A King of All, Even Those Who Do Not Wish To Be Like Him. John 18:33-37

We are preparing for the Sunday of Christ the King, or the Reign of Christ. I cannot help but think that the best way to celebrate the final Sunday in the Christian year is to emphasize, once more, how this king is different from any other king. Ralph Milton, writing in an e-zine for "people with humor" describes the paradox that this Sunday highlights. When we hear the scriptures read, does it ever occur to us what was running through the minds of those who wrote the words of the texts? The writer of John's gospel contrasts the roles of Pilate and Jesus, "But the people who wrote the Bible wouldn’t recognize today’s kings. What good is a king, Pilate would have asked, who owns no land, who can’t raise an army to defend himself, who doesn’t extort taxes, who refuses to force people to do things his way..." It is unlikely that the believers of the first century understood the kingship of Jesus any better than believers of the twenty-first century, which is to say, they didn't get it either. And they could not have imagined the standard of living that the majority of western Christians enjoy today.
We give lip-service to the concept of the kingship of Christ, thinking we understand it so much more than those folks so long ago. And yet, we continue to follow TV preachers who preach in churches that seat thousands, while the preachers themselves travel around on their own private jets. A friend recently wrote to me and mentioned the new sanctuary that his church is building, which will seat eight-hundred people, while cutting available parking space in half. The price tag for this expansion is twenty-million dollars.
Let's be honest, it is not that we don't understand what kind of king Jesus was; we just don't want to emulate that kind of kingship. It calls on us to give up too much and to think and live in a way much closer to the way that he lived. I can think of a few pastors and laypeople in my experience who did their best to live such lives, but they are exceptions. I live comfortably, though not extravagantly, by any means. Yet, I have so much more than a person in a developing nation could ever imagine. I claim to follow a king who had no earthy possessions, but I have not chosen to live my life in the same way. Most Christians are like me. So, in reality, we cannot celebrate the Sunday of Christ the King as if we really understand it. Perhaps the best that we can do is to enter that day with a sense of awe, and a willingness to try once more to see beyond what we want for ourselves so that we might discover how we can take another small step on the way to understanding what it should mean to live under the reign of Christ.

2012 - Just Another Year. Mark 13:1-8

According to Mark's story, Jesus spoke the words of the "Little Apocalypse" on the Tuesday before the crucifixion. But the early Christians did not read the words of Mark's gospel until after the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. So, Jesus' prophetic words were not dealing with the fears of what was to come, but with the realities of what had already happened. The nightmare had come to pass and Jerusalem lay in ruins. But the story of Jesus' words uttered during the last few days of his life gave hope to people of all generations. When the temples and institutions of religion and government fall, there is no need to give up hope. The One who has existed from the beginning of time remains with us, and will be with us when our end time comes. Christians who read the gospels in the early centuries of the church knew all about fear and persecution and death; it was part of life and faith for them. They believed that it was possible to die with words of faith on their lips. The temple had been destroyed, but the church had survived, and continues, to this day.
With the opening of the film "2012" today, folks are chatting about the end of time. I have asked my students what they are hearing,and they all know some story of the end associated with the year 2012. Most of the hoopla began with the realization that the Mayan Long Count Calendar of 5,126 days turns over and nothing is listed following that time. Though it does not sell books and movie tickets to say it, the end of the Mayan calendar means that another cycle of time then begins. In America, at least, people prefer to be kept on edge, especially during the tough economic times that we are experiencing. So, pundits come forth will all manner of doomsday scenarios and folks line up to have their wits scared out of them. In addition to the 2012 phenomenon, the story persists of a giant asteroid that is hurtling towards earth and will hit us by 2016. If one takes the time to research this matter, one will find that the asteroid has a 1 in 43,000 chance of hitting the earth. The truth does not sell, so the fables arise in its place.
Mark's scary chapter 13 is actually a balm for nervous folks. Jesus warns his followers that there will always be those who claim that they know when the end will be. His advice? Don't listen to them. Keep faith in God, in good times and in bad, and the truth will not only set us free, but will carry us through to our end, and beyond. 2012 will be just another year, another artificial time period created by humankind to measure events. 2012 will provide opportunities to love and serve others, just as every year does. So, don't be rattled by the hype. Instead, be comforted, strengthened and inspired by the truth. And give thanks to God for another year of life.

An Amazing Grace - Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

As I was looking over the sermon resources for this week, I could not help but notice that few commentators commented on the text from Ruth, opting instead for the Markan passage about the widow's mite. Perhaps they felt that all that needed to be said about Ruth was spoken last week, when the text focused on Ruth's decision to remain with Naomi. How we love the "whither thou goest" language! This week, we are confronted with the story of what happened next: Ruth had to figure out a way to earn a living, and Naomi tried to figure out a way to find a nice Jewish husband for Ruth. Enter Boaz. Through some scheming, Noami and Ruth were able to get Boaz to notice Ruth, and to notice her in a big way. Boaz took quite a shine to her, and even though a kinsman of Naomi's late husband was next in line to court Ruth, he stepped aside so that Boaz might be the suitor. So, Ruth and Boaz married and had a child and Naomi had an honorary grandchild and all lived happily ever after. That sounds corny, and I cannot help but wonder if that is why so many folks ignore this passage this week. After all, what can one say about the story that was not covered last week?
Glad you asked! At its heart, the story of Ruth is the story of the Other. Andre LaCocue, in his book The Feminine Unconventional: Four Subversives in Israel's Tradition, makes the point that Ruth, a foreigner, was the embodiment of all that was despised by those who considered themselves "pure." "Ruth is not any foreigner in general. She belongs to a nation that, for Israel, represents perversion and destruction. Moabite females attempted to corrupt the Israelites coming from Egypt on their way to Canaan. Since then, the numerous references to Moab in Scripture are unanimously pejorative (85).
The true miracle of the story of Ruth is the outcome for Naomi, and, by extension, for the children of Israel. The law of levirite marriage provided a childless widow with the opportunity to have a son to carry on the family bloodline (Genesis 38, Deut. 25:5-10). Usually, the brother of the dead husband provided the necessary "services." In the case of Naomi, her ex-daughter-in-law, a Moabitess, was wed to a Jew, Boaz, and gave birth to a son, Obed. Through the machinations of Levirite marriage, Naomi's Jewish family bloodline was preserved through an outsider. And it should be noted that the child, Obed, grew to marry and he and his wife had a son, Jesse, who had a son, David..and you know the rest,right?
So, in Jesus' own bloodlines were women who were anything but insiders, Ruth and Rahab among them. How then, can people of faith ever stand by while folks are excluded from religious communities for any reason? Perhaps the story of Ruth is given scant attention for the very reason that it upsets the status quo, if that status quo is one that demands that the Other remain just that. The story of Ruth is the story of an amazing grace from a God whose love knows no bounds. Go ye, and do likewise.