Reign of Christ the King Sunday, November 20

When they came to the place that is called the skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.  Then Jesus said, "Father forgive them; for they know not what they are doing.  And they cast lots to divide his clothing.  And the people stood by watching; but the leaders scoffed at him saying, "He saved others, let his save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!"  The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."  One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah?  Save yourself and us!"  But the other rebuked him saying,  "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Luke 23:33-43

I was recently at a beautiful old church in our city perched right atop the river valley, distinctive with its brick exterior, boasting beautiful windows and woodwork.  After entering and taking sitting down my friend asked: is a cross in here?  We began to look around: on walls? widows? in print? the ends of pews?  No cross that we could see.  A thoughtful silence fell as we reflected on the significance of the cross in Christian life and worship.

The cross is perhaps the most recognizable symbol in the world.  Think about all the places you see it in a day: around necks, inked on bodies, on the ambulance, some hospitals, most churches you pass.  The cross a notorious instrument of Roman torture upon which Jesus suffered humiliation, emotional pain, alienation and the worst of physical suffering.  The cross where Jesus died at the hands of fickle people, of people deep in fear; some consumed by their own ambition/power, some aware of the ways in which Jesus threatened their ways and means, others ignorant, mislead and co-opted.  Golgotha the place of skulls - desolate, full of the stench of humanity; the stench of death.  

The cross is offensive, it always has been.  When criminals hung upon it naked, for hours that stretched on, writhing in pain, begging for death to come, all of their humanity, all of their dignity was stripped from them - that was the point.  The cross is offensive to people today too which is why it no longer hangs in some places of worship.  It offends our modern sense of decorum; God lets his son die on a cross? That just seems inhumane, why would it happen like that?  We don't like how we come off in the story - it reflects the worst of humanity.  We hear the vitriol in the crowd, the insults called down.  We imagine the purple robe they put on him, the crown of thorns - all to mock, to shame him; their faces made ugly with rage and we want to look away. We want all of the love of the cross with none of the violence.  We want salvation without sacrifice.

Instead we have the arresting image of our King hanging on a cross.  An innocent man tortured.  And his response is forgiveness: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."  Jesus answers all of the anger, all of the bitter mockery and insults  with a prayer asking God for forgiveness on our behalf.  Perhaps it is from the cross that Jesus sees mostly clearly the force of the powers of evil in our world and the darkness of the human heart.  And it breaks his own. Even at our worst we are not beyond the reach of Jesus and his forgiveness.  Even as he dies he is offering life.  And this is so beautifully illustrated in criminals who are hanging beside him.  The criminal on the left is still looking for someone to pin all his anger, his grief, his sense of injustice, his shame upon as he hangs, dying a scornful death. He chooses to mock Jesus, the saviour saying: "If you are the Messiah save yourself and save us."  The criminal on the right responds to him with a rebuke "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we have been justly condemned, we are getting what we deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong."  And he turns to Jesus saying, "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Remember.  This is not just a request to 'bring to mind'; this is a word with deep scriptural resononance: "When I bring clouds over the earth and a bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."(Gen.9) or from Psalm 25:7: "Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O Lord."  As, Fleming Rutledge points out "when God remembers, he does not just think about us, he acts for us, with power to save."  

This criminal ending his life in misery and shame sees Jesus for who he is, a King with a Kingdom.  Not even all of those who have been closest to Jesus, who have seen him cast out demons and raise the dead can see him this clearly.  Luke is relentless in his determination make us see that the gospel is for all people, including those who have committed despicable acts and been sentenced to death. Again, this is the good news and the hard news.  It is the good news because we know the darkness of our own souls, we have sensed at times what we are capable of and we too can be forgiven, "we can live in freedom because the strong love of Christ has reached across all borders and all boundaries."(Andrew Murray Purra) And it is the hard news because if we are to take Jesus seriously, we are to see that we aren't that different than 'those people' and we are to follow Christ to 'those places' and meet him there in the face of the criminal, the leper, the homeless, the addict, the prostitute, the john because "God has assigned infinite value to all elements of society "(Fleming Rutledge).This is our participation in the exodus of Christ initiated through Jesus' death on the cross.  And this exodus is not just for hebrew people but for all people and it is not limited to freedom from physical slavery but it "breaks the chains of slavery from all forms of sin and evil that bind the human spirit; it brings the promise of unending life and love and liberty as well as an unfettered relationship with God." (Andrew Murray Pura)

This Sunday is Reign of Christ Sunday and we sit with the jarring image of our crucified King identifying himself with all that is wrong and sad and shameful and broken in the world and yet has been redeemed through his death and made new.  And so the cross which stood as a notorious symbol of death has been subverted - the cross has become the way of life!  May it ever be before us.

********

I read through all of the lessons this week and I like the trajectory that they take.  There is so much in this passage and yet each of these lessons have stayed with one key concept and developed it.  They have allowed children to enter into these stories in tactile and imaginative ways, and opened up places to make connections to their lived experience.

