June 19 2011    Reading:  2 Corinthians 13

Text: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, , the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13.14

There is a road that leads down from Assisi, the little town where St. Francis of Assisi lived, to the Portiuncula, a little chapel outside the town. About half way along this road there is a large, fairly expensive looking villa, called the Casa Gualdi. Long ago in St. Francis’ day there stood a hospital on this spot, where lepers lived outside the town, in terrible conditions. Here it was that Francis, overcome at the misery of one poor man he saw sitting on the steps there, went up, put his arms round him, held him, comforted the man. And years later from this same place in the road, leaving the town for good, Francis stopped, turned and looking back down the road at the rolling hills, the Tevere river in the distance, raised his hands and gave his last blessing to his beloved city of Assisi. For some, that spot still has a special mystery, and visitors will stand for a moment remembering the poverty and simplicity of Francis...... in silence - at the same place where Francis stood in those last moments of blessing........

We have here this morning Paul’s last blessing: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, , the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all..........Today is Trinity Sunday and this is one of the readings for today - Paul’s last blessing,

not from a road looking out over hills or a city........ but placed at at the end of a letter to his beloved congregation at Corinth.

Quite deep tensions and misunderstandings had built up in the Church in Corinth, directed towards the apostle Paul, so Paul wrote this letter explain, to get back in touch with them........ But see, despite the tensions and misunderstandings between himself and the folks at Corinth, he closes the letter, not with one last thunderous sentence, or rhetorical flourish, no - with one last blessing for those he cared for deeply.

The words he used, are words of blessing that we still use at the end of many of our morning services, the words that draw our service to a close May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all..........

The blessing of the Trinity........... Father, Son and Holy Spirit...........

Let’s take each of these phrases one at a time...........from this blessing...........

The first blessing

Paul wishes for the men and women of Corinth is this, the grace of Jesus, he says: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. You know, there is a wonderful picture in the National Gallery at the foot of the Mound. Perhaps the most beautiful painting the artist El Greco ever painted. It is a portrait of Jesus. El Greco had gone from Greece to Spain as a young man, to become an artist...... he had made his name and a fortune as a painter. When the time came for him to paint a picture of the Jesus he did so - very much in the style of an icon, from a Greek Church. On the walls of the Greek Orthodox Churches back in his homeland, there would be the most beautiful icons of Jesus Christ, in gold, with the most delicately painted portraits of Jesus. Or perhaps, high up in the domed roof a mosaic of Christ exalted in heaven....... that the worshippers could see high above when they looked up. But in the painting in the National Gallery, El Greco has done something very bold - he has painted Jesus, not as an icon in all its formal style, nor as the Lord exalted in the heavens - El Greco paints the Lord Jesus Christ at eye level so that if you stand looking at the portrait, you see Jesus face to face, you feel the warmth of His presence, you sense His holiness, as shown by the light that gathers round His head and the deep gaze of perfect purity in His eyes. In El Greco’s painting the Lord has one hand on a globe, showing his care, protection, authority over the earth......... as you stand and look His other hand is raised in blessing on you. Here in this wonderful portrait, El Greco expresses something very important - the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because, as you stand looking at this portrait of Jesus, whoever you are, wherever you have come from, whatever your life is like, however you feel about yourself or however others regard you........ the Lord Jesus has His hand raised in blessing upon you.......

and in His face, you see no condemnation.......... only acceptance, only a blessing, a blessing of peace from Him.

Now of course, this is only a portrait, a wonderful portrait, but only a portrait of Jesus Christ. But the New Testament to show us the grace of Jesus Christ in far deeper ways still. The New Testament proclaims to us the grace shown to us at the Cross.

You see, God is never spoken of in any part of the New Testament, as rejecting human beings....... instead, the New Testament declares the opposite through the Cross God’s acceptance of us comes, through the Cross the grace of God to the guilty, the acceptance of God of sinners is once and for all demonstrated........

the absolutely free grace which meets us at the Cross doesn’t depend on anything we do, no while we were yet sinners, we were restored through the grace of God by the death of His Son Jesus

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.......

says Paul

And, he goes on the love of God......

