Christ the King

Ezekiel 34.11-16, 20-24

¹¹ For thus says the Lord God : I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹² As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God . ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. ²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, ²² I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the Lord , will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord , have spoken. 

Matthew 25

³¹ ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” ⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

Today is the last Sunday of the church year, our very own New Years Eve, a day for reflection on what has been and what is to come. A festival we call Christ the King, a name which for some (particularly those who support a republic) carries uneasy undertones of Patriarchy and irrelevance. It is from within this shaky space that I would like to examine a much older idea of what Kingship is all about.

In the Israel of the Old Testament, there were only Kings for about 450 years, but the language and duties ascribed to them has become part of our understanding of the nature of Christ. The King was the ultimate judge, an advocate for the helpless, and his duty was to bring justice to all his people. The King’s struggle for justice ensured more than just lawfulness – it brought peace and fertility to the land. The relationship between God and King was usually seen as very close – the King’s power was given and could be withdrawn by God. A common title ascribed to kings was “Shepherd of the people”, acknowledging the Kings especial concern for the widows and orphans – those who could not seek justice for themselves.

Ezekiel shows us a God who is angry that the Hebrew kings have not been good shepherds.  In the first part of our text, God boldly says – “Since I can’t trust the shepherds, I’ll do it myself.”  In this section we hear from the very mouth of God what a good king, a good shepherd, provides, “I will make them lie down.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and strong I will destroy.  I will feed them with justice.” Then there is a shift and God promises a new king, an earthly king, a shepherd who will do all these things in God’s name and on God’s behalf; “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.”

It is hard, perhaps even impossible, for us to read this text today and not see the fulfilling of God’s promise of a worthy shepherd in the figure of Christ Jesus. This is of course one of the reasons why the genealogy of Jesus is of such great concern to the Gospels of Luke and Matthew – the Messiah we have been promised can so be identified as being a direct descendent of God’s anointed king David, and thus the line from God to King to Christ is preserved.

Part of Christ’s identity as King requires judgement, such as id described in the gospel we heard today. But when the sheep and goats are separated, there is universal surprise at the seperation. The people are not surprised by their behaviour – they were, of course, there. What they are surprised by seems to be the presence of Christ as well.

With all the words we associate with Christ – honour, glory, power, king, ruler, Lord – it can come as a surprise to realise that Jesus is in fact present in the hungry, the lonely, and the dispossessed. When we think about our identity as Christians, we tend to see things like adherence to our creed, affirmation of scripture, and belief in the Trinity as being the pointers to our faith. Yet none of these things are mentioned as Christ speaks about the separation of the sheep from the goats – all he is concerned with is the corporeal acts of justice and mercy we have enacted in our lives.

Jesus’ command to practice the corporal works of mercy is direct, uncompromising, and everywhere present in the entire New Testament. Taken as whole, every tenth line in the New Testament is a direct challenge to the Christian to reach out to the physically poor. In Luke’s gospel, it is every sixth line. In the Epistle of James, it is every fifth line. Involvement with the poor is not a negotiable item. This is mandated with the same weight as is any creed, dogma, and moral or spiritual teaching.
This is a lot harder than any affirmation of faith. To believe in something and to act upon it are two very different things. For those of us who are among the privileged, whether race, economic, class, gender or any combination of these, to enact justice and mercy is going to have a real and physical impact on our own way of life. We are going to have to sacrifice beyond what is comfortable to serve Jesus through his people. For me, as the season of Advent challenges me as to how I wait for God, it means taking a critical look at how much money I give in service to others. When I am deciding how many children I will sponsor, how much money I will give to the hampers, to the AMB appeal, to the charities and services that bring relief to those in need, I am having to give double what I am comfortable with to feel that I am truly serving God. It means instead of putting $10 into the sponsorship jar, I put $20. Instead of giving $200 for hampers, I give $400. This hurts – trust me, it really really does. But in my pain I know that through this action I am becoming one of the sheep – I am able to serve Christ.

There is a wonderful story out of the 16th century about Bishop Hugh Latimer, a great leader of the church. One Sunday morning he entered his pulpit and looked out to see King Henry VIII in the congregation. He knew that what he had to say that day would not go well with King Henry. He thought for a moment and then said to himself, but out loud for all to hear, "Latimer, be careful what you say today; King Henry is here." He thought for a moment longer and again said to himself, but aloud so others could hear, "Latimer, be careful what you say today; the King of kings is here."

