28-April-2024
Preacher: Revd Will Newman
The Wilderness Road
Sermon at St Stephen’s Stanley, 28th April 2024
The opening words of our first reading today:
‘An angel of the Lord said to Philip, one of the apostles, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a wilderness road.’
In our own time the road from Jerusalem to Gaza has become a wilderness road. On October 7th last year the murderous surprise attack by Hamas against Israel took the lives of 1200 people, men, women and children. Since then the Israeli invasion of Gaza has taken the lives of over 30,000 people, men, women and children; with a further 70,000 injured in the attacks, figures according to Hamas. Large parts of Gaza have been destroyed, and turned into a wasteland.
The road from Jerusalem to Gaza leads into a wilderness, both literally, physically, and also psychologically and spiritually.
The road from Jerusalem to Gaza is a road of war, revenge, killing and destruction. Neither side comes out of this looking good. Hamas launched the surprise attack, killing hundreds of innocent people, forcing Israel to respond in justifiable self-defence. Israel’s invasion in turn has caused huge loss of life and terrible suffering for the people of Gaza. In the Old Testament the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy all say ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ That was intended to limit retaliation, to say ‘Don’t do to your enemy worse than he has done to you.’ It seems that the Israeli determination to destroy Hamas has gone far beyond that. But then Hamas also seeks the destruction of Israel, and provoked this war with that end in mind.
At some time this war will come to an end. But will it really end? Or will it only be a halt to the fighting until next time? The terrible danger is that the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, the road of war and killing and destruction, may lead nowhere but into the wilderness of mutual bitterness, hatred, and an endless cycle of revenge.
Most likely none of us here this morning has been on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. But we all know the Wilderness Road. We have all been on that road. It’s the road we travel when we name others as our enemy, when we put up barriers between them and us. It’s a road that leads us to regard others as lesser than ourselves. We fail to love our neighbour.
Is there a way that the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, the wilderness road, can be transformed?
As Christians, we never give up hope. We believe that evil will ultimately be overcome by love. We believe that darkness will be transformed by light. We believe in transformation, because we experience it in our own lives, as we are daily renewed by God’s Holy Spirit.
Our first prayer every Sunday is a prayer for renewal, the Collect for Purity:
‘Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’
Our own personal spiritual renewal is connected with the spiritual renewal of the earth. Every Thursday evening a small group meets on Zoom to pray for peace. I started this with my colleague Mark Rogers the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, so we have been praying for over 2 years; and now of course we pray for peace between Israel and Gaza too, and in Myanmar, Sudan, and wherever there are wars and conflicts. And we also pray for peace within ourselves. We can’t bring an end to wars in other countries; but through prayer we bring ourselves closer to the peace of God which is beyond our understanding, and commit ourselves to spread peace to others around us, making the world just a little more peaceful.
The transformation that our world needs is there in our second reading, in the 1st Letter of John. ‘Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God.’ To love one another is the only way to transform the wilderness of shattered lives and broken dreams. ‘Those who say ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars.’ Our prayer, and the way to transform the wilderness road from Jerusalem to Gaza, is that Israelis and Palestinians will one day see each other as brothers and sisters to love. It seems impossible, and right now, sadly, it probably is impossible; and yet it is ultimately the only way out of the wilderness.
You and I are branches of the vine. The vine is Jesus Christ, who roots our life, and gives us life, a life-giving way that enables us to bear fruit, the fruit of love, joy, hope, and peace!
In the story of the apostle Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, the wilderness road is transformed: the good news of Christ is preached; water appears in the parched wilderness; and as the story ends, the foreigner, the stranger, goes on his way rejoicing!
There is a very long journey ahead, to transform the wilderness road from Jerusalem to Gaza, from Moscow to Kyiv, and the wilderness roads of all our conflicts. But it is a journey that you and I can make a start on, as we bear fruit, and share the fruit of our lives with others day by day.
Amen.