Years ago when I worked in Paisley, I knew a young man called Sean, who was part of the congregation..... dear Sean .. he lived with his grandmother, who had brought him up. Sean was in fact her grandson. Sean’s mother was originally from the Western islands, but had died when he was a toddler....... so his upbringing had been very difficult. He seemed lost ... very timid.... fearful. For that reason he was often picked on by the neighbours........

One day, Sean came up to me in the Church and handed me a book he had bought at a Christian bookshop in town. Inside it he wrote........ 29th. August 1985 to Mr. Maxwell from your best friend Sean. Why he chose that book I don’t know, but I found the title very moving.... it was by Bernard of Clairvaux and its title was ‘The Love of God’. In that, I am sure, Sean would have found all he was looking for............

The love of God....... is this some kind of feeling we have, or mystic experience ? No........ according to the New Testament........

The love of God is seen most clearly at the Cross. God demonstrates His love for us in this, says Paul, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. While we were far away, unthinking, unaware, adrift......... Christ died for us...... while we were far away, in our hopeless condition, kept far from God by our sin.

Now sin brings with it a penalty, a proper penalty........death itself. Why ? because God’s presence is life, and if we are cut off from the Holy God through our sin, we are cut off from life itself. But God has shown His own loving nature in this - He sent His Son Jesus, who became one of us, identified Himself with us in our condition............. and, in deep, loving gladness Jesus took the responsibility for our sin on Himself.

This is what the love of God is like - He moves to restore us to Himself, through His beloved Son Jesus....... so at the Cross we see the love of the Father, and the grace and love of His Son Jesus, for sinners, you and me.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, be with you, says Paul, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit

The fellowship of the Holy Spirit

How do we know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God at

all ?

Only through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit...........

only through the Holy Spirit working in us..........

It’s always a surprise to open the first chapter of John’s gospel and read this there.

That John the Baptist knew that God was sending a redeemer for Israel...... there was a sense sweeping the land, that something was about to happen. Someone, some great, mysterious One was coming. John the Baptist knew that........ he just didn’t know who it was. The living God simply commanded John to start baptising men and women in the waters of the Jordan river, and among the many thousands who flocked to the banks of the Jordan - there would be the promised One, the Servant of the Lord. So, how was John going to know who it was out of all the thousands ? Well, God told Him.

John would know the redeemer, the One who was promised, because the Spirit would come down upon that man.

In fact, John, describes that holy, that momentous moment ….. when Jesus came down to the river, says John, – I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and rest on Him………I have seen it, and I tell you…….. Do you grasp the significance of what happens here ? John knows who the redeemer is, because the Holy Spirit shows Him - the Spirit shows John that it is Jesus. Someone once wrote that what the Holy Spirit does is like the main floodlight on a great cathedral on a dark night. Without the light no one can see the cathedral. But if the great main light comes on on the building is lit up against the night sky, in all its glorious soaring height, and shape, and beauty. That’s what happens in John’s gospel. The light of the Spirit shows John who Jesus is, the light of the Spirit shows John the redeemer......

To put it another way, more importantly - John knows who the redeemer is, he knows about Jesus, not because he is a great religious man, or because his prophetic power is greater than everyone else’s. John knows who Jesus is, that Jesus is the redeemer because the light of the Spirit shows him - enabling him to see Jesus.

So, on that day, when John saw Jesus coming, he said…

There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world !

the Redeemer !

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, be with you, says Paul, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit

How might we come to know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, that Paul speaks of ? Well, the message of the New Testament is that all this is already ours. For the Spirit is already at work in us, preparing us, allowing us, communicating to us the grace of Jesus. The Spirit is already at work in us, to show us the deepest meaning of the Cross, where the wonderful grace of Jesus is most clearly seen. In fact, all that we know of Jesus - His life, his cross, his resurrection, all of this is made real for us, is made life for us by the work of the Spirit in us. The Spirit is already at work in us to draw us into the love of God, to see the great light of love, the love of God that surrounds the Cross......

So when, once again, our service ends with these words,

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit

be with you all,

we are not stepping out of God’s presence

out of this hour together,

no...... we are stepping into

into God’s presence, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.........

into the coming hours and days.......

into all the fullness which He has for us.

AMEN.