{"id":3665,"date":"2021-11-21T19:35:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/?p=3665"},"modified":"2024-01-07T19:49:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T19:49:36","slug":"is-social-justice-just-an-obscure-object-of-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/21\/is-social-justice-just-an-obscure-object-of-desire\/","title":{"rendered":"What do we mean by \u2018Christ the King?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sermon preached by Lord Alderdice at the church of St Michael and All Angels on Sunday 21st November 2021<\/em><\/p>

Readings from the Lectionary \u2013 Daniel 7: 9-10, 13, 14; John 18: 33-37; Revelation 1. 4b \u2013 8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

The book of Daniel, from which our Old Testament reading was taken today, is a very interesting one for us here in Fringford.\u00a0\u00a0 One of the stained-glass windows in the choir is a representation of the prophet Daniel, and our church is named after St Michael and All Angels. \u00a0The Archangel Michael is mentioned three times in the Hebrew Bible \u2013 all three times in the book of Daniel.\u00a0\u00a0 Michael is also mentioned in Jude and in the New Testament book of Revelation, from which we also read today, and he is referred to along with Gabriel in The Koran, the holy book of the followers of Mohammed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

As a Presbyterian I was used to the idea of respected Christians as a group being referred to as \u2018saints\u2019.\u00a0 We read in older translations of some of the New Testament epistles, such as Corinthians and Philemon, of Christians being addressed \u2018the saints\u2019 \u2013 good and holy people.\u00a0 \u00a0However non-conformists never got involved in the canonization of individuals and tended not to name churches after saints.\u00a0\u00a0 However, the naming of this archangel as a saint \u2013 St Michael \u2013 is more puzzling still for me.\u00a0 Michael is not a man at all.\u00a0 He was regarded as a very special angel \u2013 the protector of the people of God, and the key cosmic challenger to the fallen angel, Lucifer \u2013 but he is not someone who lived, or lives, a holy life.\u00a0 As an angel he inhabits the world of the unseen and he cannot not have the kinds of relationships that human beings have, face the same temptations. nor even face death.\u00a0\u00a0 In previous generations this world of the unseen was traditionally a source of fascination and fear and it is difficult to know quite what to make of it today.<\/p>

Perhaps that is why most of us grew up more familiar with the stories from the first six chapters of the book of Daniel than with the second half of the book.\u00a0\u00a0 The book starts with Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, taken off into Babylonian captivity, indeed we know his three friends better by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.\u00a0 They risked their lives by refusing to eat non-kosher food but were all the more healthy for it.\u00a0 The three friends got into much more trouble when they refused to worship an idol set up by the king, and were thrown into a burning fiery furnace, but God protected them from harm.\u00a0 Later, and perhaps the best-known story of all, Daniel is thrown into the lions\u2019 den because of his refusal to pray to the king instead of God, but God protects him from the lions.\u00a0<\/p>

Daniel is also much in demand for his ability to interpret dreams and mysteries for the kings, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede, and in the second six chapters of the book, we read more about Daniel\u2019s own dreams and visions.\u00a0 These are much less well known than the stories of the first half, not least because they are somewhat puzzling.\u00a0\u00a0 Today\u2019s reading from chapter 7 seems to refer to the one who we might call, God the Father \u2013 the Ancient of Days.\u00a0 The remarks about his white robe and white hair seem to make some sense to us, but what about the flames of fire which were his throne.\u00a0 Perhaps the one described as \u2018like a man\u2019 or sometimes translated as \u2018son of man\u2019, who is presented to the Ancient of Days and given sovereignty, glory, and kingly power, seems like something we are more used to, but only if we think about it in terms of visions, dreams, and allusions to the Messiah for whom the Jews waited in hope.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Our New Testament reading was taken from Revelation \u2013 a book which has elements that are similar those of the book of Daniel.\u00a0 The first three chapters appear to be relatively straightforward and refer to things we can grasp.\u00a0\u00a0 Although the context is somewhat dream-like with the references to seven candlesticks or lamps and seven stars, they are at least explained to us as referring to the seven spirits with messages to the seven churches in Asia Minor \u2013 Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.\u00a0 We can also see how the messages sent to them speak not only to the seven church communities of that time, but also apply in various ways to Christian communities of today.\u00a0 But as Revelation progresses, just like the book of Daniel, it becomes ever more strange and apocalyptic.\u00a0 It is full of dream-like language and descriptions of strange and terrible things happening, as well as references to God and a man, sometimes referred to as \u2018the son of man\u2019, who we can see as being an allusion to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 However, there is a profoundly mystical quality to the rest of the book, that leaves us puzzling as to what exactly it is really intended to convey to us beyond the sense of bad times coming and the faithful protection of God through them.<\/p>

This quality of mystery or uncertainty takes us to our Gospel passage for today in John chapter 18 where Pilate is trying to understand this strange fellow, Jesus, who has been brought before him by the Jewish leaders with a demand that he be executed.\u00a0\u00a0 In the first place, while the punishment demanded is clear \u2013 execution \u2013 the charge against Jesus is not, and Pilate asks what are the accusations.\u00a0 The Temple police had arrested him in Gethsemane and brought him to Annas and then to his son-in-law, Caiaphas who was High Priest at the time.\u00a0 They wanted to be rid of him because he was a troublemaker and deeply offended their religious sensitivities.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, they were supposedly awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, but this man didn\u2019t fit their picture of what the Messiah ought to look like.\u00a0<\/p>

