Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve, Year C

Isaiah 9: 2 – 7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11 – 14; Luke 2: 1 - 20

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Monday, December 24, 2012.

“GOD’S PLAN TO SAVE THE WORLD”
(Homily text:  Luke 2: 1 - 20)

I imagine that most of us, at one time or another, have considered the ways in which we would like to see the world’s problems solved.  “Wouldn’t it be wonderful,” we might ask ourselves, “If God would come down and sweep away all evil, all want, all poverty, all sadness from the human condition?”

If you’ve ever thought those sorts of thoughts, I suspect you’re not alone in wishing that God would act in just such a way, a way that would show His immense power, a way that would do the work of making the world a better place for us, all in one easy move.

Allow me, then, to share with you the way in which I sometimes wishfully think that I would like God to act to save the world from its own problems.  (I am tempted to call this fanciful tale “The Gospel according to Tucker”, but that might be just a bit presumptuous.)

Anyway, if I were to ask God to save the world, here’s how I would wish Him to do it…my written record of my wishes would be like this:

 “God looked down from His heaven, and saw what a mess the world was in.  People with power exploited those who had no power.  Cruelty was common.  Wars were common. Death was common and life was cheap.  Families were torn apart by disagreement or by abandonment.  Many of the people of the world were poor, desperately poor.  Many were slaves.  Most had little hope that their lives would ever get better.

 (That is a very good description of the way the world was some 2,000 years ago.  It is a good description of the way the world still is in some places today.)

As God looked down on this depressing situation, He turned to His Son and said, ‘Son, I want you to go down to earth and tell them that there’s a new day dawning, a day which will end all the evils of the world, a day that will bring hope to everyone, a day that will bring an end to the things that sadden or cause peoples’ hearts to break. 

In order for the people of the world to pay attention to you, your arrival is going to have to be spectacular.  I’ve arranged for you to use the fiery chariot that I used to bring the prophet Elijah to heaven for your arrival.  As it streaks across the sky, everyone will see you as you arrive.  Once you’ve landed, your appearance will be as bright as the noonday sun.  And when you confront evil, one look from the brilliance of your eyes will cause a complete change in the hearts and minds of those who do evil.  For those evildoers who refuse to listen to you, or to change their ways, you will have the power to destroy them on the spot with one word from your mouth.  People everywhere will know that I have sent you, and no corner of the earth will escape noticing your arrival, and the change it will bring.’”

So, there you have it, my vision of how I imagine I’d like God to act to save the world.

As I reflect on my idea of saving the world, I realize two things about my own wishful vision:

1.  It sounds a bit like one of our comic book heroes, someone like Superman or maybe Spiderman.  (Perhaps the very existence of these fictitional characters is tribute to a desire that is deep within us that longs for such a dramatic and quick resolution of the problems of the human race…of course, such a rescue from the problems that plague us is entirely the work of such a hero…all we have to do is to stand around and watch.)

2.  The vision I’ve laid out is very much in keeping with the spirit of the description of the Lord’s second coming at the end of time.  Scripture’s vision of that future event involves the fact that everyone will know of the Lord’s arrival, and that God’s total victory over sin and evil will take place at that time.  (Of course, it’s worth noting that, in our just-concluded season of Advent, we’ve been focusing on the Lord’s second coming as part of our preparation to remembering His first coming.)

So much for my ideas about how God should act to save the world….fortunately, God didn’t follow my blueprint, and that, I am sure, is a very, very good thing!

But how did God act to save the world?

