heaven.

    Jesus’ appearance at the Jordan where John is baptising marks the beginning of his adult ministry. It’s a watch this space moment.

    And the moment does not disappoint.

    John objects that it should not be him baptising Jesus so much as Jesus baptising him. But Jesus insists that by doing this they should do all that uprightness demands, with the humility that is a hallmark of much of Jesus’ ministry.

    Now is not the time to rock the boat. John has an important ministry, preparing the way for Jesus. Jesus is not ready to deflect attention away from John and onto himself. The time for that is not far away, but it’s not now.

    So far in his life Jesus has been an unknown. This is the moment when he takes the stage. He may have no need to repent but his acceptance of John’s baptism is a symbol of his fresh beginning, of his turning away from his home and family life and following the path set out for him by God.

    When we speak about repentance it’s not just about being sorry for sins. It is also, crucially, about our turning around and taking a new direction in our life.

    Jesus may not have had sins to repent of but this is a moment in his life when he turns around and takes a new direction, putting the past behind him.

    And we see other moments in the gospels, all of them significant, where Jesus turns and sets himself in a new direction.

    Moments such as, when Jesus visits Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph, in Luke’s gospel (Lk 241-50) with his parents and is chided for causing them anxiety and he responds,

    Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

    The moment in the wilderness when he rejects Satan’s enticements to sin (Mt 41-11)

    Then Jesus replied, ‘Away with you, Satan! For scripture says: The Lord your God is the one to whom you must do homage, him alone you must serve.’

    And the moment when he sets his face towards Jerusalem, in Matthew’s gospel (Mt 1621-23),

    From then onwards Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.

    And there are other moments – in the Garden of Gethsemane, before the chief priests and Pilate when he is put on trial – where Jesus consciously makes the choice to obey God’s will.

    And, like his response to John at his baptism, these are all moments of repentance in the sense of turning in the right direction.

    And so John relents and baptises Jesus.

    And when Jesus, having been baptised by John, came up out of the water,

    suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And suddenly there was a voice from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’

    It is as if these five verses affirm all that has been claimed for Jesus in the preceding two and half chapters and set the context in which the whole of the rest of the gospel should be read.

    And more than that. The events around Jesus’ baptism are one of the keys, together with the events at the end of the gospel – the passion, death and resurrection – to our understanding of who Jesus is and the significance of all that he does.

    We cannot read the gospels without the knowledge that Jesus is proclaimed, at his baptism, to be God’s Son, empowered by the Holy Spirit; just as we cannot read them without the knowledge that, three years later, Jesus will be put to death on the cross and will rise again after three days.

    These are the events that define Jesus and our understanding of him.

    So what does it mean to us that the Holy Spirit comes down on Jesus and that he is acclaimed with these words,

    This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him?

    These events reveal, right at the beginning that Jesus’ life and ministry are God-given and God-empowered.

    This truth may seem obvious to us now but it is important that this truth is revealed at the outset of his activity and not simply revealed to us by his death and resurrection.

    Jesus’ actions – his miracles, his healing of the sick and the disabled, his teaching, are as important for us to reflect on as the significance of the self-sacrificial act at the end of his life.

    God is revealed in every part of his ministry – not just in his dying and rising again. The whole of his story is important for us.

    At his baptism Jesus turns his life towards God. And this is something he does again and again throughout his life.

    This story reminds us that turning towards God is something we need to do again and again. And as we do our faith is renewed, and, like Jesus, we are blessed by the presence and infilling of the Holy Spirit to fulfil our calling in Christ.

  • Should we expect someone else?

    The Church of St Melor, Linkinhorne, Cornwall

    This is the text of a sermon preached at the Church of St Melor, Linkinhorne, Cornwall

    The readings were, Isaiah 351-10 James 57-10 Matthew 112-11

    Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?

    This is the question that John the Baptist’s disciples are sent to enquire of Jesus.

    But before we think about this let’s remind ourselves of what John was proclaiming in the wilderness before he was arrested and thrown into prison.

    Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.

    I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is more powerful than I, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.

    John’s message was of the need for repentance, but he knows that he was only preparing the way. After him will come another who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. The one who comes after him will bring judgement. Those who are found worthy, the wheat, will be saved; those who are found unworthy, the chaff, will be sent to eternal fire.

    John is certain of his message and confident that the one who follows will complete his work, bringing in the final judgement, in a way that he cannot.

    The question that he sends his disciples with suggests that he’s not entirely sure that Jesus is the one who will do that. He’s starting to wonder whether this a false dawn. He’s having some doubts – perhaps because, sitting in prison, hearing reports of Jesus from his disciples, he’s become afraid that it’s all falling apart.

    He’s heard what Christ was doing and he’s not sure that Jesus is quite the Messiah he was expecting. And so, the question,

    Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?

    The answer that Jesus gives uses quotes from the prophet Isaiah in chapters 35 and 29 where the prophet describes his expectation of the Messiah,

    the blind see again, and the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the good news is proclaimed to the poor; and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of falling.’

    In his reply to John Jesus clarifies exactly who he is. It is, of course, not just John and his disciples who hear this reply but also Jesus’ own followers – and us. Jesus is fulfilling the scriptural explanation of the identity of the Messiah. Maybe this is the part that John has not fully understood about the Messiah.

    Jesus does bring judgement as the next few chapters of Matthew’s gospel reveal, but for now his primary purpose is to bring hope to the blind, the sick, the disabled and to proclaim good news to the poor.

    John needs to think again about who the Messiah is, and what he is to do. He needs to understand that it’s not all about judgement; it’s also, and vitally, about proclaiming the gospel and bringing hope and renewal to the hopeless and the lost.