Some of them wanted a Messiah who would fit with their image of Michael \u2013 the archangel and great protector of the people of God.\u00a0\u00a0 In the words of the prophet Daniel,\u00a0\u201cAt that moment Michael shall appear, Michael the great captain, who stands guard over your fellow-countrymen; and there will be a time of distress such as has never been since they became a nation till that moment.\u00a0 But at that moment your people will be delivered.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 The Messiah would be a man that would be the deliverer of God\u2019s people who were indeed living in a time of great distress under the heel of the Romans.\u00a0 These people wanted a warrior Messiah who would defeat their Roman enemies, just as Judas Maccabeus had defeated the Seleucids and established an independent state for the Jewish people.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus was not a warrior.\u00a0 He pointed out to Pilate that his followers did not fight to prevent his arrest and as we known he actually told Peter to put away his sword and spoke not of conquest but of forgiveness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Others wanted a Messiah who would confirm that their traditional Jewish understanding of God and how to worship him was the true way, unlike the pagans who surrounded them or even their Samaritan cousins.\u00a0 But remember what happened when Jesus spoke with the woman of Samaria at the well.\u00a0\u00a0 She fully expected an argument about who should worship God, how and where, but Jesus told her that the old dependence on tradition and place was being superseded by worshipping \u2018in spirit and in truth\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 He was proclaiming the end of the age, the old age, and the birth pangs of the new Kingdom of God.\u00a0\u00a0 She did not understand him, and even his disciples, whom he had taught and with whom he had lived and travelled throughout his ministry did not understand what he was about.\u00a0\u00a0 Over and over, he tried to explain his Gospel to them and time and again he is left frustrated that they do not understand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

The chief priests and leaders of the Jewish community may not have agreed about everything, but they were clear that they wanted rid of this troublemaker with his dissident religious views.\u00a0\u00a0 The Roman law would not permit them to execute him, so they would press the Roman Governor to do it.\u00a0\u00a0 Even coming into the Governor\u2019s palace was a problem for them since this would leave them ritually unclean and unable to participate in the imminent Passover meal, so they passed him over to Pilate with a demand that he have him executed.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is the charge?\u201d asks Pilate.\u00a0 They do not state the charge.\u00a0 They just say that he is a criminal.\u00a0 Pilate is irritated and tells them to try him themselves.\u00a0 They make clear that they want to execute Jesus, but it is against Roman law for them to do it.\u00a0 \u00a0Pilate then asks Jesus if he is the King of the Jews \u2013 a slightly strange question in the circumstances \u2013 and Jesus responds somewhat enigmatically \u201cAre those your words, or did someone else suggest them?\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Pilate makes clear that he doesn\u2019t really understand all this internal Jewish squabbling and asks him what he has done to cause such annoyance.\u00a0 If Jesus were to answer, \u201cWell, I am the Messiah\u201d as he did to the Jewish leaders who had questioned him, Pilate would have been no clearer, and if he had said that he was a king, Pilate would have understood it as a political statement.\u00a0 So, Jesus explains that his authority and kingdom is not earthly and that his task is to bear witness to the truth.\u00a0 This is in the realm of mystery as far as Pilate is concerned.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is truth?\u201d he exclaims.\u00a0 He is however clear, that there is nothing in what Jesus has said that warrants his execution under Roman law.<\/p>

It seems to me that the importance of this interchange between Jesus and Pilate is that the notion of the Kingship of Christ needs to be understood in a way that is wholly different from that of earthly political kingship.\u00a0\u00a0 The term \u2018king\u2019 is Pilate\u2019s description, not the one that Jesus adopts.\u00a0 His response is,\u00a0\u201cMy task is to bear witness to the truth.\u00a0 For this was I born; for this I came into the world and all who are not deaf to truth listen to my voice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Just as the book of Daniel and the Revelation of John on the isle of Patmos seem less clear the more we read of their visions and dreams, so there is an element of mystery about Jesus and his mission.\u00a0 He is not the king of a worldly polity.\u00a0 He is not the usual religious leader.\u00a0 But he does present himself as the Lord of our lives if we listen to the truth that he brings and follow him, and he proclaims the Kingdom of God, its immanence, and its transcendence.<\/p>

Pilate did not understand Jesus.\u00a0 The disciples did not understand Jesus.\u00a0 In all the Gospel accounts we read that they did not understand his sayings, the stories he told, and the signs he gave them.\u00a0 It often seems to me that the same has been true of the church down the years and as today we acknowledge Christ the King, we need to be more than a little careful that we do not think of him as one with the trappings of a worldly kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0 He came to bear witness of the truth.\u00a0\u00a0 A truth that he did not choose to describe in a systematic theology, but in stories we call parables.\u00a0 He did not call on us to build him a royal palace, or even a religious temple or church constructed of physical stones, but of living stones \u2013 people.\u00a0 He did not set down a royal constitution or a code of regulations, instead he came to bear witness to the truth, and to bring a Gospel of Love \u2013 better relationships with others and with the God that we must worship \u2018in spirit and in truth\u2019.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon preached by Lord Alderdice at the church of St Michael and All Angels on Sunday 21st November 2021<\/p>\n

Readings from the Lectionary \u2013 Daniel 7: 9-10, 13, 14; John 18: 33-37; Revelation 1. 4b \u2013 8 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-faith-and-religion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3665"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3683,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665\/revisions\/3683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lordalderdice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}