Nov 25th Left brain sermon which I did NOT preach. Scroll down for the sermon I preached
Sermon for November 25th 2007
The Revd. J. Michael Povey at All Angels Church, Longboat Key, FL
Jeremiah 23: 1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, and Luke 23: 33-43.
Thank you for your welcome when I visited last month, and again this morning.
My name is Michael Povey, and your Rector and I knew each other back in Massachusetts. I have one little question. What happened to St. Michael in your Church dedication!
The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary last weekend. It always amuses me in republican (small R) America, that whenever we say “The Queen”, we know that we are taking about the Queen of the United Kingdom, not the Queen of Spain or of Belgium. Sometimes it feels as if she is our honorary monarch!
You know that today we reach the end of a one year cycles of readings for each Sunday. What we’ve read through the long green season, culminates in what Roman Catholics call the “Feast of Christ the King”. Although that is not an official feast in the Episcopal Church, since, for the most part, we have the same readings as our Catholic friends, what we’ve read today has a “Kingy” flavour about it.
However, be alert. The choice of readings, whilst not arbitrary or whimsical, depends to some extent on the theological biases of those who compile the Lectionary. So we must be careful that we do not, for instance, make an instant mental leap between Jeremiah’s words about a King, and Luke’s identification of Jesus as King of the Jews. We should take each passage on its own merits, and not look for links where none exist.
The Bible, for the most part, takes a dim view of Monarchy. You will remember that G-d allowed Israel her first King under protest, so to speak, and for the most part the Kings of Israel and Judah were a sorry lot. How often we read “he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight”. The Bible is well aware of human corruptibility, and of the tendency of Kings to feather their own nests at the expense of the people, and to enter into dangerous foreign alliances. But, if there is a role for the Biblical King, it is that he should be the guarantor of justice.
Jeremiah, at the very end of a disastrous Monarchy, states that the Lord will raise up a Branch (that is a descendant of David) who shall reign as King, and do wisely, and execute justice and righteousness in the land.
The Bible is never expounds on various theories of justice. It is much more specific and concrete. The justice which the King is called to enforce has to do with taking care of widows and orphans; dealing with bribery and corruption; ensuring known and identifiable boundaries between property; welcoming strangers, ensuring honest weights and measures and the like. The Bible knows that the poor are vulnerable. It agrees with the old English aphorism “it’s always the poor wot suffers!”
When we come to the New Testament, the concept of Kingship is the same, and is different. It is the same for instance in Matthew , where the King, giving judgement in effect asks “did you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger?” (In an ad hominem excursus I add that the King did not ask “Did you keep my Church pure from gays and lesbians?”, which seems to be the cause du jour of many of our leaders.)
Since preaching which does not call for action can be all sound and fury, I commend to you the Millennium Development Goals which are being supported in this very conservative Diocese. Good for your new Bishop. Look them up on the Diocesan website, and think about the ways in which they might become part of the woof and warp of this good parish. In that way you could be delivered from the tedious arguments between right and left about the meaning of justice, and join in the royal ministry of justice. King Jesus calls us this way.
But there are changes in the concept of Kingship in the New Testament, which become evident in today’s Gospel. The Kingship of Jesus is a direct threat to all other Monarchies. The message over the cross may have been a cynical joke by the tyrant Pontius Pilate, but Christians used that inscription to defy the cruel might of the Roman Empire. The Emperor might well declare himself as “Dominus et Deus” - Lord and God, but “not so fast” said the Christians. We have a greater loyalty than to Caesar, it is to Jesus whom we proclaim to be “King of Kings”. Caesar is subservient to Jesus. And the challenge to us (dammit the Gospel too often has a challenge!) is “where is your ultimate loyalty?”
As one who became an American by choice I rejoice in my allegiance to the Constitution and Bill of Rights of this marvelous Country. But, patriot as I am, my ultimate loyalty is to the King who reigns from a cross. Working that out on a day to day basis is the hardest matter.
But there is a difference in those and all of our loyalties. For Jesus never demands or extorts loyalty. His call to us is not that of a rapacious King who seizes all and demands all. His call is of a servant King (there’s a paradox for you) who gives all in forgiveness, grace and hope without measure. For this King is the one who also says, “I do not call you servants, I call you friends”.
