A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 48

Chapter 48 – Two Ways

 

Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14) 

Throughout this book, there have been many great theologians, prophetic voices, and other inspirational sources. This chapter begins with quoting directly the first section of the Didache. This is not a source I recognized so I did a bit of Googling (yes, that’s now a verb.)

“The Didache (did-a-key), Διδαχή, or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is an early Christian text that most scholars date to the first or early second century.” This document was used as a manual for basic Christian living. The first chapter of this document is titled “The Two Ways” and talks about the way of life and the way of death. The piece quoted in our book from page 303 to 305 comes from The Way of Life and sounds pretty much like reading Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. The Way of Life is to love God, love yourself, love your neighbour, and follow the commandments set out by God. The Didache lays out exactly how you would go about living The Way of Life.

The second way is The Way of Death. According to the Didache, the Way of Death is being sinful and doing all things that leads a person away from being righteous. Essentially the opposite of all the things found in the Way of Life. At the end of this section of the Didache, it says, “Beware, lest anyone lead you astray from this way of righteousness, for he teaches apart from God. For if you can bear the whole yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you cannot, do as much as you can.”

How often are we walking the thin line between perfection and failure? We expect so much out of ourselves. It’s hard to live up to our own expectations! But God doesn’t expect perfection. God expects us to try the best we can, ask for forgiveness when we fail, and then to get back on our feet and keep going.

If you're interested in reading The Didache for yourself, follow this link:

https://legacyicons.com/content/didache.pdf

Be Prepared: A Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Advent

Prepare our hearts, oh God, to receive your word. Silence every voice in us but your own, so that we may hear your word. Amen.

When Cass told me she was coming here for my induction service, I gave myself a deadline of her arrival to get as much of the rectory set up as I could before she got here. When she told me she was bringing mystery guests with her, there was suddenly a new and joyful pressure of making sure I was prepared. I set to hanging artwork, making beds, gathering chairs, and putting away everything I wasn’t going to get to in bins and stored in a couple of currently unused rooms. Once that was done, I cleaned the house from top to bottom and filled the fridge and cupboards with food. While it wasn’t perfect and I didn’t get everything done that I wanted, when the first guest arrived, I was as prepared as I was going to be.

I’m sure many of you have similar stories of preparing for guests in your home. They say that nothing cleans a house better than incoming guests! This kind of preparation, while hard work, is easy to do when you know the date of your guest’s arrival. Perhaps some of you have family coming for Christmas so you know that everything needs to be prepared by December 20^th. Or maybe you’re going on a trip and so you have preparations to make for that, knowing the date and time of your departure. Or maybe you’re going for surgery and have a preparation list the doctor has given you to do ahead of time.

These are all some examples of how, with a specific timeline in mind, we can get ourselves prepared for the event. But what if we don’t know the date of our guest’s arrival? That’s how it is with Christ. We know that Christ is coming. We’re waiting on the edge of our seats for his arrival. But we ask ourselves, when is he coming and how do we prepare? Let me introduce you to John the Baptist, the man who calls out to us, “prepare the way of the Lord!”

Following the genealogy and a relatively long birth and infancy narrative during the first chapters of Matthew, the writer jumps ahead over the decades to the time of Jesus as an adult, starting with an introduction to John the Baptist. We are in a desert area of Judea, east of Jerusalem, on the banks of the Jordan River. People from all over the place have come down to see this strange man dressed in strange clothes eating strange food. Word has gotten out that he is proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven is near and that we need to get ready. What does he mean? Why is he calling for repentance? Why are folks letting him dunk them in the river? Worst of all, why is he goading the Pharisees and Sadducees? Calling them a brood of vipers?! That’s not going to go over well!

If you read the rest of chapter 3 and head into chapter 4, you will read about the baptism of Jesus by John and the Temptation in the Wilderness, all leading to the ministry of Jesus, which doesn’t begin until the middle of chapter 4 of Matthew. Throughout the first 4 chapters, Matthew makes several connections between John the Baptist and Jesus as Messiah. Jesus and John are cousins so they’ll of course have familial connections, but it goes deeper than that.