The account of His actions is before us in our gospel reading for tonight.  We are all very familiar with the facts, so it is good for us to reflect on God’s actions in sending Jesus Christ to be born among us, whose birth took place in order to save the world – and us – from our sinful, hopeless condition.  Here is a brief summary of God’s saving acts:
  • Jesus’ birth took place in an out-of-the-way, backward province of the Roman Empire, the Holy Land.
  • He was born into poor circumstances[1], in a setting where there were animals present.  Talk about humble – and dangerous – beginnings!
  • Very few people knew of His birth:  His mother, Mary, those who attended her during the birth process, His earthly father, Joseph, the shepherds in the fields who were told of the birth by the angels, and perhaps a few others. 
  • It wasn’t very long before others began to notice Jesus’ arrival:  King Herod, who was told that the “King of the Jews” had been born by the Wise Men (see Matthew 2: 1 – 6)[2]. And at age twelve, St. Luke tells us that the young Jesus visited the Temple, where He impressed the teachers there with His knowledge of the Law of Moses. (See Luke 2: 41 – 51)
  • His public ministry began at about the age of thirty (Luke 3: 23), and lasted about three years.  During His earthly ministry, increasing numbers of people came to hear Him, to see His miracles, and to see that God was doing in Jesus’ work.  But the total number of those who witnessed these things was probably still quite small.
  • He was betrayed into the hands of the leadership of the Jewish people, was condemned to die by Pontius Pilate, and died a criminal’s death on a cross.  Most crucified people didn’t receive a burial, but Jesus did, by the generosity of Joseph of Arimathea. 
  • He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning, an event that was witnessed originally by Mary Magdelene, His mother Mary, the eleven remaining disciples, and very few others.
As we look at these aspects of Jesus’ arrival, His work, His suffering, death and resurrection, we see that all of these things make for a very small beginning.

But I think the point is that God works with very small beginnings.

Oh yes, we need to acknowledge God’s power to work with big, dramatic gestures which show forth His power…the parting of the Red Sea is just one example of that divine power.

But more often than not, God is working with small beginnings, with people who may not garner much attention from the world at large.  We think of the Old Testament prophets in this regard…How many heard Amos speak the word of the Lord in the eighth century BC, for example…very few, I’ll wager.

Yet we remember Amos today, 2,800 years later.  We remember His words of wisdom that come from God.

God’s small beginnings in sending Jesus Christ among us have now grown to cover the entire world. The march of the Christian faith, especially in places like Africa and China, were Christians have a hard time maintaining their witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ, is evidence that God’s small beginnings were destined to become great things, like the grain of mustard seed that grows into a mighty, large bush. (See Luke 13: 18 – 19.)

Now, the growth of this Good News of Jesus Christ has reached us.  It has taken root in our hearts, beginning as a small seed, planted at the time of our baptisms.  It has grown, matured, and is now bearing fruit, fruit for the kingdom of God that makes the world a better place for everyone to live in….

And that, dear friends, is one of the ways that God decided to save the world:  He sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our own sinful and destructive ways.  And as He planted a new person in our hearts in place of the old, sinful one, He also has given us the power to show the world that there is a better and higher way to live:  That is the way that Jesus Christ came to show us by His life, teachings, death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and by His coming again at the end of time in power and great glory.

All of these things begin in small, almost unnoticeable ways. 

This holy season is the time to take stock of our walk with God…can we see the small beginnings of faith that were planted when we were baptized?  Can we see the growth in the knowledge and love of the Lord that is God’s fondest desire for us?  Can we see mature growth that allows the seeds of faith to be sown in others’ hearts?  Can we see that the way of Christ, present within us, makes the world around us a better place?

May the Holy Spirit enable us to see the fruits of good works, present in our lives, for the salvation of the world and the betterment of our souls’ health.

AMEN.

 

 

[1]   The idea that Mary and Joseph were poor may be gleaned from the nature of the offering that was made when Jesus was presented in the Temple.  The Law of Moses allowed poorer persons to make an offering of “two turtledoves or two pigeons” in such cases.  (See Luke 2: 24)
[2]  This is an event we will remember on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Advent 4, Year C

Advent 4 – Year C

Micah 5:2–5a, Psalm 80:1–7; Hebrews 10:5–10; Luke 1:39-55

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, December 23, 2012.