The King of Kings is here. Let us welcome him with words and action into our hearts and our lives.

Amen.

Manners Matter

Luke 17

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸ Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ ¹⁹ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

Please, sorry and thank you. The basis of good manners, yes, but also the basis of our relationship with God. Think about it – every time we come together in worship or stand before God in prayer, we say please, sorry and thank you.

These are important words – but it is just because they are good manners? Or is there more to it than that?

Before we get into the story we are given today, we need to look at the silent character – the space and time it is located. Jesus was walking towards Jerusalem, journeying towards his betrayal and crucifixion. At the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the land of Samaria was situated between the regions of Galilee in the north of Israel, and Judea in the south.  Jews travelling between Galilee and Judea would take the longer, six-day journey along the Jordan River valley rather than taking a shorter, more direct route through Samaria.  The Jews avoided all contact with the Samaritans because of their shared bitter history, just as the Samaritans themselves avoided the Jews. It was into this conflicted territory, this space between the clean and the unclean, in his own between time, that Jesus chose to walk.

As he was walking the ten lepers called out to him. They did not approach him, for this was against the laws. They could not approach any person or township as long as they were unclean. Yet somehow they knew that this man had the power to heal them. Was it something they had heard or was there something about the very presence of Christ that prompted their call? Either way, Jesus sent them to be declared clean by the local Rabbi and as they went, they saw they were.

Before we leap in to criticise the nine who did not return, we need to remember that they in fact did no more or less than was asked of them. It is easy to imagine, upon finding that you have been healed from a painful, disfiguring and isolating disease, that you would then run rejoicing to the family and community you came from. This Samaritan, though. He was far from home. Although the other sufferers may have been able to try and fir back into their community and their home, although one must wonder at their success with the knowledge of their illness in the front of everyone’s mind, the Samaritan was still a stranger in a strange land. Is this why he was the only one to return?

For whatever reason, the outcast, rejected by society twice over, was the only one who expressed that noblest of emotions. Gratitude. The force of love which beings hope and peace and action for a better future. Gratitude. The act of saying thank you for what we have received. It is then that this man received the greater gift – he was made whole.

How can a man who has already been healed be made whole? What more is there to gain after your physical infirmities are gone? I think this would vary for each person, but for this man at this time, it must have been some kind of recognition of his worth and humanity by the Son of Man himself. In giving thanks, the healing was made complete, the relationship cycle was completed. The ties between man and son of God were made real.

There’s something to be said here about the role that gratitude plays in our life, and were I speaking to a different group I would probably expand on it. But I have noticed that the longer we live, the more we are able to find the diamonds in the dirt of life, and to be grateful for them. In this group certainly I have seen and heard many words of thankfulness to God for what has been received. So I instead would I would like to leave you with a slightly different thought.

Jesus is not afraid of the dark and dangerous places. Jesus was and is always ready to travel through the places we rightly fear. Whether that is a physical place, such as many of the places that we as Church try to bring light, or the dark places of our own souls, Jesus is there. WE can try and hide our impurities, those diseased parts of ourselves that disgust of frighten us, but Jesus knows no boundaries when it comes to his love. There is nowhere that is too unclean or unacceptable for Jesus healing touch. As we journey with Jesus, we too can be made whole.

And now we wait

Matthew 25 1-13

 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids^[a] took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.^{[b] 2} Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those bridesmaids^[c] got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹ Later the other bridesmaids^[d] came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹² But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.^[e]

Imagine being part of Matthew’s Christian community. You have been waiting expectantly and obediently for Christ’s return for 10 years… 20… 50. Faithful Christians are dying. The end of the world is not here, nor can we see it coming. What is going on here, God? Where are you?

This was close to 2000 years ago. We have century upon century of waiting, weeping, looking for Christ to make his promised return. Things keep happening – great and terrible things, wonderful and frightening things. Times keep changing. But still Christ does not come.

We have a story of 10 young women, 5 wise and 5 foolish. I suspect most of us identify more with the poor foolish girls in this story – who among us really feels that we are wise? Certainly we will have moments of wisdom, times when the Spirit seems to speak through our lips and we marvel at what we have wrought, but most of the time I for one feel like I am far from the stable, wise young woman who is perfectly prepared for whatever life may bring. Where is the lesson for me here? How do I ensure I am not left out in the dark and cold when those with more wisdom than I refuse to share their bounty?