The book of Malachi closes with a divine promise, in which God declares: “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” Matthew makes the connection between that promise and John the Baptist. For Matthew, John signifies the return of Elijah: “He is Elijah who is to come.” We know this because of how John is dressed. The “clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt” is how prophets were described to be dressed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. God has sent John ahead of Jesus so that he could give instructions on how to prepare for Jesus’ arrival. Not his cousin Jesus, but Jesus the Messiah.

Advent is a time to prepare for remembering and re-experiencing the birth of Jesus, and to prepare for the second coming of Jesus and the final manifestation of the Realm of Heaven. Throughout Advent, the church thinks afresh about how to join God in the movement towards a world that is more like the realm of heaven. And who better an Advent guide than John the Baptist, whose instructions for preparation are condensed into one word: “Repent!” John’s message is that the time has come to repent because the agent through whom God will affect the transformation from this age to the next is now revealed. Repentance is the first step towards joining Jesus in the community moving towards the Realm of Heaven.

The root meaning of “to repent” is “to turn” or to have a dramatic change of mind and direction. To repent is turn away from the values and practices of the old age such as idolatry, violence, injustice, exploitation, slavery, and scarcity. To repent is to turn away from those sins and turn towards the values and practices of the Realm of God. Repentance includes feeling sorry for one’s personal sins, but it is much more than a simple apology. Repentance is the action behind the apology. Repentance also underscores that change isn’t necessary for change’s sake, but rather that change is necessary because we’ve become aware that our actions are out of step with God’s deep desire for peace and equity for all God’s people and for the whole of creation. Repentance, in short, is realizing that you’ve been traveling one way, that God is pointing you a different way, and that you humbly change course accordingly.

Once named that way, of course, repentance can get pretty daunting pretty quickly. I mean, goodness, there are so many things I could repent of, we as a community and nation could repent of, even we as a species could and should repent of.

•           Pollution and climate change.

•           Poverty and food scarcity.

•           Racial and gender injustice.

•           The lack of clean water.

•           Crime and violence.

•           And the list goes on.

I’m overwhelmed just thinking about it! It’s mighty tempting to give up on the whole repentance thing, hunker down with our current and comfortable friends and biases, and get back to watching our favorite television series on Netflix.

But on this 2^nd Sunday in Advent, consider an element of your life of which you would like to repent – that is, change direction.

•           Is there an unhealthy relationship you want to repair or address?

•           Can you imagine using your time differently and toward better ends?

•           Is there some practice or habit you might take up that would produce more abundant life for you or those around you?

I’ll give you a few moments to ponder those questions.

Now, can you identify an element of our communal lives that needs repentance?

•           How can we help that repentance?

•           Volunteer at a local charitable agency?

•           Get to know someone who is quite different from you – ethnically or politically or generationally – and try to build a more robust community?

If we can think of repentance more concretely and, indeed, engage in just two acts of repentance – one personal, one more communal – we might go a long way in redeeming not just repentance but Advent itself. Because Advent has shrunk, I think, in our imaginations. For too long we’ve concluded that Advent, otherwise known as the month of December, is the season when we are scolded for not preparing for Christmas adequately – slow down, stop buying presents, make time for church, don’t get caught up in the holiday glitz. Do you know what I mean?

We’re so worried about the spirit of Christmas disappearing, but what about the spirit of Advent. The preparation of making room for Christ’s arrival, to be surprised again that God was and continues to be willing to enter into our lives and history and take on our vulnerability in order to give us hope. The God we know in Jesus comes down out of heaven to take on our burdens and give us hope by being with us and for us, not screaming repentance but inviting a more abundant life and helping us to see in the face of our neighbor not a competitor for scarce resources but a sibling in Christ.