 “PUTTING TOGETHER THE GOSPEL TRAIN”

(Homily text:  Luke 1: 39 - 55)

St. Luke does a wonderful job of recording the careful steps that God took in order to prepare the way for His Son to be born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  His account is like no other of the other three gospel accounts, and much of the information that he records is available nowhere else.  So Luke’s work is invaluable for us to understand just how God was working with various people and in difficult circumstances to bring about His plan to save the world.

In this morning’s gospel account, we hear of Mary’s visit to her (distant) cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with her own child, John the Baptist.  (By this time, Mary is pregnant, as well, having been visited by the angel Gabriel.)

In this morning’s account, then, we read of the first meeting of these two central persons in God’s plan to save the world:  John the Baptist and Jesus, both of whom are yet-unborn.  Eventually, of course, Jesus will again meet John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan River at the time when John was baptizing there.

But how did all of these various parts of God’s plan come together?

As I think about it, it strikes me that God is doing something like putting together a train of people (remember that I am a railroad lover!), all of whom will follow the Lord Jesus’ leading as the good news of God’s saving acts unfolds.  Each one, as they are linked (coupled) to the other, have a role to play.

In order to see how all of this gets put together, we might back up a little into an earlier part of chapter one of Luke’s gospel account.  That way, we can see how these various persons are linked to one another and to God’s great, big plan.

The birth of John the Baptist:  (See Luke 1:5–25 & 1:57–66) Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, is a priest who is ministering in the temple in Jerusalem. The angel Gabriel appears to him and tells him that he is to become a father to a son who will “make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1: 17d)  Zechariah responds to Gabriel’s announcement by saying that he and his wife, Elizabeth, are now old, and they have been without children all the years of their marriage.   God overcomes the limitations of their human condition, and in due time, Elizabeth does conceive a child.

The birth of Jesus:  (See Luke 1:26–38 & 2:1–21) The angel Gabriel appears to Mary, and tells her that she will bear a son, “who will be great,” and who “will be called the Son of the Most High.”  (Luke 1:32).  Mary responds by citing the limitations of her human condition, saying that she has no husband.  Gabriel responds by saying that the child to be born will be born by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, Gabriel says, “The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35d)

It’s worth a moment of our time to see the parallel patterns that exist in the two accounts of the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus.  Here is the pattern: 

·         Gabriel announces the birth of a son

·         The limitations of the human condition are cited (by Zechariah and by Mary)

·         Gabriel says that God will overcome the limitations

·         The sons are born.

Now, God is preparing all of these various personages for a specific role and purpose in His plan of salvation….Zechariah and Elizabeth are the parents of John the Baptist, the one who will prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.  Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, becomes the mother of Jesus, the one who will save the people from their sins.

And so, this gospel train has been assembled.  It is ready to do the work God has planned for it to accomplish.  The way has been prepared, and all the signals are green, showing that the route ahead is clear.  And, just as God had already overcome the limitations that stood in the way of putting together His gospel train in the first place, so too will God overcome any difficulties that might lie in the pathway ahead.

Now, this gospel train has reached us.  By now, its assemblage of persons, which follow the Lord much like a set of railroad cars follows the leading of the locomotive ahead, is quite long.  Nearly 2,000 years’ worth of believers follow in the Lord’s train.  And as it pulls into the station of our hearts, we, too, are invited to couple up to the believers who are in front of us, as all of us follow the Lord’s leading and share in the Lord’s power to carry us forward through this life and into the life of the world to come.

So now, in this holy season in which we recall with joy the Lord’s arrival, perhaps it is most appropriate for us to allow the Lord to insert us into His train more securely than before.  Perhaps it’s time for us to realize that, if we are not securely connected to the Lord and to the Lord’s power, we are as helpless as a disconnected railroad car.

After all, we’re in very good company as we couple up to God’s engine of salvation, for we are connected down through time to Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, John the Baptist, and all the saints who have relied on God’s power to save through the person and work of Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

 

           

 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Advent 3, Year C


Zephaniah 3: 14 - 20; For the Psalm:  Canticle 9; Philippians 4: 4 - 7; Luke 3: 7 - 18

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, December 16, 2012.

