Christ the King Sunday
The very title Jesus seemed to most avoid!
Because people would apply to that title
all their expectations about a king
bounded by their perception of the current political situation:
the Davidic King who would lead them to victory
– finally the Romans out of there –
and this would establish a reign that would be unending,
this reign being understood as political domination,
the very temptation the devil had placed before Jesus
during those 40 days in the wilderness.
Mt 4:8-9
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
and he said to him,
“All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
It seems as though
the devil was claiming ownership to the kingdoms of the world,
if, as he said, he was able to give these to Jesus.
As you recall, Jesus declined the offer.
But now here in this parable that Jesus addressed to his disciples
it is Jesus himself this time who brings up the title of King.
It is not of the kingdoms of this world that Jesus claimed his kingship.
He actually preferred instead the title that is commonly translated
as “Son of Man”
or more fully understood as son of humankind, servant of humanity.
So this is a very unusual place in the Gospels
where Jesus, this ultimate Servant, speaks of himself
as a king sitting in judgment over all the nations.
Now the judgment here has to do with one’s relationship
with those who are without power, the weak, the vulnerable:
What is the relationship of those of privilege
with those of lesser power than themselves?
If this relationship is characterized in serving these,
especially those who are the least, the end of the line,
then they are blessed,
for they will have stooped to the lowest place
in order to serve the ones at the bottom of society.
This is the way of discipleship.
If we are to be authentic disciples and followers of Jesus,
this is the guaranteed way to do it: be the servant of the lowest.
This is following the example of Jesus
who stooped to wash his disciples’ feet,
taking the job of the lowest ranking household slave
for completing that particularly disgusting task.
This kind of discipleship is not what a lot of us had in mind
when we signed up.
Maybe we could be the disciple that teaches Sunday School
or Bible studies,
or the disciple that helps to lead worship,
or administers the congregation’s property and finances,
or hosts joyful fellowship gatherings,
or raises money for good causes.
But what is described in this parable of the Kingdom of Heaven is not
some do-gooder charity of giving a handout from a distance.
It is taking the servant job of waiting tables and working in the kitchen.
It is welcoming into your own home the alien
and giving them the same kind of hospitality
that you offer your own relatives.
It is taking the shirt off your own back and giving it to another.
It is risking your own health by being with those socially quarantined.
It is not being ashamed to associate with those who are doing hard time
having been convicted of crime, and even serving their needs.
This is a kind of service that leads to self-annihilation,
that is, the annihilation of self serving interests,
for there is little room for that
in the kinds of ministries listed in this parable.
None of these actions will gain you any advantage
or line your pockets
or leave you better off.
That’s the way it is with being a disciple of Jesus.
But if you carry out the discipleship of serving in whatever way,
with a willing heart for putting others first and forgetting self,
you will be expressing a very powerful form of devotion,
devotion as significant as
the deepest, most heart-felt devotion of worship and love,
which is also a way of self-forgetting.
Become a servant to those who cannot pay you back,
and, Jesus says, you will be washing Jesus’ own feet,
the One who washed the feet of his first disciples,
the King of the Kingdom of Heaven
where power structures are topsy-turvy.
In the Kingdom of Heaven the least is the greatest,
the King is the One who serves,
and the Kingdom is in the midst of us even now.
It is all of a piece: Kingdom, King, servant and discipleship.
The Kingdom is that state of being where God reigns,
that is, reality, what is Real.
The King is the One who poured out himself in serving
to the point of annihilation, his death.
And the judgment of the disciples
is in their serving.
Mt 20:25-28
Jesus called them to him and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great ones are tyrants over them.
It will not be so among you;
but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;
just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,
and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Matt. 23:11-12
The greatest among you will be your servant.
All who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
Now here’s the secret:
In all this Jesus is calling his disciples to reduplicate him,
calling us to join him in his extreme service of self-forgetting.
There is a beautiful reason for demanding of us such a discipleship.
It is in self-forgetting that we will wake to our true identity,
as being in Christ, in the Heart of Christ.
It is then that we awake to discover our union with God,
of the profound love within which we exist.
It is then that we discover life in all its abundance,
that John, the Gospel writer, called eternal life.
It is then that all of life flows with us in such a way
that our lives work effortlessly rather than full of frustrations.
It is then that we know the Peace of God which passes all understanding.
It is then that we know we are loved,
that love is the place where we exist,
that God is all love,
that there is nothing but love.
No comments:
Post a Comment