If Advent is a time to slow down, it’s so that we can have more authentic life, not less Christmas. Advent is a season of hope. And if repentance takes hold, then it will lead to peace. It will place the neighbour before us, so that we might be in peaceful relationship. Advent is a time of multiple preparations – for a baby to be born; for the baby, grown into a man, to begin his ministry; and for the Messianic Son of Man, crucified and resurrected, to return. This 2nd week of Advent causes us to remember that because of Jesus we can experience a Christmas free from turmoil and chaos. Regardless of our circumstances or our situations, Jesus offers us peace and hope that passes all understanding.

 Amen.

Resources

"New Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament" edited by Daniel Durken

"'Matthew for Everyone" by N T Wright

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 47

Chapter 47 – The Golden Rule

 

In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew (7:12)

 

The Golden Rule is something that most of us will have learned in our lives, even if our family had nothing to do with religion. Being kind to others doesn’t need a person to have a religious belief. The Golden Rule is a universal ethical principle stating that you should treat others as you would like to be treated. It requires reciprocity and empathy. It has universal application in that the principle applies to all human relationships. As well, despite all of their perceived differences, most religions have a Golden Rule. Here are a few examples:

·         Christianity: “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” (Matthew 7:21)

·         Judaism: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.” (Talmud, Shabbat 31a)

·         Buddhism: “Do not hurt others in ways you yourself would find hurtful” (Udanavarga 5:18)

·         Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: do nothing to others that would cause you pain if done to you.” (Mahabharata 5:117)

·         Islam: “None of you believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” (An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith 13)

·         Baha’i: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Udana-Varga, 5:18)

·         Confucianism: “When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others.” (Li Ki 28.1.32)

But we must remember that the Gospel is not a set of legalistic rules. The Gospel is a gift from God meant to guide our spirits in the way of following the Golden Rule. As Roger L Shinn states, “Love, mercy, forgiveness, the spirit of the Beatitudes – here we find the spirit in which Jesus meant the Golden Rule.” (p. 299)

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 46

Chapter 46 – Ask, Seek, Knock

 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matthew (7:7-11)

 

Ask, and you will receive. This is one of the many lessons we learn from Jesus in this sermon. Want something from God? Pray, ask, and you will receive it. We are told to pray without ceasing as a way to maintain our relationship with God.

 

But praying in this manner isn’t just asking for things and hoping to receive them. Praying to God is about building up your relationship with God, and also with yourself. Praying it about learning how to recognize that a relationship with God means that you can ask to leave your burdens in God’s hands, thus receiving relief from stress, sadness, and anger. Asking and receiving isn’t always about material goods. In fact, most of the time, it’s about spiritual and emotional needs.

 

Seeking out a relationship with God means that you’re ready to receive all of what it means to be in relationship with God – grace, mercy, forgiveness, and, most of all, unconditional love. Ask, and you will receive all of this and more. Ask and seek, and you will receive an abundance of love that you’ll hardly know what to do with it all. Ask and seek, and you will receive the gift of being able to lay your burdens down, even if only for a while.

 

Everyone who asks, everyone who seeks, will receive. No if, ands, or buts about it.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 45

Chapter 45 – Casting Pearls

 

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.” Matthew (7:6)

 

 Of all the verses in the Sermon on the Mount we’ve covered in the last 45 weeks, this one is so far toe most difficult to examen. Is Jesus calling people dogs and pigs here? What pearls are we talking about here?

 

As Christians, our “pearl” would be the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus Christ that we are called to share to all people. Perhaps Jesus is asking us to be cautious about who is at the receiving end of our message? Seems counterintuitive, though, to the fact the Jesus has told us the Good News is universal and for all people.

 

Dallas Willard talks about forcing our religion on to others, or considering our “pearls” being “offered with a certain superiority of bearing that keeps us from paying attention to those we are trying to help.” (p. 288) Now this seems more Jesus-like. Jesus never asks us to consider ourselves superior to anyone. He only asks that we share in our love. And while the metaphor seems a little odd, the second half warns us that if we try to act superior to others, we will be trampled upon and left behind.

A Review of the Book "Bad Girls of the Bible:

Title: Bad Girls of the Bible

Author: Liz Curtis Higgs

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

Year: 1999

238 pages

From the Back: "For ten years I studied bunches of biblical role models and finally realized what we had in common: zip. Sarah was so faithful. Esther was so courageous. Mary was so innocent. I was so none-of-the-above.

