It comes as a surprise! That God is present! And we share in God’s concerns!

Christ the King Sermon 2014: Peter Lockhart

Today is the last day of the liturgical calendar.  It is the end of our Christian year.  Not unlike New Year’s celebrations at the end of December, or possibly even our birthdays, it is a time for both reminiscing and a time for looking ahead. 

The readings for the day lend themselves to helping us as they give us some criteria with which we might assess our faith: the criteria of our engagement with those who suffer.

The imagery from the readings that we heard from both Ezekiel and Matthew are images which contain an edge of judgement.  God, or Jesus, is described as a shepherd separating the flock into those who are righteous and those who are not.

The notion of Jesus acting as a king sitting in judgement over his people is not one that we might necessarily be comfortable with.  And even more tempting is to go down the path of trying to work out who is and who is out and why.

Of course most, if not all preachers, would encourage their congregations with the notion that they are numbered among the righteous or if not an invitation to become one of the righteous ones would be given.

But I do wonder whether this is the most helpful approach and on deeper reflection on the passages, especially the one from Matthew I would like to offer you a slightly different perspective which can be encapsulated in three ideas:

It comes as a surprise! That God is present! And we share in God’s concerns! 

Let me unpack these three interlinked ideas with you.

Firstly, ‘it comes as a surprise’.  In his commentary on the passage David Lose from Luther Theological Seminary notes that for both those who are identified as ‘sheep’ and those who are identified as ‘goats’ the judgement comes as a surprise.

After Jesus has outlined when he was present in both cases the response is to ask Jesus the question “When was it that we saw you.”  I must admit that the repetition of this phrase really struck me as I thought about this passage this:

When was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?

This notion of being surprised emphasises a couple of things for us.  The first is that it was not through careful planning and behaviour that the sheep or goats are judged but on actions that they were simply not aware of.  And, secondly, and possibly also more disturbingly, it is God alone who makes the judgement.

Unlike the sense of assurance of salvation that the eighteenth century evangelist John Wesley spoke of, in this passage we encounter that those who are chosen are rather surprised by their inclusion.

God alone decides the who and what and why and wherefore of salvation. Listening carefully to broader span of the New Testament we are also aware that the judgement day is the day of Jesus own death.  A factor which should be considered as we listen to Jesus words. 

Nonetheless, as we listen to this parable and to other teachings of Jesus around it what appears most certain around notions of judgement is that is God who decides and not our plans for inclusion that matter.  If our behaviour saves us it is not through our deliberate actions but the surprising choices that God makes.

This releases from the concerns about trying to do good deeds to save ourselves and allows us to turn to God in trust and faith knowing that the word of judgement encountered in Jesus death is matched by a word of grace exclaimed in Jesus resurrection.

We do not carry the burden of saving ourselves but trust in a God whose mercies are new every morning for God’s grace, ‘It comes as a surprise!’

Which brings me to the second phrase or point: That God is present!

The notion that God is present with us can be fairly vague but not in this reading.  God is present in a very specific way as an extension of the incarnation.

The incarnation extended and apparent not in the presence of the people of God but rather more confrontingly in those that Jesus describes as the least of these: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner.

In identifying his personal presence within these people Jesus continues the tradition and understanding expressed by the prophets like Ezekiel: God has specific concern for those who suffer in this life.  Salvation is not meant to be an after we die event but a restoration of humanity and community to those who are excluded in this life now.

One of the things that this challenges us on if we reflect on our personal journey of faith is whether or not we have viewed others as being Jesus with us.

As we engage with other human beings our starting point as Christians should always involve the idea that Christ is already present.  The notion of incarnational ministry, which is often expressed as we who are the holy ones being Christ for others, is actually around the wrong way: others are Christ with us.

Which brings me to the third idea if we understand that salvation comes as a surprise and that God is present then as people who know this we are invited to respond as we share in God’s concerns!

Growing up I kind of had this idea that being a good Christian was primarily about moral decisions accompanied by attendance at worship.  Don’t drink too much, or swear, be polite and kind, no sex before marriage, work hard and be honest.

But in Jesus judgement the criteria are far more confronting for us.