“TO COMFORT THE AFFLICTED, AND TO AFFLICT THE COMFORTABLE”
(Homily text:  Luke 3: 7 - 20)
It’s been said that one of the preacher’s tasks is to “comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable.”

Today’s gospel reading, which continues the account of John the Baptist’s baptizing in the River Jordan, and his message of repentance for sins, does just that.  His cry in the wilderness shakes people out of their comfortable smugness. 

 John’s call goes out to Jew and Gentile alike.  To the Jews, his call destroys their claims of superiority based on heritage and bloodlines.  To the Gentile and to the Roman authorities, his call sweeps away all claims of exemption for evil behavior based on political power and the threat of violence. 

John’s message applies to both Jew and Gentile in his day, 2,000 years ago.  His message applies to all people everywhere, and to us today.

The Baptizer seeks to afflict us, to shake us out of our slumber, to awaken us to God’s ability to stir us up, as the Collect for the Third Sunday in Advent says, “Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…”

As we look at the focus of John’s address, we see that it is aimed at the Jews of his day, whose claims of racial superiority as descendents of Abraham, are swept away.  “…Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’” John says, continuing “for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

“You can be replaced,” John is saying.

Then, John turns his attention to those who worked for the Roman government itself….He tells those who collected tolls and taxes for the government that they are not to cheat people by adding to the actual amounts owed.  And to the soldiers, he says that they are not to use threats of violence as a means to extort money from people.

Both practices were widespread in John the Baptist’s day.  These were practices that victimized helpless people.  As we move through Luke’s gospel account in this third year of our lectionary cycle, we will see many examples in Luke’s writing that show his concern for the poor and the helpless.

“To afflict the comfortable, and to comfort the afflicted,” this is the preacher’s task.  It is the prophetic voice that follows in John the Baptist’s tradition.

The prophetic voice in preaching often involves walking a lonely road, just as the Baptist did those many years ago.  The prophetic voice in preaching dares to speak the unspeakable, to point out the ugliness of our unresponsive attitudes toward God’s demands for repentance and for amendment of life.

For the Baptist’s cry isn’t just meant to sweep away our defense mechanisms, by which we seek to isolate ourselves from God’s demands.  The Baptist’s cry also demands that we demonstrate by the way we live that we have heard God’s voice in the words of the prophet.

So the prophetic voice and its cry are timeless, applying to all persons, no matter their station in life or their heritage.  It applies not only to our beliefs, but to our attitudes and to our behavior.

The prophetic voice demands that we lay down all our claims of special status.  It demands that we surrender all our notions of exemption from God’s power and place in our lives.  It demands an integrity of life that unites our professions of faith with our actions.

And what of the comfort that may be given to the afflicted among us?  The truth of God’s message, coming to us through the words of the prophet, is this:  When we lay aside our isolating claims of privilege, we can honor the Lord’s command to care for the widow and the orphan, and the poor among us.  We can become aware of the subtle ways in which we exploit the powerless and oppress the defenseless.  As we said above, these, too, are Luke’s central concerns as he records the words of John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.

AMEN.

 

Sunday, December 09, 2012

Advent 2, Year C

Baruch 3: 1 – 5; For the Psalm:  Canticle 4; Philippians 1: 3 – 11; Luke 3: 1 – 5

A sermon by Fr. Gene R. Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, December 9, 2012.

“PROPHETS AND WARNINGS”
(Homily texts: Canticle 4 (Luke 1: 68-70) & Luke 3: 1-6)

For this, the Second Sunday of Advent, our Collect says:

“Merciful God, who didst give thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:  Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer;  who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.”

Each Sunday in Advent, a specific theme emerges from the Collect for the day and from some of the Scripture readings.  On this day, we hear, year-by-year, the account of John the Baptist, that rough-cut character who stood on the banks of the Jordan River, calling people to heed God’s warning to repent and be baptized, confessing their sins as they did so.