    Then I happened upon Jezebel, and something inside me clicked. I identified with her pushy personality, I understood her need for control, I empathized with her angry outbursts, and I began to wonder. Could those Bad Girls from the past teach us how to be Good girls in the present? I'm here to tell you  - yes! Whether they were "bad to the bone", "bad for a moment", or " bad for a season but not forever", these infamous sisters show us how not to handle the challenges of life." ~Liz Curtis Higgs

Personal Thoughts: Bad Girls of the Bible was an interesting way to explore some of the characters we don't often focus on during bible study. Higgs creatively turns a biblical narrative into a fictional story so as to give the readers a different perspective of the story. For example, Delilah becomes a hairdresser named Lila from Dallas. Higgs follows the story up with an almost line by line review and commentary using humour that brings new light to these characters. Each chapter ends with some life-lessons and some follow-up questions for the reader to ponder.

    Overall, it was a fun book to read. The fictional stories were fun new ways of reading familiar narratives, and the author is quite humourous in her writing. If you're looking for someone willing to examen some of the seedier characters in the bible, especially the women who often don't get a first look let alone a second one, this is the book for you.

A Review of the Book "Helter Skelter" by Vincent Bugliosi

Title: Helter Skelter

Author: Vincent Bugliosi

Publisher: WW Norton and Company

Year: 1974

670 pages

From the Back: In the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually tied the Tate-LaBlanca murders to Charles Manson, a would-be pop singer of small talent living in the desert with his "family" of devoted young women and men. What was his hold over them? And what was the motivation behind such savagery? In the public imagination, over time, the case assumed the proportions of myth. The murders marked the end of the sixties and became an immediate symbol of the dark underside of that era.

    Vincent Bugliosi was the persecuting attorney in the Manson trial, and this book is his enthralling account of how he built his case from what a defense attorney dismissed as only "two fingerprints and Vince Bugliosi." The meticulous detective work with which the story begins, the prosecutor's view of a complex murder trial, the reconstruction of the philosophy Manson inculcated in his fervent followers...these elements make for a true crime classic.

Personal Thoughts: As I read through this book, I had to keep reminding myself that it was true crime, not a fiction novel. This could have been a really dry read but Bugliosi was able to tell the story without drowning the reader in facts and timelines. He wrote it almost like a detective novel which actually made it an enjoyable read, until you remembered the subject matter. Helter Skelter and the story of Charles Manson is not for the faint of heart, but it certainly wasn't boring.

A Review of the Book "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom

Title: The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

Author: Mitch Albom

Publisher; HarperCollins Publishers

Year: 2018

210 pages

From the Back: The accident that killed Eddie left an indelible mark on Annie. It took her left hand, which needed to be surgically reattached. Injured, scarred, and unable to remember what happened, Annie is forever changed by a guilt-ravaged mother who whisks her away from the world she knew.

    Bullied by her peers and haunted by something she cannot recall, Annie struggles to find acceptance as she grows. She feels everything she does is a mistake. When, as a young woman, she reconnects with Paulo, her childhood love, she believes she has finally found happiness.

    But, as the novel opens, Annie is marrying Paulo, and her wedding night ends in an unimaginable tragedy. Annie is whisked into her own heavenly journey - and into an inevitable reunion with Eddie, one of five people who will show her how her earthly life touched others in ways she could not have fathomed.

Personal Thoughts: I really love Mitch Albom's writing. His stories are very easy to read and are so relatable. In this particular book, Albom uses Annie's story to help the reader consider what it might be like to exist in the moment between life and death. How do you think it will feel? Who do you think you would meet? Albom is very gentle in his writing, pulling at your heart-strings with every word. The Next Person You Meet in Heaven is the sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven. You don't need to read them in any order, but I do recommend them both.

