Readings: Malachi 4. 1-2a, 2 Thessalonians 3. 6-13, Luke 21. 5-19
Our doom and gloom laden readings today are not obviously appropriate for the happy occasion of a baptism. The Gospel describes depressingly well the world in which Ottilia will grow up. But what Jesus is talking about is an ordeal, a trial for believers wondering when the Kingdom was come, and it is also an ordeal, by water, that Ottilia is about to undergo. She will be symbolically tested and washed and came through to join the great company of believers, the church, to which we all here belong.
Malachi predicts an ordeal by fire not water. Water and fire both purify and refine and both will be present as Ottilia is baptised in the name of the Holy Spirit, the spirit which appeared at Pentecost like tongues of flame on the birthday of the church.
For the Israelites the greatest and defining ordeal was passing though the water of the Red Sea, to find freedom, and eventually, the Promised Land. What sort of Promised Land will Ottilia find when she is aware of more than her parents’ and family’s love?
Luke’s description of the portents and upheavals, the disasters and destruction which were to come have a terrible contemporary ring about them, both for him and us; but Jesus is not talking about the end of time; terrible as the events he describes are, he is saying they are NOT the end and we are not to be misled by them, because like the persecutions that he goes on to describe, they are tests, ordeals like baptism, which will try our faith. If we can survive them, persevere and endure them we may come though without singeing a hair on our heads and with our souls intact.
The word used for endurance is a passive one in the sense that it implies letting things happen rather than taking the initiative; quiet acceptance rather than noisy response. It is living with the name Christian, and not, here at least, announcing it provocatively to the world.
Baptism is not just a symbolic trial, more obviously it is a naming ceremony. To be named is to begin to be given an identity; part of that identity is belonging to family and part is belonging to a community, for Ottilia, it is this community, the church. But most importantly once you are named you become an individual, you have an identity of your own. For the Christian, that is the realisation that you were created and are loved by, and that you belong to, God. When, as I hope she does, Ottilia comes to be confirmed, the Bishop will tell her that “God has called her by name and made her his own.”
There is a lot of naming in our readings. For Malachi it is those who revere God’s name who avoid the furnace. In the Gospel we are warned to beware false prophets using Jesus’ name and we that we shall suffer persecution for his name. The name of Christian was indeed a dangerous thing, and even more so in the decades after Luke is writing. In the famous exchange of letters between the Roman author Pliny who was, for a time, governor of Bithynia, he asks the emperor Trajan whether he is right to execute Christians just for calling them selves that- for the name. The answer is yes; Christians are implicated in abominable depravities, but they should be convicted for the name alone. Naming in Jesus’ time and in the Early Church, carried dangerous baggage.
In parts of our world things are not so different now; the Christians persecuted in Syria or Egypt are hated because the name Christian is associated with the destructive policies of the western world; historically, there is considerable justification for this; the Crusades were not Christianity’s finest hour. More recent unhappily named crusades have shown the same crude insensitivity and blindness, however well intentioned. It is not surprising that Christianity has a bad name.
How will naming Ottilia as Christian help her, or us, in these testing times?
First, we should note that Jesus treats these disasters as a test, implying that they can be overcome; we are not to give in or to give and think we are helpless in the face of such adversity. We cannot understand why God should allow typhoons but we know what we are to do about alleviating the suffering they cause and we shall be asked to do it, with our wallets in this service. Later on in this discourse Jesus assures us that these things will pass and it is for us to make them pass.
This pragmatism perhaps helps to explain the odd advice given to those on trial for being Christian; they are not to consider what they should say; God will provide the words. In fact, it’s difficult to think what effective defence there could be to being charged with being Christian if that is what you were; the choice is apostasy or admission. Jesus’ point may be that there is no avoiding that stark reality.
I think he is also saying that while words may not avail actions will; it’s a depressing reflection for a preacher, but words do not go very far in spreading the Gospel. St Francis is said to have told his missionaries to use speech only as a last resort. It is surely plain that in our society the work that Christians do speaks far louder than any words. And it is important that the agencies carrying out that work name themselves as Christian. Christian Aid, for example works in countries and with people of all religions but as its name says, its inspiration comes from the Christian Gospel; C4WS- which runs winter night shelters in Camden- is a little quieter but actually one of the 4 Cs stands for “Churches” and it’s Christian inspiration is implicit in its use of churches and church halls, but those it helps, and many of its volunteers, have no allegiance, or at least no overt allegiance to Christianity. In both cases it is plain for anyone who cares to look that the motivation for what is I think evident good work is Christian and it is done, however quietly in the name of Christ. And the same is true of individuals; we should each strive to live lives which proclaim the Gospel; not with loud hailers, but quietly and persistently responding to the world as Christ, whose name we have taken, did.
This will not cause wars and famines to cease instantly, but it is our faith in the name that can give us confidence that love in action will eventually pass the test and bring about the Kingdom. We shall probably have to be satisfied with small outbreaks of the kingdom in our lives, rays of sunshine breaking through stormy clouds but with perseverance and sometimes endurance, we can hope that Ottilia and her generation may find a better world and that they will play their part in making it better still. Amen.