    There’s an advert on TV at the moment for a financial advice company which promises to see their clients as individuals and not to put them in a bucket. It’s a slightly odd metaphor but we get the point. This is what John has done with Jesus; he’s put him in a bucket – he thinks he knows what a Messiah should do and therefore is finding it hard to see that Jesus is truly the one he is expecting.

    To use a different metaphor John needs to take the blinkers off and see who Jesus really is. He needs to rethink and reevaluate. He cannot see the whole truth about Jesus because he is only looking for a part of it.

    As we find ourselves in Advent with its focus about preparing and looking for the second coming of Jesus today’s gospel has a timely message for us. What sort of Jesus are we awaiting? Are we ready to allow him to reveal himself to us or are we so sure that we know him that we would not recognise him if he came in a way we were not prepared for.

    There are many facets to Jesus’ life and ministry,

    Jesus the babe of Bethlehem; Jesus in the wilderness; Jesus the healer; Jesus casting out demons; Jesus the teacher; Jesus feeding the crowds; Jesus walking on water: Jesus changing water into wine; Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead; Jesus on the cross …

    You get the idea. You can’t pin Jesus down but so often we try to; we can so easily put him into a bucket.

    It’s good therefore from time to time to review what we believe about Jesus. And Advent is as good a time as any to do that. In the days leading up to Christmas as we think about what it means for us that Jesus came as a baby in Bethlehem we can challenge ourselves to think deeply in our prayers about what it means for us that God’s Son became human and lived among us as God and man.

    We need to ask ourselves in what ways Jesus challenges us. Perhaps we don’t feel challenged by him. But I believe that we should. If we’re not challenged by him we’re not really listening to him. Jesus challenged everyone who met him.

    Some were challenged to realise that their lives were going in a wrong direction – Zacchaeus the tax collector, Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to him by night. Some were challenged to see themselves as valued and loved by God – the woman at the well, those possessed by demons or with disabilities. Some were challenged to see themselves as people who could be used by God – the twelve disciples. Some were challenged to reevaluate their lives – the rich young man.

    If we don’t see ourselves as challenged to be changed, to be transformed, by Jesus it may be that we have put him in a bucket which makes us feel safe and affirmed by him, but also makes us deaf and blind to what he is calling us to become.

    We can use this time of Advent to take him out of the bucket and let him reveal himself afresh to us. Jesus continually renews us and takes us in new directions.

    He is always revealing new things about himself – and about us. To learn from him we need to be ready to see him as he is revealing himself to us each day and hear him as he speaks to us the new things he is revealing to us.

    We must never assume that we already know him. He is never unknowable for he is always revealing himself to us. What gets in the way of our knowing him is us. It’s us believing we already know who he is.

  • Christ the King

    Interior view of St Tallanus Church

    The text of a sermon preached in the Church of St Talannus, Talland, Cornwall on Sunday 23rd November 2025, the Feast of Christ the King.

    The readings were, Jeremiah 231-6 Colossians 111-20 Luke 2333-43

    Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

    The words of the thief as he hangs with his companion and Jesus on their crosses.

    Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. It might seem strange therefore that our gospel reading recounts events from the crucifixion of Jesus. Hardly what we would expect to be how Jesus’ kingship is most clearly revealed.

    And yet, everybody in this account seems to be obsessed with what kingship might mean for Jesus.

    In the verses before those we heard read this morning we hear how the Jewish leaders brought Jesus before Pilate and make this charge against him,

    We found this man inciting our people to revolt, opposing payment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a king.

    Jesus they say claims to be a king – and therefore a threat to Roman authority.

    Pilate, finding no case against him sends Jesus to Herod. Herod questions him but Jesus is mute. Herod and his soldiers dress him in rich clothes, as if he were a king, and mock him, as if to say, Call yourself a king? You’re a nobody.

    Returning to Pilate Jesus is condemned and led away to be crucified. Again he is mocked, first by the Jewish leaders,

    He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.

    In their eyes these words,the Christ of God,make Jesus a king. They are challenging him to use his kingly power to save himself from the cross.

    The soldiers crucifying him mock him, saying,

    If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

    Then they crucify him and place the inscription above him on the cross,

    This is the King of the Jews.

    They too jeer at Jesus because he seems a poor imitation of a king. He has no power to prevent his execution. He has none of the trappings of a king. He has no army, no subjects, no power, no authority, no palace, no kingdom, no respect. He is at their mercy, a feeble and condemned man with no hope.

    And then there’s the first thief. In spite of his own suffering he mocks Jesus from the cross,

    Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.

    Perhaps there’s the merest hint of a hope that it might be true, but ultimately it’s just another insult like all the others, Some king you turned out to be.

    And finally there’s the second thief,

    Have you no fear of God at all? You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

    Jesus replies,

    In truth I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

    At last, someone who gets it. Of all the characters in the whole account of the passion in Luke’s gospel only the second thief sees who Jesus truly is.

    He sees the same man who has been arrested, tried, condemned, mistreated, scourged, crucified and who now hangs, a pathetic figure, dying on the cross but also sees – a King.

    He alone sees that Jesus’ kingship has nothing to do with rich clothes, fine palaces, servants, armies, power or territory.

    He alone sees that the floggings, the mocking, the condemnation, and the crucifixion are necessary for Jesus to enter into his kingdom. Where everybody else thinks that the crucifixion and Jesus’ inevitable death marks the end of Jesus’ fortunes, the good thief sees that this is just the beginning. This death leads to resurrection and the salvation of all who believe in him.

    Jesus is not the sort of king, the Jewish leaders, the Roman soldiers, the crowds expect. He is a king who lays down his life for all who believe in him and brings them into his kingdom; a kingdom unlike any other for Jesus Christ is a king unlike any other.

    It is now that Jesus is entering into his kingdom. And with him the good thief. And following them all who know that Jesus is the King. This is not an end, but a beginning.