A Review of the Book "Fatty Legs" by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton

Title: Fatty Legs

Author: Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton

Publisher: Annick Press

Year: 2020

136 Pages

From the Back: Eight-year-old Olemaun Pokiak sets her sights on learning to read, but even her father's dire warnings can't prepare her for the reality of residential school. At school Olemaun is made to answer to the name Margaret. She soon encounters the Raven, a cruel nun who forces her to wear bright red stockings when all the other students wear gray ones. Margaret becomes an instant laughingstock. But she will not let herself be worn down - even in the face of torment.

Personal Thoughts: As with any book about residential schools, this was an emotional story. You can feel the tension between the child's desire to learn to read and her father's need to protect her from an education system that was built to destroy Indigenous people. Jordan-Fenton does an incredible job of sharing her mother-in-law's story, giving it honour while also making the read feel the emotions being experienced by Olemaun. Yes, this is a children's book but sometimes it is from children's stories that we learn the biggest lessons.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 44

Chapter 44 – Judging Others

 

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” Matthew (7:1-5)

 

I enjoyed Anthony de Mello’s contribution to this chapter. De Mello talks about the possibility that when we judge others, we are actually judging something about ourselves. He states, “Every time you find yourself irritated or angry with someone, the one to look at is not that person but yourself.” (282) De Mello reflects that perhaps the irritation we see in others is something that we find irritating about ourselves, therefore we project that irritation back to the other person.

 

No matter what, it is not our place to judge. People make their own choices in life and who are we to judge what they do. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t call someone out when they are being harmful or hurtful to another person, or if they are breaking the law, or are about to find themselves in danger. Not judging does not mean not confronting sin.

 

However, the speck and the log in our eye that Jesus talks about certainly comes into play if we deem ourselves better than another for whatever reason. A better person. A better parent. A better Christian. It is not our place to determine what is “better”. Only God will be our ultimate judge. In the meantime, our job is to live in the best way we can, love as much as we can, and do all that we can to take care of our neighbours.

 

In these verses, Jesus is calling us to worry more about removing the plank from our own eye than from the eye of others. As they say on airplanes, put your own mask own before trying to help others.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 43

Chapter 43 – God’s Kingdom First

 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew (6:33-34)

 

Jesus wasn’t a king, nor did he want to be. Jesus was sent to us to teach us how to love. He didn’t ask for worshipers and wasn’t looking to start a new religion. He wasn’t asking anyone to call him “your majesty” or to fall to their knees before him. Wealth and fame meant nothing to him. I mean c’mon! The guy rode to his death on the back of a donkey! No luxurious horse or carriage to be seen.

 

At no time did Jesus claim to be a king. He was certainly a leader, a great leader, but he was not a king. In fact, he reflected that question back at Pilate in Luke’s chapter 23 verse 3: “Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He answered, ‘You say so.’”

 

Jesus was mockingly labelled as the King of the Jews and ridiculed by the crowds, the soldiers, and even the criminals hanging from their own crosses next to Jesus. Everyone mocked him, asking why as King and Messiah, he didn’t save himself. The crowds were furious because they believed that if Jesus wouldn’t save himself how on earth could he save the people of Jerusalem?

 

But Jesus does not come down off his cross to prove his supposedly kingly status. Instead, he remains on that instrument of torture and humiliation as a representative of all who suffer unjustly. And he does not promise a better tomorrow but instead offers to redeem us today.

 

Jesus was not sent to rule the people of Israel and all the earth. Jesus was sent to be a teacher…a mentor…a leader…to show us how to love ourselves and how to love one another in order to find peace. Peace and reconciliation for all of creation are signs of the kingdom of God in Jesus. Whether it will reside above the clouds, beyond the stars, in our hearts or, most likely, in a dimension well beyond our current comprehension: Christ’s kingdom will come. Jesus will reign in love and peace and serenity: King of Kings, Lord of Lords. That’s the kind of king we have. The question now becomes – what kind of subjects will we be?

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 42

Chapter 42 – Beyond Worry

 

‘“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.’ (Matthew 6:25-32)

 

Do not worry. This is the message from Jesus in this bit of his sermon on the mount. Do not worry. Not exactly the easiest statement. It is in our human nature to worry – about food, clothing, money, other people, etc. We humans worry about everything! What Jesus wants us to do is lay our worries at God’s feet. Hand our worries over to God and let God do the worrying. Easy as pie, right? Ha!