 Indeed, the canticle we read together this morning in the place of the Psalm, a canticle which is known as the “Song of Zechariah” (or by its Latin name, the Benedictus Dominus Deus), is the pronouncement of Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, about his son’s future role as a forerunner, one who will prepare the way.  Zechariah says about his son, “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins….”

John the Baptist is remembered for being a prophet.  In fact, he is regarded as the last of the line of Old Testament prophets, the completion of a long line of God’s messengers, whose work consisted of calling people to amend their lives and to repent of their sins.

This morning, let’s take a good look at prophets, and at their warnings.

We should begin by supplying a definition of the word “prophet”.  We should begin by looking at the more common understanding which is encountered  today:  The idea that a prophet is one who is able to foretell future events.  Attached to this definition is the understanding that a prophecy is a forecast of future events.  There is an element of future events present in prophetic persons and words.  But there is a more basic definition:  The prophetic voice is one which speaks God’s truth.  It is in this sense that we encounter the word prophecy and the person of the prophet in Scripture.  Prophets are speakers of God’s truth.

 In Old Testament times, prophets stood outside of the established religious order.  That is to say, they were not priests, in most cases. 

 Consider the eighth century prophet, Amos, who was a “shepherd and the dresser of sycamore trees.”  Amos was outside of the religious establishment of his day. In addition, Amos was an outsider in another sense:   Aa man from the southern kingdom of Judah, who was sent by God to the northern kingdom of Israel.  It’s easy to imagine that being a prophet is a very lonely occupation.

Consider John the Baptist:  He was the son of a priest, and therefore, able to serve as a priest, as well.  (In ancient times, there was no need for discernment committees, Commissions on Ministry, and the like…one was simply born into the priesthood.)  But, even though his father served in the temple in Jerusalem, John the Baptist chose to live a life outside the established order of his day…he stayed in the wilderness area near the Jordan River, calling people to repent of their sins and to be baptized. 

 John the Baptist’s voice was the counterweight to the religious system of his day.  In this vocation, he served the same role that the ancient prophets did:  serving to articulate God’s truth from a position outside the established ways of doing things.

And what of the warnings that John and his predecessors pronounced?

 Their warnings were meant to alert people to dangers that they would not have been aware of otherwise.

Their calls urged God’s people to closely examine their lives, their behaviors, and their attitudes.  The prophet’s call is so important because it is easy for God’s people to get comfortable with their religious practices, thinking that because their worship was done “according to the book”, God must be pleased with their offerings.  Surely that was the case in Amos’ day….We read in Amos 5: 21 – 24, God’s warning:  “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.  Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

 The conditions of Amos’ day might well have been the conditions that John the Baptist railed against.  Amos’ words exposed the shallow nature of the lives of God’s people in the eighth century BC….Amos said that God was not pleased with the glorious worship and their festivals, because their day-to-day behavior was so obnoxious and sinful….Apparently, in Amos’ day, truthful speech and upright, moral dealings were in short supply.  It is this aspect of our walk with God that concerns the prophet.

John the Baptist’s cry echoes against the walls of the temple complex in Jerusalem, a glorious and beautiful place where correct, by-the-book worship took place daily.  But such wonderful ceremony had apparently become a panacea for the worshipper, a sort of liturgical sleep-aid which was meant to calm and comfort the mind and to soothe the soul.

 “Wake up!” is the Baptist’s cry.  “See that your daily walk, your words, your deeds, and your attitudes, are all worthy of the righteousness of God.”  This is the Baptist’s message.