There’s a wonder for you. We are called by Jesus not to be his subjects. But to be his friends.
The Revd. J. Michael Povey at All Angels Church, Longboat Key, FL
Jeremiah 23: 1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, and Luke 23: 33-43.
Thank you for your welcome when I visited last month, and again this morning.
My name is Michael Povey, and your Rector and I knew each other back in Massachusetts. I have one little question. What happened to St. Michael in your Church dedication!
The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary last weekend. It always amuses me in republican (small R) America, that whenever we say “The Queen”, we know that we are taking about the Queen of the United Kingdom, not the Queen of Spain or of Belgium. Sometimes it feels as if she is our honorary monarch!
You know that today we reach the end of a one year cycles of readings for each Sunday. What we’ve read through the long green season, culminates in what Roman Catholics call the “Feast of Christ the King”. Although that is not an official feast in the Episcopal Church, since, for the most part, we have the same readings as our Catholic friends, what we’ve read today has a “Kingy” flavour about it.
However, be alert. The choice of readings, whilst not arbitrary or whimsical, depends to some extent on the theological biases of those who compile the Lectionary. So we must be careful that we do not, for instance, make an instant mental leap between Jeremiah’s words about a King, and Luke’s identification of Jesus as King of the Jews. We should take each passage on its own merits, and not look for links where none exist.
The Bible, for the most part, takes a dim view of Monarchy. You will remember that G-d allowed Israel her first King under protest, so to speak, and for the most part the Kings of Israel and Judah were a sorry lot. How often we read “he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight”. The Bible is well aware of human corruptibility, and of the tendency of Kings to feather their own nests at the expense of the people, and to enter into dangerous foreign alliances. But, if there is a role for the Biblical King, it is that he should be the guarantor of justice.
Jeremiah, at the very end of a disastrous Monarchy, states that the Lord will raise up a Branch (that is a descendant of David) who shall reign as King, and do wisely, and execute justice and righteousness in the land.
The Bible is never expounds on various theories of justice. It is much more specific and concrete. The justice which the King is called to enforce has to do with taking care of widows and orphans; dealing with bribery and corruption; ensuring known and identifiable boundaries between property; welcoming strangers, ensuring honest weights and measures and the like. The Bible knows that the poor are vulnerable. It agrees with the old English aphorism “it’s always the poor wot suffers!”
When we come to the New Testament, the concept of Kingship is the same, and is different. It is the same for instance in Matthew , where the King, giving judgement in effect asks “did you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger?” (In an ad hominem excursus I add that the King did not ask “Did you keep my Church pure from gays and lesbians?”, which seems to be the cause du jour of many of our leaders.)
Since preaching which does not call for action can be all sound and fury, I commend to you the Millennium Development Goals which are being supported in this very conservative Diocese. Good for your new Bishop. Look them up on the Diocesan website, and think about the ways in which they might become part of the woof and warp of this good parish. In that way you could be delivered from the tedious arguments between right and left about the meaning of justice, and join in the royal ministry of justice. King Jesus calls us this way.
But there are changes in the concept of Kingship in the New Testament, which become evident in today’s Gospel. The Kingship of Jesus is a direct threat to all other Monarchies. The message over the cross may have been a cynical joke by the tyrant Pontius Pilate, but Christians used that inscription to defy the cruel might of the Roman Empire. The Emperor might well declare himself as “Dominus et Deus” - Lord and God, but “not so fast” said the Christians. We have a greater loyalty than to Caesar, it is to Jesus whom we proclaim to be “King of Kings”. Caesar is subservient to Jesus. And the challenge to us (dammit the Gospel too often has a challenge!) is “where is your ultimate loyalty?”
As one who became an American by choice I rejoice in my allegiance to the Constitution and Bill of Rights of this marvelous Country. But, patriot as I am, my ultimate loyalty is to the King who reigns from a cross. Working that out on a day to day basis is the hardest matter.
But there is a difference in those and all of our loyalties. For Jesus never demands or extorts loyalty. His call to us is not that of a rapacious King who seizes all and demands all. His call is of a servant King (there’s a paradox for you) who gives all in forgiveness, grace and hope without measure. For this King is the one who also says, “I do not call you servants, I call you friends”.
There’s a wonder for you. We are called by Jesus not to be his subjects. But to be his friends.
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