I think when I have taught this text before I have fallen into the trap of trying to explain the significance of what is happening (though barely grasping it myself) and getting bogged down in these explanations or in questions that are too theological and have kids looking at me like a two headed monster.  I re-read a little bit of what Gretchen Wolff Pritchard writes in her book and thought it might be worth sharing, she writes:

"For Christians, the stories of Christ's life, death and resurrection are the most powerful 'fairy tale' or 'myth' in the world.  They also happen to be true.  But it is the enormous power of these stories that exert such pull on our imaginations and drives us to act them out in springtime, and Sunday by Sunday throughout the year.  "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again"; "Take and eat; this is for you." This story which is so captivating to adult and child alike, though we cannot put our finger on why it so moves and nourishes us, is what we share with each other in the life of the church; and the difficult situation it helps us cope with is our own mysterious, inexplicable life: our birth, our alienation, our need for love, our fear of death and our assurance that the Christ who died and rose again has somehow brought us home to the heart of God."
- from Offering the Gospel to Children

May God be with us this Sunday as we celebrate the Reign of Christ

God's Love Lasts Forever

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful and gifts and dedicated to God, he said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"  And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, "I am he!" and, 'the time is near!' Do not go after them.

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

But before all of this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.  This will give you an opportunity to testify.  So make up your minds not to prepare a defence in advance; for I will give you words and wisdom that none of you opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.  You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will even put some of you to death.  You will be hated by all because of my name.  But not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Luke 21

The lectionary texts from the gospel are increasingly foreboding as Jesus moves towards Calvary. There is a heaviness to these stories - even the ones that contain a measure of happiness such as Jesus entrance into Jerusalem do not escape the pervasive darkness; the clashing of kingdoms and powers remain.  God's entrance and presence in this world in Jesus has never been a classic feel good story, though we do like to tell it this way, don't we? A wee babe born amongst animals visited by angels and shepherds and wise men.  Yes, it is a profoundly beautiful, full of grace enough to makes your heart ache with love. But there are valleys traversed that are treacherous and steep; there are points so low, nights so long, that one wonders what will come of it all and just costly it will be.

Judgement and mercy are threads that run all throughout the story of God - and mercy prevails.  After flood waters have rescinded, "there in the clouds - just where the storm meets the sun - was a beautiful bow made of light.  It was a new beginning in God's world.  It wasn't long before everything went wrong again but God wasn't surprised, hew knew this would happen.  That's why, before the beginning of time, he had another plan - a better plan.  A plan not to destroy the world, but to rescue it - a plan to send his own Son, the Rescuer.  God's strong anger against hate and sadness and death would come down once more - but not on his people or his world.  No, God's war bow was not pointing down at his people.  It was pointing up into the heart of heaven."

Judgement. Mercy.  Love. The Salvation of God.

This year - nearly two thousand years since Jesus spoke these words, the sense that things have gone terribly wrong in our world remains - wars, tsunami's, terrorism, environmental disasters, humanitarian crises.  And even in our relatively comfortable part of the world we know the effects of fire, of homelessness and poverty, of human suffering.  Lord, have mercy.

And how do we respond to this as followers of Christ?  It seems that neither futility nor hedonism is the answer.  Jesus puts forward another way: endurance.  Think of the long distance runner who must train in all conditions; persist in the face of discouragement, discomfort and pain in order to be physically and mentally disciplined to run the race. Endurance.  Think of those who have demonstrated outstanding moral courage in a time that required leadership; they have suffered defeat, rejection and loss. They did not give up: Endurance. Think of those who spent their lives working on behalf of people oppressed and forgotten about by the world; they have battled hard against despair and pervasive loneliness. Endurance. Think of those who have left their homes and their families because of economic or political disaster; they have become refugees - endured homelessness, homesickness, displacement, fear, worry, unemployment, despair, and illness. Endurance: it is not for the faint of heart; it is was we are called to as Christians.

"And before this terrible time followers of Jesus will be arrested, persecuted, betrayed and hated."

Did the disciples wonder as they heard Jesus speak if it was their very lives he was talking about? Would they remember those words he spoke to them: "make up your minds not to prepare a defence in my name; for I will give you words of wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict... not a hair of your head will perish, by your endurance you will gain your souls."  I think they held on to these words, this promise - though they experienced failure along the way they endured; they gave passionate and bold witness for Christ. And they gained their souls; their forever life with Jesus.  And the same is true for us, not a hair on our heads will perish, in our endurance we will gain our souls.

In this text that there is a collapsing of time - the time which Jesus was describing was not unlike the world he entered, the world in which the church would establish itself under the crushing powers of Rome; and the world we now live and struggle in.  So the text works on us in three ways - in the past, present and future.  Just as our salvation has been accomplished, is being worked out and is yet to be fully realized; this is the 'already - not yet' tension we find ourselves in.  We have been given salvation and yet we struggle in our flesh.  However, we do not struggle in futility, "we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."(Romans 5:3-5)

During advent we enter the mystery of the collapsing of time in the incarnation of Christ.  We are reminded that Christ came into a world that was dark and dangerous; he entered into the misery and the beauty, the strength and vulnerability of human life and defeated sin and death forever.  And we are waiting with expectancy, full of hope for the full reign of the kingdom of God on earth - for all things to be made new.