 

It's not easy, but it can be done. Through prayer, we can lay out our worries and ask God to walk with us, to help us carry the burden so that some of the weight can be lifted. We can pray to God to help us find someone willing to share the burden with us. We can talk it out with our family and/or our friends. We can release our worries to our therapist or our psychiatrist. There are many ways that we can use to relieve ourselves of the worry that we have in our hearts.

 

And sometimes, we need to realize that there are worries that we can’t do anything about. We can only control what we can control. Anything else is out of our hands. It’s of these things that Jesus calls out to us, “Do not worry.” Knowing the difference between what is and is not in our control will mean the difference between crumbling under the worry and working our way through it.

The King’s Subjects: A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

I had to double check the calendar to make sure that we were in November and not April. The passage from Luke’s Gospel today sure seems like something out of the Easter season, didn’t it? Today is the last Sunday of the church year and being Year C, the lectionary has landed this beauty of a reading in our laps. Although it seems out of sync with the rest of the church calendar, it is an important set of events that perhaps really does deserve a second look as we head into the season of Advent.

 

Not only is today the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar, it’s also Christ the King Sunday. It’s a celebration of the all-embracing authority of Christ as King and Lord of all things. Officially called "The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King," these festivities were instituted by Pope Pius XI in the 1920s as a way to fight the rising secularism in Europe by reminding Christian faithful that Christ must reign in our hearts, our minds, our wills, and our bodies. The feast is celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent.

 

Actually, it is quite fitting that the feast celebrating Christ's kingship is observed right before Advent, when we liturgically wait for the promised Messiah. During Eastertide, the Passion narrative emphasizes the trials, pain, and suffering that Jesus endures as he makes his way to his gruesome death. The point is to show how he suffered and died to atone for our sins and then there is the celebration of his resurrection as he is risen from the dead to be with God for all eternity. And I could talk about that again as it is important for us to remember what Jesus has done for us. Instead, let’s talk about kings.

 

What do we know about kings? Today, the language of kingship is outmoded and sometimes offensive. There are good reasons for this. We don't live under kings, so the metaphor feels irrelevant. And we're rightly repulsed at how the reigns of kings, at times, meant a reign of terror for most subjects — massive wealth and power attained by cruelty and exploitation, which was then passed on by birthright to people who did nothing to deserve it.

 

Kings have become almost obsolete, a way of leading that no longer holds much of our attention, at least here in Canada and here at St Peter. But, once upon a time, Christ was hailed as king in the midst of a people who did understand kingship, and particularly Christ’s kingship over them. But what kind of king was Jesus?

 

Each of the synoptic Gospels presents a slightly different picture of Christ as King. In Mark, Christ is Israel's true king, but his kingship is hidden in suffering and rejection. In Chapter 15, a centurion declares, "Truly this man was God's Son!" but yet Christ dies on the cross under the mocking banner "King of the Jews."

 

In Matthew, Jesus is the God-authorized Son and Israel's Messiah who teaches with heavenly authority concerning the will of God and performs miracles that give authority to his teachings. Jesus as King in Matthew is, in the words that both open and close his gospel, "God with us".

 

In Luke, Jesus is the Son of a God who, through Jesus' ministry, grants forgiveness of sins to the repentant and the gift of salvation through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. In today’s Gospel reading, three times Jesus is mentioned as king: by the soldiers at the cross in verse 37 “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”, on the inscription nailed to the cross in verse 38 “This is the King of the Jews”, and by the criminal asking to be remembered when Jesus comes into his kingdom in verse 42.

