REIGN OF CHRIST - PROPER 29 (34) Year
B November 25, 2018
WHO IS JESUS?
At this time in the church year we start
to focus on the fact that Jesus will come again. Our reading from Revelation reveals him as
the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty… Today we will focus on this aspect, what
it means for us, and how God wants us to respond here and now.
You know, even
that one statement holds so much for us to consider. Many people back almost 2000
years, and many today, think of Jesus simply as a good man, a moral teacher, or
a prophet, but this statement says that he is and he was and he is to come…. Implying
a whole lot of things about the nature of Jesus – and just to clarify, it then refers
to him as the Almighty. What do you make of that? And what do the people of
today generally make of that?
In our Gospel
reading Pilate asks Jesus if he is a
King. Now, Pilate has Jesus in front
of him, a man arrested and charged with disturbing the peace and accused of
blasphemy - Blasphemy being that he
claimed to be the son of God and even equal with God.
I’m not sure
why Pilate even asked Jesus that question, except that he must have sensed something of the divine in Jesus – because surely,
logically, if Jesus was a traditional King, his followers would have been
fighting for him – and this very thing is what Jesus explains to Pilate when he
went on to explain that his Kingdom was not of this world.
Now at this
point, if you can really imagine the scene, Pilate must have had to wrestle
with the dilemma of who is Jesus– or more accurately – the trilemma of the truth
about Jesus. It was coined a Trilemma by
C. S. Lewis – and it is something we all need to think about. I get very frustrated when people think that
all this Christianity is simply a belief based on nothing. Jesus is an historical, real and fair dinkum
person – We know this because of historical documents other than the scriptures
that mention him – not to mention the immense impact on the whole world, such
that we count time from the year of his birth.
Therefore,
Jesus being a real historical figure, we need to ask the question that Pilate
asked and go through that same process of discernment – not the dilemma but the
logical trilemma; Jesus was either lying about who he was, he was crazy, or he
was actually telling the truth.
Interestingly
our reading concludes with Jesus’ statement about truth: “Pilate
asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I
am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify
to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice”
And here is
the thing…. “For this I was born and came into the world… to testify to the
truth…..” There stood Jesus about to be
crucified, saying this! And for that
truth he was crucified. I think that logically
we can easily cross off Liar. Surely if
you were lying, you’d admit it in the face of death. I’m guessing that Pilate figured this out also,
and was obviously intrigued. And the
intrigue shows that he didn’t think Jesus was crazy either, as in that case you’d
not bother with such questioning, not to mention the washing of his hands
incident.
So that leaves
us with the truth. Of course we have way
more incidences and circumstances upon which to base our faith in Jesus, but
too often people, and even we, don’t actually realize the solidity upon which
our faith is based.
The truth is
an interesting thing because I was once under the assumption that the truth was
what people wanted most, but after asking a group of people if they’d prefer
the truth or a lie that made them feel comfortable, many said they’d prefer the
lie. Personally I’d prefer the truth, no
matter how devastating, because then you can begin to deal with things in a way
that is real and you can push through the hard times knowing why the hard times
are there.
Every athlete
knows that their training is going to be painful, but they know that the
hardships will enable them to compete at their best level, and so they
endure.
I believe these
are the days we are in. People are not
wanting the truth and not wanting to endure any pain, but I have to tell you I
believe we are only in the beginnings of the hard times to come, and the hard
times world-wide will get harder. Jesus
tells us these things so that we can endure.
You need to know this and the Good News of Jesus and who he is so that
you can endure it. In fact our readings
from the last few weeks have had this thread also- Ruth and Naomi went through
hard times, but their hard times and them pressing on, was integral to the
story of salvation. God is good – all the
time!
King David also
had times of trouble, as our Psalm states; Lord remember David and his times of
trouble. Though King David had many
times of trouble, he had a heart that desired to serve God and he was a
favourite of God. Was King David perfect?
Certainly he was not.
King David wanted
to build a temple for God… a monument of his affection – an outward sign of his
love for God. Although a noble desire,
God told him that it would be his son and not him to do this thing. And in true prophetic style this “word from
God” had layers of meaning – literally, King David’s son did build the temple –
but more importantly the “son of David” that is Jesus, would establish a permanent
temple. The temple of Jesus is his body
that was destroyed on the cross and raised to everlasting life – and through
that temple we approach God without any obstacle to our relationship with God.
King David is
a superlative Bible character. While he
is so very fallible, he is also open and genuine about his fallibility and
desire to be better. He has a passion
for Justice and keen understanding of mercy, compassion, love and
forgiveness. Maybe it came from herding
sheep!!
I don’t know
sheep, but I have a cat. Cats don’t
understand English. We speak a different
language, although sometimes I’m not sure, because when I ask my cat if he
wants to go outside he bolts for the door without any further prompting. Sometimes my cat sits on the table or jumps
on the cupboards where he is not allowed and he looks at me blankly. His Kitty litter stinks and he watches me
with interest as I clean it out for him.
Moral to the story is that I understand he is a cat and his behaviour is
going to always be that of a cat. I guess
it is the same with sheep.
As someone who
cared for sheep, King David learned leadership.
He learned that he couldn’t expect more from the sheep than that which
is common to sheep. When sheep went
astray, I’m guessing he learnt to forgive the sheep, as it was after all… just the
nature of a sheep.
We, all like
sheep, do go astray, and even King David went very astray. He repented and God never took his love away
from David.
With all that
David had learnt, his last words were to declare that the spirit of the LORD
speaks through him and then he speaks about what it means to rule. One who rules justly, who is God-fearing,
brings refreshment to the land -Life!
This weekend
we celebrate Christ the King. We see
that our King is different from other kings, he was one who is more like a
shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
Many who are put in positions of power grapple to understand how to be a
leader. Jesus shows us. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests
serving his God and Father, and asks us to follow his example, where we may
need to put our lives – our reputations & pride - on the line to testify to
the truth and act in mercy.
The truth is;
Jesus is who he claimed to be – the one who is, who was and who is to
come. In the light of his dominion, though
we live in days that are hard, where truth is crucified and lies are embraced,
will we stand firm? Will we allow Jesus to
be the King of our life?
Part of my own
faith journey was this question – although it was put to me a little
differently – Will you make Jesus the Lord of your life? It is a commitment that needs to be made and
then remembered and renewed with each new day – Yes Jesus, I want you to be the
Lord, the ruler… the King of my life.
These days are
like those days of Elijah who declared the word of the LORD. Like him, we need to speak the truth and be
like that life-giving King, bringing refreshing, where the dry bones become as
flesh. In the times to come, things will
become more difficult. There will be great trials, famine, darkness and sword. We are part of the kingdom of God, the
labourers, we are the voice, the people of God’s kingdom who testify to the
truth, and we are declaring the word of the Lord.
The days we
are in, in 2018, are days where Jesus calls us to allow him to be our King and
the Lord of our lives. Will we answer
that call?
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