Sermon
delivered at the Roman Catholic Family Chapel, Whaddon, Evening Prayer Service
on Feast of Christ the King Service – Sunday 24th November 2019
Psalm 72; 1 Samuel 8:4-20; John 18:33-37
May
I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Today we celebrate the Festival of Christ the King –
hence the regal nature of many of our hymns this evening – “King of Glory, King of Peace” for example and so on and we are
reminded that God sent us his only son to rule over us in a kingly capacity –
his kingdom, though, not being of this world but through him and his disciples
bringing something heavenly into this
world: bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into this place – then and there - just
as we as Christians are required to do each and every day of our earthly
existence in the here and now. Our
heavenly king, Jesus Christ, is one of love and justice, a promulgator and
defender of the faith in the truest sense of the word.
Our two readings this evening show different
understandings of what a kingdom or king is.
In our first reading from the First Book of Samuel we read how the
Jewish leaders, having seen how the countries around them were governed, wanted
a similar system themselves for Judah. At that time the country was ruled by
Judges, leaders of the various tribes who sat in conference very much in a
similar manner to the Roman republican idea. The reason for this was that as
part of their religious culture it was God, Jahweh, who was the ultimate leader
of the country – the president so to speak and the Judges merely administered
in the LORD’s name. In fact, at this time two of Samuel’s own sons had been
appointed judges. In this way the Hebrew population was expected forever to
hold out God as being the one to whom all deference and obedience was
owed. However, the Jews saw other
countries being ruled by strong earthly monarchs and felt that their country
would greatly benefit by having the same system.
It is with this in mind that Samuel tries earnestly to
dissuade them by pointing out that monarchs are fallible human beings and for
whom power can often corrupt to the extent that the subjects of their countries
can suffer in the way in which he describes in great detail in our reading and
that they should think very carefully before being seduced by the idea that
having a monarch will bring strength and prosperity. Samuel is very annoyed and upset as he sees
this as the people turning away from God.
Samuel prophesises how it will turn out yet God relents and tells Samuel
that if that is what they want that is what they will have and they can
experience for themselves what such a governance will bring upon them..
As you will recall, as you read through the First Book of
Samuel, the prophet is sent to find a suitable king and eventually Saul is
anointed and enthroned. His reign ends
badly with David and afterwards Solomon succeeding him before the kingdom is
later divided into two and eventually the Jews are taken into exile. Thus ends the earthly kingdom of
Judah/Judea/Israel up to the 1940s when the Jews returned to their promised
land and established the modern state of Israel.
In our second reading we jump forward over 1,000 years to
the time of Jesus’s trial before the Roman authorities in the form of Pontius
Pilate who was very much aware of the Jewish history and saw the resurgence of
a Jewish kingdom as a direct challenge to the Roman Empire and its puppet
Herodian regime in Jerusalem. The Jewish people themselves were again looking
for a great leader, a king, a Messiah to lead them out of Roman tyranny into a
new glorious Davidian era.
Pilate, in his examination of Jesus can only really act
and order his Crucifixion if it can be established that Jesus is a genuine
threat to the status quo of Roman rule through the puppet Herod. If he can be established to be putting
himself forward as an alternative leader, monarch, then that will suffice to
hang him for treason or sedition. For this reason he asks Jesus a direct
question – “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Such an admission would be a confession and condemn him.
Jesus acutely aware realises that as it is really the
Jewish leaders themselves who want to put him away asks Pilate – “Is that your
own idea or did others talk to you about me?”
Pilate appears confused.
From what he has seen of Jesus and the reports of his actions it does
not appear that Jesus is a genuine threat to the status quo so he responds “”Am
I a Jew? It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me.
What is it that you have done?
In other words Pilate is saying that in his mind Jesus
has done nothing against Roman law so it seems that it is Jesus’s own people
who have some reason to what him out of the way – not the Romans.
Jesus then responds in an interesting manner by way of
explanation. In effectively admitting
that he is a king he is at great pains to point out that his kingdom is not an
earthly one – not one which the Jews themselves in their appeal to Samuel in our
earlier reading expected. It is a
kingdom from another place – the kingdom of heaven not a kingdom of earth. That
is what we are celebrating today – Jesus as the king of heaven.
As we know Pilate later went on to ensure that the
inscription on Jesus’s cross had the words “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
Jews” – not “claimed to be King of the Jews” for he was satisfied that had it
been simply a claim he would not have had the authority to put him to death.
Jesus did admit to being a king the question was “king of what?”
Today as Christians we are called upon to inhabit the
kingdom of heaven. That does not mean
that we simply abide by the rituals and observances of institutionalised
religion – Jesus was at great pains to put out to the Pharisees and Sadducees
that this was not the way to salvation – but to act out our lives I such a way
as to bring down the kingdom of heaven to earth.
This was a message which greatly influenced me and led me
to my call to ministry. Many years ago I attended Spring Harvest and listened
to a very influential speaker – Steve Chalke – now much maligned by the
Evangelical Alliance. What he said
changed my life. In a nutshell he
explained “being a Christian is not about us trying to get up those
metaphorical stairs to the kingdom of heaven – it is about bringing the kingdom
of heaven down those stairs to earth.
Wow, what a revelation that was.
The kingdom of heaven, in parts, is already down here and
I believe it it the duty of every Christian to do all in their power to bring
as much of it down as we can. That is the lost message of Jesus – he is the
monarch of that kingdom and with the Holy Spirit we have the tools to reach as
many people as possible. Just as our
politicians are currently canvassing in this General Election so we too should
be canvassing for our Holy King.
It feels at this present time that there is not enough of
the holy spirit, of the kingdom of heaven here with us. Dark forces seem to pervade our world –
especially our so called wealthy western world. We seem so poor in what really
matters – that genuine love and loving spirit which Jesus came down to show and
share.
Let us resolve to honour our king and show to him that
obedience and loyalty which we would expect to show towards our earthly
monarchs.
Amen
MFB/23112018
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