 

But really, Jesus wasn’t a king, nor did he want to be. Jesus was sent to us to teach us how to love. He didn’t ask for worshipers and wasn’t looking to start a new religion. He wasn’t asking anyone to call him “your majesty” or to fall to their knees before him. Wealth and fame meant nothing to him. I mean c’mon! The guy rode to his death on the back of a donkey! No luxurious horse or carriage to be seen. At no time did Jesus claim to be a king. He was certainly a leader, a great leader, but he was not a king. In fact, he reflected that question back at Pilate in Luke’s chapter 23 verse 3:

            “Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’

            He answered, ‘You say so.’”

 

Jesus was mockingly labelled as the King of the Jews and ridiculed by the crowds, the soldiers, and even the criminals hanging from their own crosses next to Jesus. Everyone mocked him, asking why as King and Messiah, he didn’t save himself. The crowds were furious because they believed that if Jesus wouldn’t save himself how on earth could he save the people of Jerusalem? But Jesus does not come down off his cross to prove his supposedly kingly status. Instead, he remains on that instrument of torture and humiliation as a representative of all who suffer unjustly. And he does not promise a better tomorrow but instead offers to redeem us today.

 

Jesus was not sent to rule the people of Israel and all the earth. Jesus was sent to be a teacher…a mentor…a leader…to show us how to love ourselves and how to love one another in order to find peace. Peace and reconciliation for all of creation are signs of the kingdom of God in Jesus.

 

I found a poem that I would like to read to you. It is by Alyce M. McKenzie.

What kind of King is this? Who is crucified at a place called the Skull?

With a criminal on his left and a criminal on his right?

What kind of king is this who forgives rather than executes judgment on those who contest his power?

What kind of king is this? Who allows himself to be disrespected and abused without speaking a word in his own defense?

What kind of king is this who allows even criminals to mock him without putting them in their place?

What kind of king is this whose thoughts are on others rather than his own pain at the peak of his own undeserved suffering?

How can a crucified king bring us life?

How can a forgiving king right the wrongs done to us and that we have done to others?

How can a peaceful king end the wars that rage within us and around us?

How can a compassionate king find the strength to lead us?

 

From the very beginnings of all the gospels, the “the kingdom” is proclaimed repeatedly. It is clearly more than a metaphor. It is a state of mind. It is a destination. Whether it will reside above the clouds, beyond the stars, in our hearts or, most likely, in a dimension well beyond our current comprehension: Christ’s kingdom will come. Jesus will reign in love and peace and serenity: King of Kings, Lord of Lords. That’s the kind of king we have. The question now becomes – what kind of subjects will we be?

 

Can you feel how the world has changed this year? Over the last few years? Can you feel the tension growing, the fear? Stories of racist graffiti spray-painted on Mosques, Synagogues, churches, and schools. Governments working to remove access to gender-affirming care and safe spaces for the transgender community. People being taken from their homes and places of work to be deported to their country of origin. Shelters for the unhoused being torn down without a plan to help the people affected.

 

Are these the types of subjects the Jesus wants? I highly doubt it. Now more than ever we need to listen to the Gospels and take to heart Jesus’ emphasis on loving all people, not just a select few. No one person or group or ethnicity is better than any others. We are all human. We are all God’s creation. And we all have the right to exist, to have beliefs, to love, and to be loved. That’s the kind of subjects we need to be. If we are calling Jesus our king and he is the king of love and kindness, then as his subjects, we are meant to be the givers of love and kindness, as it is through love and kindness that we will reveal the existence of Jesus’ kingdom here on earth.

 

Amen.

I Will Not Be Afraid: A Sermon for the 23rd Sunday After Pentecost

Photo Credit: Jon Tyson on unsplash.com

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

We had something a little different in place of the psalm today, and not just because it was a hymn, although singing it was definitely appropriate. A canticle is a hymn or song of praise from the Bible, similar to a psalm but specifically from texts outside of the Book of Psalms. Today’s lectionary called for Canticle #3 which is an excerpt from the scroll of Isaiah dubbed the Song of Thanksgiving. It goes like this:

“Surely, it is God who saves me;

I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defence,

and he will be my Saviour.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing

from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say,

Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name;

make his deeds known among the peoples;

see that they remember that his name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things,

and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy,

for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.”

