Third Sunday
after Easter
April 6, 2008
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
I suppose we all possess an item or two that we would describe as ‘keepsakes’; a piece of jewelry, an ornament or even a letter or a card. We save these little objects or letters to remind us of someone or some time in our lives that are still important to us. We might even look at these things, or carry them with us when we feel fragile or unhappy. Some people turn such objects into lucky charms. They would not go to a job interview or a hospital appointment without carrying a particular object with them or wearing a particular item of clothing. Perhaps they are simply a source of comfort. Perhaps we even imbue them with the power to change our circumstances magically. In this case, they become of amulets. They become objects in which we have faith.
If you pay a visit to any of the world’s great museums you will see that amulets and cultic charms feature largely in their collections of ancient cultures. An amulet can be made of any object — a stone, a plant, a piece of jewelry or a piece of writing. Sometimes these were mere chips of semi precious or precious stones. At other times they were made in the shape of animals or insects, eyes, fingers, or other body parts. The amulet was then suspended from the neck, or tied to any part of the body. Amulets were supposed to counteract poison, cure or prevent disease, ward off the evil eye, aid women in childbirth, deflect calamities and secure good luck in every circumstance. In the ancient world, everyone believed in the power of amulets. The art of medicine was all about how to make amulets, and what to do with them once you had made them. To doubt the power of amulets would be the equivalent of doubting medicine in our own day.
For the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Arabs, and Hebrews amulets
were of paramount importance. The
Egyptians employed them everywhere. The ankh symbolized life itself; the eye reigned over good health and comfort. The scarab beetle guaranteed life after death
and protection against evil magic. The Arabs, too, had amulets protecting them
against evil. Sometimes people wore little bags of dust collected from tombs.
They also wore pieces of paper on which were written prayers, spells, magical
names or the attributes of God such as "the compassionate" and
"the forgiver." The Hebrews were not immune to this instinct. They wore crescent moons to ward off the evil
eye, and they attached bells to their clothes to chase away evil spirits. Sometimes Christians regard their crosses or
their crucifixes, their rosaries or their bibles as having a special power of
their own.
Every single one of these amulets tells us how deeply us humans feel the need to control the dangers of the physical and spiritual worlds in which we live. They are objects of sympathetic magic; whereby a physical object that can be possessed or controlled becomes a container for our hopes and fears. Very often, this way of living is governed by fear. Almost without exception, our worst fears exist only in our imagination, and our lives and our behavior should not be held to ransom by them.
We do not need to resort to placating human or supernatural enemies by means of amulets or superstitious practices. Christians live in fear of God; we know what price Jesus paid to free us from our enemies, and we celebrated our deliverance on Easter morning. In his first letter to the Church, Peter tells us that perishable things made of gold or silver dominated the previous life of those who now believe in the power of the blood of Christ. “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.”
Where, then, do we place our trust? Our freedom - our redemption - does not come from some object or person that can be possessed. “You have been bought anew not with perishable but imperishable seed; with the word of God.” Like love and like life itself, our freedom and our dignity are based on a Word, or on a promise. Our hopes for the life to come are based on the same promise. It’s not magic. It can’t be manipulated. For that reason we sometimes doubt, and we are not convinced that it will work. But we don’t have to manipulate it or work at it. It is God’s promise. He calls us to leave childish things behind, to grow into spiritual maturity. We are called to trust him, and he will surely keep His Word.
The Revd. Nigel Massey