Feed the hungry

Give water to the thirsty

Welcome the stranger,

Clothe the naked,

Heal the sick

And visit the prisoner.

Marrying these comments with Ezekiel’s similar prophecy concerning judgement I believe that the criteria to which we are responding to be Christian and the call to follow Jesus must necessarily involve us in those God is concerned for.  Otherwise we simply and silently participate in the systems that allow others to suffer.

Listen again to Ezekiel’s words:

18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? 20Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

On a global scale we are among the fat sheep and as our reflection on abolitionist Sunday has reminded us many of the slaves around the world are propping up our lifestyles.  We are trampling on their pasture and muddying their waters.

So as we look ahead into the year to come, as we begin again next week our advent journey let us think about what it means for us to be Christians personally, followers of Jesus, and corporately as the people of God who gather in this Uniting Church.

The good news is that salvation comes as a surprise! Something out of our control that we do not need to worry about. That God is present!  Which calls us to honour other beings as a continuation of God’s presence in the world in Jesus. And lastly that we are invited to share in God’s concerns for those who are considered ‘The least of these’! 

For when the least of these experience God’s grace in the meal provided, in the clothing given, in the welcome of the stranger,  in the healing of the sick or the release of the prisoner then it may be actually true that it is on earth as is in heaven, even if only for a fleeting moment.

Of Christ, Kings and Slaves!

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

Today is the last day of the liturgical calendar and as is tradition in the church we are celebrating the festival of Christ the King.

On this day we are reminded in the words of Paul’s letter to the Colossians of the preeminent place which Jesus takes in the order of creation and in the life of the church.  He is the source of dominions and powers and authorities.  He holds all things together and is over all things.

As Australians we may struggle with the notion of authority and power and the idea that God is over us.  We prefer the idea that Jesus is our friend, he is our buddy our mate.  Yet despite this view we still place authority and dominion and power somewhere in something or someone and this has consequences.

Today is also Abolition Sunday, a day on which we reflect on the current state of slavery in our world.  In this we are challenge to look beyond the horizon of our immediate and might I suggest more than comfortable existence to the sources of our prosperity and to the plight of others.

For me I have a deep appreciation that the two themes have been brought together because our resistance to God’s reign is not new and our misunderstanding of God’s authority does not lead us into greater freedom but ultimately into less as we become less and less who we have made to be as God’s creatures.

To help understand this I want to take us back into the Old Testament for a moment to the book of first Samuel, to Samuel 8, a time at which Samuel had become very old.  Here is what it says:

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, ‘You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.’ 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to govern us.’ Samuel prayed to the Lord, 7and the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.’

The rejection of God’s reign over us and the preference for human sources of dominion can be traced back nearly 3000 years.  And at the time that the people asked for a King, for human sources of authority, God clearly and strongly warned the people of the consequences.

The trend of this preference for human sources of dominion and authority I believe finds its ultimate expression in the rise of humanism through the enlightenment when rather than kings we all became masters and mistresses of our own existence.  The phrase “it’s my life” which no doubt many of us have uttered is an expression of our denial of God’s reign and a preference for our personal dominion over our existence.

Yet through 3000 years of history we can see that there are consequences to the choices we have made in our excise of power and dominion over the creation and over each other.

There are many avenues to explore in terms of consequences but on this day as we remember Abolition Sunday I would want us to consider how we have turned people into commodities.  In business term we speak of human resources reducing the creative gift of life found in a person to what the can do or offer.  The most extreme form of the commodification of people is the exploitative practice of slavery.

We have already heard a little bit about the extent of the problem of slavery in the world in the video I showed earlier in the service.  And, it could be easy to distance ourselves from these issues but as people who often ignorantly benefit from the exploitation of others today we contemplate the consequences of our preference to rule our own lives.

During the week as I researched for today I found an online survey to help people understand how they might be benefitting from slavery.  The result which came back for me was not surprising but is certainly shocking.  According to the survey I have 67 slaves working to sustain my lifestyle.

