Sermon Tone Analysis

Title

Nil nisi te, Domine

Outline

The Didache begins thus:

“There are two ways, the one is the way of life and the other is the way of death.

Great is the difference between them.”

The Rule of St Benedict starts by contrasting the way of “self-will” with doing battle for Christ “with the weapon of obedience.”

Again, two ways.

But our culture is built on independence, millions of people claiming freedom, even those calling themselves Christian, and yet living enslaved to desires and factions and the spiritual powers behind them.

That is the story of our readings

Joash listened to the voice of the princes

He probably saw himself as dividing his loyalty between deities and gaining political power in the process.

In the process he loses his standing before God, his character as he murders the son of the man who had established him as king, his military and country as the Arameans conquer it, and finally his life as his servants blame him for the loss and murder him as he lay wounded on his bed.

He does not even get buried with the kings.

He thought he could have it both ways and found himself on the way of death.

Jesus addresses another dichotomy, that between God and Mammon

“No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.”

That is easy to attempt.

Our drives are to possess, to find security in what we possess.

Outwardly this is stuff, even the hidden “stuff” of money in the bank or belonging to an established order, and inwardly it may be power and position or even wellness.

My point is that even with the our vows and communal life it is easy for the “my” and the search for individual security to seep in.

The drive is in our genes.

It is not that we do not want God, but that we find our security in more than him, It is not nil nisi te, Domine, nil nisi te.

I am so challenged by the singular focus that I have that as my screen saver so it often flashes before me.

Jesus says we are secure in God:

“But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

Yes, there is evil.

This is not ostrich theology, head planted firmly in the sand.

But God is enabling you to deal with it, or dealing with it himself, day by day.

Our job is a singular focus on God and his Kingdom and then daily thankfulness as we see his provision.

Sisters, I doubt all this is new, but we all need reminders.

We teach in a world where many of our students are addicted to technology and the security of being in the know.

The desires of the world, the flesh and the devil and the warnings of our insecurity assail us.

With James and Evagrius we need to catch this clamor and speak God’s truth back to it.

Then we will walk the one road, pass through the narrow gate, be satisfied with the one Lord and live lives of gratitude to him rather than live in the anxiety of the fractured world around us.

Readings

FIRST READING

2 Chronicles 24:17–25

17 After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king; then the king listened to them.

18 They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and began to serve the asherahs and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.

19 Although prophets were sent to them to turn them back to the LORD and to warn them, the people would not listen.

20 Then the spirit of God clothed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest.

He took his stand above the people and said to them: “Thus says God, Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands, so that you cannot prosper?

Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.”

21 But they conspired against him, and at the king’s command they stoned him in the court of the house of the LORD.

22 Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, and killed the son.

As he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and avenge.”

23 At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash.

They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, killed all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

24 Though the Aramean force was small, the LORD handed over a very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

So judgment was meted out to Joash. 25 After the Arameans had departed from him, abandoning him to his many injuries, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest.

They killed him on his sickbed.

He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

RESPONSE

Psalm 89:29a

29 Forever I will maintain my mercy for him;

my covenant with him stands firm.

PSALM

Psalm 89:4–5, 29–34

4 I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have sworn to David my servant:

5 I will make your dynasty stand forever

and establish your throne through all ages.”

Selah

29 Forever I will maintain my mercy for him;

my covenant with him stands firm.

30 I will establish his dynasty forever,

his throne as the days of the heavens.

31 If his descendants forsake my teaching,

do not follow my decrees,

32 If they fail to observe my statutes,

do not keep my commandments,

33 I will punish their crime with a rod

and their guilt with blows.

34 But I will not take my mercy from him,

nor will I betray my bond of faithfulness.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

2 Corinthians 8:9

9  For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

GOSPEL

Matthew 6:24–34

24 “No one can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are not you more important than they?

27 Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

28 Why are you anxious about clothes?

Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.

They do not work or spin.

29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.

30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

31 So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ 32 All these things the pagans seek.

Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.