 Prophets and their warnings are as necessary and needful in our day as they were in Amos’ day, and in John the Baptist’s day.  The warning comes to all Christian believers, for we can become too comfortable in our established routines, thinking that our Sunday gatherings are all that God requires for a good and right relationship with Him.  This warning applies especially to those Christians who worship in a beautiful, majestic liturgical style.  The warning is put before us:  We can be lulled very easily into focusing on the events of our hour-long sojourn with God in church, on the beauty of the liturgy, forgetting all the while that God seeks to make us aware that our Sunday worship is meant to provide the structure for living the other six days of the week.

The prophet’s task is to jolt us out of our ecclesiastical nap, and into a full consciousness of our life in Christ, constantly comparing His righteousness against our own actions, deeds and speech.  That’s the whole point of our corporate worship together, yes, even fine, Anglican liturgical worship.

So who are the prophets today?  Where can they be found?

 Most anyone in the body of Christ can find themselves in the prophets’ shoes.  Simple things that we say in a day-to-day situation can be used by God for prophetic purposes.  The preacher, too, is called to a prophetic ministry, seeking to “afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.”

May we, with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, heed the prophets’ warnings, forsake our sins, and greet with joy the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 
 
AMEN.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

Advent 1, Year C


Jeremiah 33: 14 - 16; Psalm 25: 1 - 9; I Thessalonians 3: 9 - 13; Luke 21: 25 - 36

A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, December 2, 2012.

“NOTHING CLEANS A HOUSE LIKE COMPANY”
(Homily text:  Luke 21: 25 - 36)

“Nothing cleans a house like company!”       

Hearing this old saying not long ago made me realize how appropriate it is for the Advent season….for we have “company” coming…the Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ve not considered the two main themes of Advent since last year…perhaps a lot has happened in the intervening eleven months, requiring some reminders of the importance of this season of preparation, and its main themes, which focus our attention on the coming of the Lord.

The two main themes of Advent are:  1. To prepare for the Lord’s coming as a babe, born in Bethlehem (His first coming); and 2. To prepare for the Lord’s coming at the end of time with power and great glory (His second coming). 

Since I’ve mentioned the Lord’s second coming, allow me to make some comments about this morning’s gospel reading, which deals with this reality…..The Lord couches His prediction about His eventual return in a description of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.  He is engaging in what biblical scholars call “apocalyptic” discourse….the very word itself, “apocalyptic” comes to us from the Greek, where it means “unveiling”.  So the Lord here is telling us, in part, something about His second coming.  Some detail is given, but not all is revealed.  That’s the way it is with all things related to apocalyptic discourse and apocalyptic writing.  Apocalyptic descriptions often use symbolic language, so trying to figure out every detail of God’s future plan is difficult, even impossible.  I think God wants us to know that the Lord’s second coming is a given fact of God’s will, but the very nature of apocalyptic writing seems to indicate that God doesn’t want us to sit around trying to figure out everything there is to know about His will.

Having dealt with the troubling description that we hear in this morning’s gospel, now let’s return to the matter of house cleaning in advance of the “company” who will grace us with His presence, first in His coming to us at Christmastime, and second, in His eventual coming at the end of time.

Some observations come to mind:

A very important guest is coming!  Imagine having the President of the United States, or perhaps the Queen of England, come to your house…..the preparation for the presence of such a notable and important person would be intense!  Every corner of the house would receive the bright light of scrutiny…dust bunnies that inhabit the back sides of furniture and the undersides of beds would be swept away.  Projects to repair or renew the property that had been on the drawing board for months or even years would get done.  No corner of the house, inside and outside, would escape notice and attention.

Now imagine applying that scenario to the Lord’s coming, and to the matter of the condition of our hearts and minds.  Here, we are talking about the King of kings and Lord of lords (as we spoke about a week ago on “Christ the King Sunday).  Advent calls us to a thorough examination of the condition of our insides, that part of us that God can see, but which others cannot see.  Perhaps the bright light of God’s perfection needs to shine on the hidden parts of our being.  Perhaps it’s time to sweep those accumulated spiritual dust bunnies away.  Perhaps it’s time to get to doing those spiritual renewal projects that have been hibernating in our thoughts for far too long a time.

