Valois United Church

Sermon, November 25, 2007

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Psalm 46 Voices United page 770

Luke 23:33-43

Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom....

Who is this one we follow, this king?

The one who was mocked as King of the Jews, because those who mocked could not see him as King of anything....

Who is this one we follow, this king?

Look at the rulers of his age. Look at the kings and emperors, look at Caesar. Look at Herod .

Many of these rulers held power often by terror. They did not value their people, they did not treasure the little ones. Poverty was none of their concern, justice was not a priority. Power. Riches. Power. Military might.

Look at Herod the Great - appointed by the Roman empire. The slaughter of the innocents - the killing of all the infant and toddler boys by his soldiers. I cannot imagine what kind of control such a ruler must have had to be able to command his troops to do such a thing. And Herod had his own son killed.

And then another of his sons took over much of the territory, Herod Atipas. He is the one who had John the Baptist arrested, and then let his wife overcome his good sense, so that he had John beheaded. Just in case John might be at the root of a future uprising.

The level of power of these rulers was huge.
The level of fear that people had of them was very high.
And these rulers lived in luxury, in their palaces.

If we want to know about bad news in the time of Jesus, one could look at the big power players.
And we can look at the basis of their powers - their armies, their empires.....

In today’s world, most governments do better for their people than those of the era of Jesus.
But we still see rule by fear, and rule that is not a respecter of persons....

Myanmar,
where the government claims all has returned to normal, but Amnesty International continues to document serious human rights violations
Pakistan,
where journalists have continued to be arrested this past week
Iran,
where converting to Christianity is a death sentence
Central African Republic,
where the government does little to protect children from being routinely abducted for ransom
and on goes the list
even looking south of the border, Amnesty International this month notes:
It is a disturbing spectacle to witness US officialdom tying itself in knots over torture. On the one hand the President claims that his country is leading the global struggle against torture. On the other, he authorizes a secret detention program in which detainees can be held for years entirely incommunicado and subjected to "enhanced" interrogation techniques. Meanwhile, other officials are quick to promote "American values", yet slow to recognize torture when it is described to them or to condemn torture as a matter of principle. The moral high ground, it seems, is surrounded by particularly slippery slopes these days.
And even Canada, on unbiased scrutiny, shows warts as well.

And then we read the sign above Jesus’ head:
King of the Jews

And look again.
This is the one who came out of Nazareth and was an unknown until his cousin John baptized him.
This is the one who knocked around the country for three years with his little band of followers, in some places being challenged by the authorities, and in some places being thronged by thousands.
This is the one who came into Jerusalem and was denounced by the religious leadership,
jeered at by the crowd
and nailed to the cross.

And yet.... while his world mocked him,
we celebrate this day the reign of Christ
For
This is the one.
This is the one who reached out in tenderness to the children brought to him for blessing.
This is the one who accepted the woman who touched his cloak for healing.
This is the one who listened to the Samaritan woman, the stranger, the other
This is the one who sat down to eat with those who were ignored and hated by others
This is the one who healed the outcast.

And this is the one who welcomes you and I to God’s kingdom.
Welcomes us without reservation.

And our voices join the voice of the one beside him on the cross
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom

There is a challenge, though.
If this Jesus is the one that we declare to have reign
If this Jesus in the one we declare to have reign over our lives
then our lives must show his ways.

We must be willing to be unknowns, as he was.
We must be ready to sacrifice in our daily living, as he was
We must be ready to be welcomed.... or ignored
We must be ready to be put down for our faith
We must be ready for the “establishment” to look at us with dubious thoughts,
and even to be denounced
And we must be ready, even, to suffer
As we try to live out our faith

If Jesus is the one who has reign over us,

Then we must be a blessing to the children around us.
We must accept the one who reaches out to us for help.
We must take the time to listen, even listen to the stranger, the other,
the one from outside our own comfortable world.
We must be ready to sit down with those who are ignored and hated by others,
to give them our time, our ear, our concern
We must be ready to let the outcast into our lives.

If Jesus is the one who has reign over us.....
his will becomes our will,
his way becomes our way,

and we will know that we are children of God, children of the Kingdom.

Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.....