You may think this is unrealistic or a somewhat silly survey but this morning I have given you an image on a card.  There are a range of different cards with images of coffee and chocolate, of rice and fish, of cotton and clothes, of jewellery and accessories, of smart phones and gadgets.  These products are representative of a bigger list of products which you or I may purchase, often cheaply, without realising that they may have been produced by someone who is defined as a slave or even a child.

We are embedded in systems of exploitation which are difficult for us to see unless we really look up from the immediacy of the problems and issues we face and look behind how a product reaches the shelves at the price it does.

Thinking of just this one issue we begin to understand the complexity of our rejection of God’s reign and the consequences of our misguided exercise of dominion.

Returning to the Colossians passage I quoted at the beginning we were reminded that as the church Jesus is our head.  Or to be more frank God is in charge.  3000 years and more of humans choosing kings and dominion in our own lives coalesces into the events of Jesus life as he comes among us.

One of the traditional appellation s for Jesus is that he is our king.  But Jesus kingship is not about exercising an authority or dominion which subjugates or exploits others.  In fact, shockingly Jesus kingship is exercised in such a way that rather than exercise his divine power over other he accepts the way of the cross and the rejection of God’s rule in human lives into his own life.

The scene from Luke's gospel we read is a part of that longer story known as the passion narrative.  Jesus accepts the human rejection of God into himself and so also accepts the misguided use of power which we as human beings exercise over each other.  His suffering is an identification with those who suffer.

The good news of course is that Jesus resurrection is God’s declaration that our rejection of his power and dominion is not the last word and will not be our undoing.  Jesus resurrection provides a new hope and a new future for all humanity.

Here we can truly declare as we read in the Psalm, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  God is a refuge for we who cause the suffering of others and choose to exercise our dominion poorly.  God is a refuge for we who are at times exploited by others and for those who on this day find themselves to be slaves.

As people set free by God’s love we are constantly called to challenge the systems of this world in which participate which exploit others.  The issue of slavery and the way it is woven into the fabric of our existence is no easy issue but as God’s people who bear the reconciliation of all things within us it behooves us to witness to God’s love and the reign of Christ in our lives by speaking out for others and declaring God’s love.

The good news on which we lean is that Christ is ultimately the King, the ruler of all things and the giver of a new life to the whole creation and all humanity despite our rejection of our God’s rule with all its consequences.  Let us cling to this hope as we are constantly being transformed to be God’s people in this world. 

Pronouncements from the King

As we celebrate the festival of Christ the King it is pertinent to reflect on Jesus words from the cross as if they are royal decrees.

Take for instance his words "Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing."

These amazing words of forgiveness are a blessing to that group of Roman soldiers and officers who had got up that morning and found that they were on crucifixion duty. They were a bunch of men doing their job, true an unsavoury one, but certainly a part of their work during the period. The Romans crucified many in the name of the pax Romana (peace of Rome).

Yet Jesus the Prince of Peace, the king whom we celebrate in this day, shows the true meaning of peace as he reaches out in forgiveness to these men. It is a declaration of God's grace and mercy that transcends the not only religious, political and social barriers but their very violent act against his own person.

Jesus' forgiveness extended to those who were not even aware as went about their daily duty of what they were doing and who sat at the bottom of the cross hoping to pick up a bonus for the day as they drew lots for his clothes. Not a callous act of disregard but more than likely an agreed way of dispersing any worthwhile items taken from their victims.

If Jesus throne is the cross and these words come as a royal decree to these men who are not grovelling and wallowing in their guilt hoping for forgiveness then are these words not also an expression of God's love and mercy for the whole world. Reaching out across distance and time to touch our very lives Jesus words bless us as we go about our daily lives "Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing."

We like to think we have a handle on sin and can respond to God faithfully yet our lives are not that clear cut and more ofte than we would probably like to admit as we go about our daily lives we are embroiled in acts and thoughts which turns us away from God. Yet as aware or ignorant as we might be Jesus words echo down through the ages to touch us with grace.

Maybe it was Paul's insight into this movement of God's loving forgiveness that inspired him to the Romans the "Christ died for us while we were yet sinners."

So as we consider our King Jesus, the true Prince of Peace, let us hear and celebrate his royal decree from the cross, forgiving those ignorant of their wrong doing and so drawing them into relationship with God.