Sunday Morning Reflections

Lessons:
Jeremiah 23:1-6

Canticle 16 or Psalm 46

Colossians 1:11-20

Luke 23:33-43

Christ in Majesty from the Codex Amiatinus (Wikipedia Commons)

We have come to the Last Sunday after Pentecost (aka the Solemnity of the Reign of Christ). Some thoughtful folks I know really dislike this Sunday because of its imagery of domination. I believe their distaste indicates that they have actually heard Jesus and paid attention.

While we borrow ancient imagery from oriental potentates to call him King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus turns around to challenge our understanding of sovereignty. The examples we have to work with leave something to be desired in the eyes of God.

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:2)

Accustomed to “pastoral” imagery in church contexts, we tend to think of these shepherds as clergy, perhaps the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem, but in the ancient Near East shepherd imagery was attached to rulers. This is why Psalm 23 (The LORD is my shepherd) is translated in Latin as “Dominus regit me” (the LORD reigns over me). [Click on "Psalm 23" to hear the tune by the Latin name, which we know as the hymn "The King of love my Shepherd is.")

The imagery exists in the mythology of Dumuzi (Tammuz), the dying-and-rising shepherd god and consort of Inana, who is variously identified with local kings (background, p. 96) and in the designation of the Hyksos as “shepherd kings” in Egypt.

Mosaic ikon of Christ Pantokrator in La Martorana, Palermo, Sicily
Image by ChrisO, April 2006 (via Wikipedia)

“I’m a uniter, not a divider.” (George W. Bush)

It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. (The LORD, the God of Israel)

[I know y’all could make this link without me but I could not pass it by and remain subtle.]

Rulers may assume they have unfettered rights but our faith tradition considers them answerable to God. We all tend to think we are commissioned and empowered by the Holy for whatever it is we want to do; we prefer not to think we are to be judged by the Holy for what we do. It is evidently the way we are, rulers and governed alike.

I have done lots of preaching, telling people they are commissioned and empowered by God. I hope that in doing so I have always stressed that we are commissioned and empowered to do God’s will and work, not our own.

Actually, if George really believed in what he said (cited above) and lived into it, he would have found himself doing the work of God’s reign—engaged in reconciliation, healing divides, building alliances, bringing social structures into alignment with the good of the people, the good of nations, and the good of the earth. This is because uniting is precisely the work God calls us to. It is the supreme work of Christ in which we share.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)

Q. What is the mission of the Church? A. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. (The Catechism, BCP page 854)

The sovereignty that desires unity is not, however, a sovereignty that seeks its own glory. Those of us who believe that Jesus reveals God to us see God’s power linked to God’s love, God’s justice to God’s mercy, God’s holiness to God’s desire to redeem and sanctify and thus to God’s compassion. The divine might is manifested in self-emptying, not in self-aggrandizement (Philippians 2:5-11).

Jesus comes to us as a servant, a slave, not a ruler, and calls us to serve each other. No wonder he could tell Pilate (in the Gospel for this Sunday in another year) that his kingdom is not of this world, not defined by this world’s values and power structures.

And so we see, in one of those delicious and profound literary ironies, that those who mock Jesus, this alleged king dying on a Roman cross, are actually pointing toward the most profound truth. “He saved others,” they jeer, “let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" (Luke 23:35)

It is precisely as God’s chosen, as the one anointed to rule in God’s way and for God’s purposes, that he will not save himself, for only in renouncing the false path can he be true to God’s design and effectively save others.

I have posted at length on the choice between the path of Jesus and the path of Caesar, the way of power and dominion versus the way of the Cross. It is a central theme in the Christian Scriptures and speaks to every aspect of our life and all our daily choices. It underlies the stories in my fiction and fires my political passions. So I will conclude this morning’s reflections with links to posts since those who are new to this blog may have missed them.

Satan’s Throne

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Assisi souvenirs, photo by zyance (Wikipedia)

I also want to repeat the invitation to do some dreaming with me. As I wrote not too long ago:

It seems I never get away from the abiding question: who is Lord, Jesus or Caesar? Our answer obviously determines how we live.



So.



If you were to imagine a new faith, or an old faith that you could embrace with joy, what might it look like?



What would be your John 3:16?



Your Lord's (or Lady's) Prayer?



What would be (or already are) the virtues of your favorite saint?

I didn’t get any responses the first time. Do I need to make this one of those tag games? Well, not tagging anyone, just inviting.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day.
--the BB