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Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. It is a time of expectation when we wait for Christmas but it is also a time to look forward to the final coming. For Isaiah 2:1-5 this will be time of justice and judgment but also a time of peace which encompasses all peoples and nations. The hope of this day encouraged and comforted God’s people through times of struggle and hardship.
However, Matthew 24:36-44 was written when the hope of Christ coming was diminishing. So Jesus encourages his disciples not to give up hope but to be ready to welcome in the kingdom whenever it comes.
We live between the first and the final coming of Christ. Yet Christ still comes in our ordinary, everyday lives, for “when two or three are gathered in my name there am I, in the midst of them.”
We too are waiting and hoping for justice and peace but in the meantime we are reminded to be ready to welcome Christ whenever and wherever the kingdom breaks through, not at the end of time but in our time.
The feast of Christ the king.
In Luke 23:33-43 this morning we hear Jesus being named King: “There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
It is usually pretty easy to distinguish a king from his subjects. The king is the one with power and authority, the king is the one in charge, the one in whose name laws are made and enforced. But in Luke, when Jesus is named king, he has no power, no authority, no strength even to save himself.
For most of those watching the idea of a king with no power was ridiculous, they scoff and mock and deride him. Christ’s kingship is clearly not the kind of kingship we expect. Jesus does have power yet he chooses never to exert it over others, even to save his own life. In doing so he reveals how power is used and abused: in Luke the soldiers, the religious leaders, the national leaders, even the criminals executed alongside him, make a choice whether not to use the power they have for good.
As we hear again the story of Christ named king on the cross we reflect on the power we have in our own lives. When we choose to use our power to serve, not those with power but those without power; when we give voice to the voiceless, champion the weak and care for those in need, we too become kings with Christ, sharing with him in leading and serving God’s people.
The days are coming when all this will be thrown down,” Jesus tells his followers in Luke 21:5-19, “not one stone will be left.” The day did come when the temple was torn down (as it had been in the past) and the people of God were anxious about the future, fearful about the survival of their faith. Yet, the falling of the temple is used in scripture as a symbol of what needs to be torn down for a new temple to be built and for the people of God to be renewed in God’s image. The safeguarding scandals that have rocked the church have also created fear and anxiety. But Jesus calls us to be unafraid. Our trust in the church may be shaken but our trust in God is renewed. We are the temple of God, the body of Christ, the place where God chooses to dwell on earth. We are the ones called to create a safe church for all: welcoming, inclusive, mindful of the vulnerabilities of those who long for God’s love and care. Micah 6:6-8 reminds us that the power of God and the love of God do not reside in institutions but in our hearts and in our actions. This year’s safeguarding theme is “Action speaks louder”. May our actions be shaped by Christ who teaches us to lift up the downtrodden, strengthen the weak and stand with the powerless in holding the powerful to account. What does the Lord require of us? to do justice, love kind kindness and walk humbly with our God.
On Remembrance Sunday, when we honour and mourn all those who have lost their lives in war, our readings seem to offer comfort: hope of the resurrection of the dead. Both readings speak of a future time when those, like Job, who seek justice will be vindicated and when those who have died will live again as “children of the resurrection.” Yet to focus on life after death may prevent us from engaging in the hard work of justice and peace in this life. Our readings, however, offer another common theme: the perils of needing to be proved right. Job wishes to prove that he does not deserve to suffer. In Job 19:23-27, he wants his words to be remembered because he wants to prove that he is in the right and God is in the wrong. As a result he is stuck. He cannot move forward into new life. The Sadducees in Luke 20:27-38, are also seeking to prove that they are right and Jesus is wrong. They too are stuck, unable to grasp the possibilities of a new and different way of living. Throughout history and across the globe we see how the desire to be proved right at any cost prolongs conflict and inflicts death and destruction on God’s people. Both Job and Luke ask us to embrace life, to prioritise all that is life affirming and life giving, over the rights and wrongs of any position. This is does not mean that we abandon justice but that we see that justice can only ever be achieved when the sanctity of life is honoured. Job pleads for God to be seen on his side but God never chooses sides. God chooses life.
We all admire the saints but do we want to be one? No one would seek to be poor, hungry, excluded, suffering or overlooked, those named blessed by Jesus in Luke 6:20-31. Neither do we really want to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. In the beatitudes Jesus separates success from virtue. The poor are no longer blamed or shamed for their predicament. More than this, for Jesus, blessing is something transformational: the hungry will be blessed “for they will be filled” and those who weep “for they will laugh”.
The work of transformation is not for a few saintly individuals, it is the task of the whole people of God, the task of all the saints including us. In baptism we become part of a company of saints that reaches across the globe and throughout history. We belong a great cloud of witnesses in whose lives, both ordinary and extraordinary, God is work. On the feast of All Saints we are reminded, again, of who we are and to whom we belong. We are reminded, again, of the task we have received, the task of loving, praying, offering, giving and not withholding, the task of transforming the world so that all God’s children may be blessed.