Being able to see the big picture:   One thing that apocalyptic literature does is to widen our vision, enabling us to see a wider view of things.  In our gospel text for this morning, Jesus says, “Now when you see these things take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”  Jesus continues in His discourse, underscoring the importance of being watchful, as He says, “But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare, for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth.  But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man.”

 These are troubling words….they are meant to stir up our minds and to dig into the hardened soil of our hearts.  The convey two essential truths:  1.  Trouble will attend the coming of Lord, and 2.  God is in charge. 

Both of these truths stand, side-by-side.  Apocalyptic discourse and apocalyptic literature arise during very difficult and trying times.  So the Lord’s words are meant to force us to see the whole of things, the “big picture”, even as we are comforted by knowing that God is in charge, and that God will have the last word, conquering every challenge and every difficulty that can come along.

 As we apply these truths to our own life situation, perhaps this Advent season can be a time in which we ask the Holy Spirit to allow us to see a wider view of things, to lift up our heads to see beyond the immediate, day-to-day challenges and difficulties of life, to see that God is in charge, and that God will have the last and final word, conquering any challenge or difficulty that might come along.  This truth applies to situations beyond our own lives, and to our own lives, as well.

May we allow the Holy Spirit to shine the light of God’s perfection into our hearts and into our minds, showing us those places that need a good cleaning, as we prepare to receive this most important guest, the Lord Jesus Christ.  May we allow the Holy Spirit to energize us to do the work that God calls us to do, as we prepare to receive His only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

AMEN.

 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Year B


Proper 29 -- II Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132; Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37
A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, November 25, 2012.
 
“CHRIST:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”
 
(Homily text:  Revelation 1: 4 – 8 and John 18: 33 - 37)
This Sunday marks the end of the Church Year.  All through our year-long journey toward this day, we have been aiming at a close examination of just who Jesus Christ is.  And along the way, we have recounted His marvelous teachings.  We have remembered His miracles.  We have noticed His influence on the people who heard Him preach and teach.

All these things are part of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry.  They affirm the reality that Jesus Christ came among us as one of us, fully human.

It was Jesus Christ’s humanity that Pontius Pilate could understand.  To Pilate, religious arguments about Jesus’ identity were so much Jewish nonsense…his Gentile mind simply was unaccustomed to the background of theological thinking that would allow him to understand some of what Jesus said in response to Pilate’s questionings.  But what Pilate could understand was the claim that Jesus Christ was a king…here, political realities emerge as Pilate says to the Lord, “So, you are a king?”  Jesus’ response points away from a temporal understanding of His kingship….the Lord says in response to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”  Some other kingdom and some other sort of kingship is in view here….it is a cosmic view of the divine Christ.

The Lord’s miracles, His ability to multiply the loaves and the fishes, His ability to conquer disease, even death, His ability to control the forces of nature by stilling the raging waters of the sea, all of these point to another reality:  That Jesus the Christ is God, come among us, incarnate in human flesh.

Here we have the image of the cosmic Christ, He who existed from before all time, from the beginning.  In theological terms, we say that He is “co-eternal with the Father.”  The Nicene Creed affirms this reality in these terms:  “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten[1] of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father….”

It is in this sense that we come to the Sunday known as “Christ the King.”  We catch a glimpse of the glory and the power of the cosmic Christ in our reading from the Book of Revelation this morning:  “John to the seven churches that are in Asia….and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.”

“Ruler of the kings of the earth,” we hear today.  The cosmic Christ will, one day, return, “Coming with the clouds,” as our reading from Revelation puts it today.

So here, we have both aspects of Jesus Christ’s kingship:  His humanity, and His divinity.

He is the eternal one, the eternal Word of God, present with us fully in our human condition, fully immersed in our humanity, even to the point of death, death on a cross.  (See Philippians 2: 5 – 11 for an excellent description of the descent of Christ from heaven to earth, and his ascension back to the Father.)