Matthew of all the Gospellers was concerned with the judgement to come.  It is important for him to emphasize to his community two things with regard to Jesus' return. One is that they don't know when it will come, so speculation is futile. The second is that it will come, so preparation is crucial. In the parable of the Faithful or Unfaithful Slaves that directly precedes the parable of the closed door, the Master comes back sooner than the slave anticipated and found him abusing his powers. In this parable, the Bridegroom comes later than the foolish bridesmaids anticipated and they had not gathered the provisions needed to welcome him. The waiting for those poor foolish virgins has led not to preparation, but sleep. How do we wait?

We are all familiar with waiting. We wait with excitement and anticipation and anxiety. We have been waiting for almost a full 12 months for a new rector. We wait for an endless time to welcome a new baby. We wait for test results and for news of an inevitable death. Sometimes we wait with patience, knowing that good things are coming in their own time. Sometimes we fill in our time with activity, trying not to sit still lest the weight of what is to come crushes us beyond what we can stand. My favourite coping strategy in the wake of dreadful anticipation is denial - not just a river in Egypt! But this kind of passivity, this deliberate ignorance of what is coming – in the face of the kingdom of God, it does not suffice.

 

How we wait matters, because how we wait shows how faithful we are to he who comes. Jesus told this parable in his own in between time, when the potential of death and disaster must have been an unimaginable burden. If we accept that Jesus was fully human, with all the frailties and limits of humanity, then we also must accept that Jesus also struggled with doubts and fears, and with the uncertainty that comes from not knowing what is to come. Even with his resurrection and exaltation, Jesus’ death would have been meaningless if it wasn’t for his life. It was what Jesus did in those 3 short years before his crucifixion that show us he was the son of God and the light of the world. We are given more than this for our ministry – what will we make of it?

So we fill our waiting time with meaning. With prayer and contemplation, seeking God in our inner selves and those around us. We take the sacraments, pulling us out of the realm of time and space and connecting us with faithful people of God throughout all places and times. We work towards justice, seeing God’s very own self in our neighbours and needing to show God’s own partiality to the lesser and the least. We pass our faith on to our children, even while knowing faith can fail and we are weak. We work towards making this world of ours as close as we can to the kingdom of heaven because what we do now matters. 

We wait. We wait in expectant anticipation. We wait in despair and hopelessness. We wait, but we never wait alone. Unlike those poor foolish bridesmaids, we have an advocate, a supporter, a Spirit of God that will never leave us to run out of oil in our lamps. It is in this waiting that we are given the opportunity to live like life matters, and to love in the service of God.

What's a little holiday between friends?

What is your favorite holiday memory? (And yes, you can pick any holiday, including your birthday.)

I love holidays. I especially love the kind of holiday when we don't have to go anywhere. I suppose if I was going to retain my crown of "Wonderful Mother" I would write something here about the special times we have spent with our kids, the experiences we have had in far away places or discovering new wonders close to home... but I never liked crowns anyway.

The best holiday I have ever had was last year when Jason and I had 3 whole days together with no work and no kids. It. Was. MAGICAL. We ate out, wandered around the shops, saw a movie, slept in... did all the stuff we imagine people without kids do all the time. After three days we were ready to see the kids again, true, but my goodness we enjoyed life without them!

We love our kids. We really, really do. And we enjoy spending time with them. But... how can we miss them if they won't go away?

NaBloPoMo

I'm experimenting a bit with "NoBloPoMo" this year, a yearly initiative that encourages people to blog EVERY DAY of November and share the results.while I have no intention of letting anyone (other than you, Mum!) read my blog, and I doubt I will manage every day, I'm going to take some of the prompt and run with it, just for fun.

Write about an amazing imaginary brand or organization you'd love to work with. What would their pitch to you look like? What would your post say? 

Dear Josie,

We here at St Francis' College are very excited to ask you to present a subject on "Women, the media and the Bible". This course will run for 12 weeks and will be aimed at educating the 'average' Christian about the implications of all forms of media on women today. We would expect you to spend time on magazines and newspaper, tv shows/movies, popular music, and advertising, and to integrate into each lesson a biblical woman of valour to provide an alternative view of biblical womanhood. We would expect this course to be for tertiary level study at this point, to be branched our into complementary courses for young people and their parents at a later point. We would also like this series to be eventually combined into a book for the non theologically educated population.

We would be happy to offer you some significant amount of money for this venture.

Best Wishes,
Somebody important.

My post would say......... nothing. I can't even imagine this happening! Maybe one day...