 

Line 2 says: "I will trust, and will not be afraid". These words were spoken by the prophet Isaiah to the people of Judah and Jerusalem more than 2700 years ago, when the Assyrian Empire was the dominant power, and Judah lived in the shadow of its might. Foreign invaders, political instability, and crises of one kind or another formed the context of Isaiah's proclamation. The people to whom he was sent and those for whom this book was originally composed lived in a world that was unpredictable and out of their control.

 

Not much has changed, in my opinion. While the headlines are different now than almost 3 millennia ago, the news of the day reminds us that always there are events happening on a scale far beyond our reach and our ability to control them. Whether the threat is widespread, such as the worldwide economic crisis, or whether it is personal, such as illness, the loss of a job or the death of a loved one, it is no small thing to stare the menace in the face and say, "I will trust, and will not be afraid."

 

I don’t know about you, but one thing that I tend to do when I’m afraid is sing. The palms can be a great source for prayer and strength during times of fear. And I absolutely love it when the psalms are sung or chanted. The reason today’s canticle is called the Song of Thanksgiving is because Isaiah is calling the people to sing praises of thanksgiving to the Lord.

 

The first song in this passage is sung by an individual, offering thanksgiving for deliverance by the God who is "my salvation". Although the individual is not identified, the end of the song hearkens back to the deliverance from Egypt, quoting Exodus 15:2: "The Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation".

The image is one of a great warrior, one who is strong enough to defeat even the armies of Pharaoh in order to free the people from slavery in Egypt. To anyone who is caught up in fear, this echo from the Exodus and all the events attending it is a reminder that earthly powers cannot defeat the power of God.

 

The second song offers a refrain of Thanksgiving to the "Holy One of Israel", the one whose "name is exalted", and who "has done gloriously". Isaiah calls on the people to lift their voices in praise to God: "Give thanks...sing praises...shout aloud and sing for joy!" This is a communal song, as if a whole choir has joined voices with the soloist who sang in the first two verses. No longer is there a lone voice singing out against fear, as though whistling in the dark, but rather a chorus of voices offering praise for all that the Lord has done.

 

"Make known his deeds among the nations," they will sing, and "[the Lord] has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth". This reminder of past experiences with God, how the Lord has already acted for the benefit of God's people, is a strong defense against the grip of fear. So, also, is our association with a community of faith that witnesses to God's saving deeds. How much easier it is to "trust and not be afraid" when a whole community is present to join together in the refrain!

 

The verse that ties these two songs together is addressed to the gathered community: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation". In its historical setting, the verse probably refers to a ritual activity, most notably during the Feast of Tabernacles. As it connects the two songs, however, the verse is a reminder that God's salvation is fundamental to life, as basic to survival as the water that falls from the sky and springs forth from the earth. God's offer of salvation is what the Lord "has done gloriously" to be made "known in all the earth"; it is this saving power that makes it possible for God's people to choose a stance of trust instead of fear when the day brings situations and events beyond their control. The "wells of salvation" suggest an abundant supply, spilling over to soothe tongues that are parched from fright, moistening lips so that they might sing melodies of praise to "proclaim that [the Lord's] name is exalted".

 

Next Sunday brings an end to the Christian calendar and moves us into the season of Advent. As dark nights grow longer and our fears of what’s happening in our lives grow stronger, we wait – like the people of Isaiah's time – for "that day" when God's salvation will come to us in all its fullness. "Do not be afraid," the angel will say, "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord". We are drawn toward that future, ready to "shout aloud and sing for joy" together with the whole people of God who will proclaim, "Great in [our] midst is the Holy One of Israel".

 

Here are my questions for you this week: Is it easier to say to a person who is struggling with their faith, “you just have to believe” or is it easier to say, “let’s pray”? Is it more effective to say to someone, “trust in God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength” or is it more effective to say, “let’s sing Amazing Grace together”? We sing of the coming of the Emmanuel, of joy to the world, of the baby tucked away in the manger, of shepherds keeping watch by night, and angels from the realms of glory. It is in the singing that we can come to believe the words "I will trust, and will not be afraid".

 

Amen.