But what does all this mean to us, 21st century Americans?  I ask the question because we have difficulty relating to monarchs in general, given our democratic polity in the United States of America.

We are fascinated by royalty, but wouldn’t want such a system to govern us.  We love the British royal family, and our newscasts are filled with accounts of the activities of Queen Elizabeth II (whose 60 years on the throne were celebrated earlier this year).  And, on occasion, we also remember that other countries still have kings and queens (several European countries, e.g.).

But these days, a monarch who isn’t of the constitutional variety is hard to find.  Let’s return to the British system for an explanation of the modern conception of royalty….For all the pomp and circumstance which surrounds the British royal family, the truth is that it is Parliament which governs the country.  The royal family serves as a symbol of the state, and it fulfills various ceremonial and symbolic functions, but has little power beyond that of persuasion to alter or to chart the course of the governance of the nation.  (I believe my assessment of the situation is correct, but stand ready for any Englishman to correct these perceptions.)

 However, things were not always thus…in earlier times, the monarch was of the absolute variety, governing by what was called divine right.  The system regarded the monarch as the divinely-authorized head of state.  What he or she said by way of decisions was pretty much the law of the land…there was little need for debate, or for challenge.

We’ve lost sight of this sense of kingship, and it seems to have affected our understandings of just who Jesus Christ is, He who is King of Kings and Lord of lords.

You see, we Americans – who’ve just been through an election cycle – often tend to think that we can elect our head of state.  And if we don’t actually subscribe to that notion where kings and queens are concerned, we at least think that an elected body can actually govern things. And since we have some sway with such an elected body through the power of our vote, then it doesn’t really matter what the king or queen says or does, because we still have a voice in the matter.

You may be asking, “What does this attitude have to do with Jesus Christ, who is King of kings and Lord of lords?”

Simply this:  We relegate Jesus Christ to the position of someone we have elected to be the head of our lives.  And – we theorize – because we elected Him, we can un-elect Him, too.  Or – if we don’t actually subscribe to that view – then we think that we can alter His authority over our lives by appealing to some other belief or entity which can ignore or modify Christ’s authority. Sometimes, the intermediate body we appeal to is actually the Church itself.  We believe that the body of Christ, constituted of freely associating members, becomes the authority.

But in God’s system of governance, the Church derives its authority solely from God the Father and God the Son, under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.  Anytime the authority of these three – seen most clearly in the pages of Holy Scripture – is violated by the Church, then the Church has lost its standing.

It is easy to concentrate on Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, and to hold ever in mind His kindnesses of love, shown to the down-and-out of His day, to the sinners and the outcasts.  It is easy, therefore, to begin to believe that Jesus is our friend, and only our friend.  Alas, I believe, personally, that the use of a lectionary over the past 35 years or so that concentrates on the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke have shaped our expectations in this area.  These three gospel accounts, all of which share a synoptic[2] outlook, focus in on Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, and they concentrate on His humanity (though none of them ignores His divinity).

But we need a jolt to rumple our comfortable notions of just who Jesus Christ is.  John’s gospel account provides that needed jolt.  (I rejoice whenever we have a gospel reading appointed from the Fourth Gospel, for I know we are going to get a much-needed dose of what theologians call “High Christology”, that focus on the nature and the person of Jesus Christ which emphasizes His divinity.)

 For Christ is King.  He is God with us, Immanuel.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  He who is from the beginning, co-eternal with God the Father, is King by divine right.  His Word rises in authority above all others.  His claims on our life assume first place.

It is this holy One, Jesus Christ the King, whom we love, serve and adore.

AMEN.



[1]   The use of the word begotten in the Creed is best defined as “flowing or proceeding from” the Father.  Elsewhere in the Bible, the word is used to denote a person’s fathering a child.  That isn’t the sense of the word as it is used in the Creed.
[2]   Synoptic is a word which comes to us from the Greek, and which means “similar view”.  It is a term which is applied to the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, which are known as the Synoptic Gospels.