"I am the Beginning," Jesus said, "and the Ending!"
One day, John knew, Heaven would come down and mend God's broken world and make it our true, perfect home once again.
And he knew, in some mysterious way that would be hard to explain, that everything was going to be more wonderful for once having been so sad.
And he knew that the ending of The Story was going to be so great, it would make all the sadness and tears and everything seem like just a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun.
"I'm on my way," said Jesus, "I'll be there soon!"

Heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away... (Matthew 24:35)
God's love lasts forever.
Amen.


*** A New Beginning - Noah's Ark from Genesis 6-9 & A dream of heaven - John sees into the future, from Revelation 1, 5, 21, 22 taken from The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones

Thanks to the Rev's William, Don, David, Amber, the always thoughtful Sandy and the Thursday morning Mums' Group for enriching the conversation around the text today.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

He entered Jericho and was passing through it.  A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich.  He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.  So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.  When Jesus came to the place he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.  All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner."  Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."  Then Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:1-8

The story of Zacchaeus is a story that catches the attention of most children who often struggle to see in crowds, who pull on the legs of their parents to be held or hoisted onto strong shoulders and who eagerly engage their imaginations and their bodies in climbing trees.  This wee man would have been jostled in a crowd, pressing up on his toes only to get knocked over, staring at the backs of other men and women perhaps frustrated by of his diminutive stature. But he is not easily deterred; he is a man who gets what he wants although mostly through use of his power.  Today however, he has success because of some ingenuity and physical prowess - he will run ahead of the crowd and climb a tree to get a birds eye view of Jesus.  Was he trying to be conspicuous and get the attention of Jesus or was he hoping to go unrecognized in this crowd? After all he was a chief tax collector; chief among the corrupt banking elite, getting rich off the backs of the citizenry, colluding with the Romans against them. In this city Zacchaeus would enjoy his own celebrity of sorts.  Truth be told though Zacchaeus is short, he is no victim.  He has been a part of a system that has victimized others and through this he has become rich.  And of all the people in the crowd on this particular day who does Jesus draw attention to, whose name does Jesus say, whose home will Jesus go to - but Zacchaeus'.  Who wouldn't throw up their hands at this! Not Zacchaeus, not his house.  Luke's gospel has contained some difficult stories about wealth - the foolish farmer who builds bigger stores for his grain, the rich man who walked past Lazarus each day, the rich young ruler who walks away from Jesus because the cost of discipleship is too great.  Surely he will rebuke Zacchaeus, not call him!

Zacchaeus is all too eager to welcome Jesus.  People in the crowd suspect this puffs him up - he just got the person of intrigue, the person people are most curious about, to his house.  Of course he did, that scoundrel.  He always gets what he wants.  Will no one deny him? I can feel my own chest tightening at this - think Wall Street corruption.  Mismanaged, dishonest and corrupt companies crumble or are bailed out by government resulting in economic collapse and many of those responsible for engineering the crisis walk away with massive severance pay and protection under the law.   The people in the crowded are justifiably affronted.  Or are they?  This is what Luke is chipping away at in us, in me - who is salvation for: the tax collector, even the chief tax collector, the woman caught in adultery, the one who comes home, the older brother, Lazarus, the Lepers, Nicodemus, the Samaritan - and even me.  This is the good news, that is sometimes hard news.  Because as much as we want people to love, the way the crowds loved Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem, we also want to heap scorn on others - we want to make someone else responsible for all of the injustice in this sad, sorry world.  We want Jesus on our terms just like the crowd on this particular day; just like the people whose cries would move from "Hosanna, Hosanna" to "Crucify Him, Crucify Him"within a week.

So what do we do with the salvation of Zacchaeus? Do you ever feel tempted to stand to the side like the older brother not trusting the refund and restitution cheque he hands you?  So angry that you just might tear it up? And yet all the while in your heart you know the right thing is throw your arms around your brother. But it stings and you grumble about the past and you want to be stingy instead of welcoming the new and generous work that God is doing in Zacchaeus.  Because even the most ethically bankrupt are not beyond his generousity.

If you have been following Jesus for a long you need this story too because it isn't just the story of someone who encounters Christ for the first time and receives salvation.  This is a story about being found, hearing your name and responding to Jesus; this is a story that is instructive for how to live as followers of Christ and sometimes the best people to offer that perspective and instruction are the people who glimpse it and receive it for the first time.  Our relationship with money is slippery isn't it?  We want to hold on, we want to cozy up with the illusion of control and self importance, when the right response to Jesus' grace and generousity to us is to joyfully let go and give back in abundance.  Just like Zacchaeus did.

The last line of this story reads: "for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost." Maybe that line will remind children of our earlier story in Luke - Jesus is the shepherd who will find the one lost sheep, the way he found Zacchaeus in that tree, called him by name and offered him salvation.  Zacchaeus for his part was an eager recipient! I love the physicality of this story - the man running ahead of the crowd, climbing the tree and then scurrying down from it and standing before Jesus to proclaim: "Look Jesus, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything I will pay them back four times as much."  May we all respond to Jesus with such vigour and whole-hearted expressions of thanksgiving for the generous gift of salvation.