Upside Down Kingdom

Readings Psalm 93 and John 18: 33-37

In the Christian year, today is Christ the King or the Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the final Sunday in the Church Year. Next week we will be in Advent, as we think about the coming of Jesus, as the baby in Bethlehem, and in the One who is yet to come and bring the Kingdom of God to fulfillment. 

On Reign of Christ Sunday, we celebrate that God’s reign in the entire universe has already been accomplished. At the same time, we anticipate the day when that reign will be accomplished in every human heart. On Reign of Christ Sunday, we remind ourselves of the already/not-yet tension of God’s reign over all creation. https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/1955/reign-of-christ-sunday

The Psalm speaks of God as King, the ruler of the earth, more majestic than the seas, the One in whom we ground ourselves. The images in the Psalm are of the power of nature, and that God is more amazing and powerful than creation.

Then we come to the idea of Jesus being King.

Christ the King Sunday has always seemed ridiculous to me – partly because we don’t have Kings in the way people did in previous eras, but also because Jesus doesn’t look like the fairy tale king many of us grew up with.

Jesus doesn’t have a throne with velvet cushions,
There is no crown of Gold or fur lined robe
He didn’t have servants waiting on him hand and foot.
The disciples questioned his activities – you didn’t do that to the Roman Emperor, or you didn’t last long.

The image we have of a king is nothing like what we know about Jesus, so this Sunday always seems an oddity to me. Last week we read the song of Hannah and in a few weeks we will read the Song of Mary, both of which speak of a world renewed, transformed, turned upside down, or maybe right-side -up. In the same way Jesus turns the idea of kingship on its head. He isn’t like an earthy king, ruling in absolute power, controlling the lives of nations with armies conquering foreign lands.

Jesus has no castle or wealth or army to command. He doesn’t have the right to kill or imprison people.

“The truth of his kingship is that he rules not with political power, but with humility, not with physical might, but with mercy, not with violence, but surrender, even surrender unto death.” Michaela Bruzzese

From the time of his Baptism by John in the Jordan River, Jesus travels, sleeping where he can, living off the generosity of people and the fruits of the earth and sea. Jesus is then killed, not in a coup by a rival, but put to death for upsetting the religious leaders with the assistance of the Roman Governor. Jesus does not look like any other king we have seen; I wonder if he really can be called a King?

Except as Christians we say Jesus does rule our lives, that Jesus is King, but of a kingdom unlike any other.

Maybe that is the difference, we choose Jesus to be Lord of our lives, we choose to follow his example and teaching.

In the reading from John’s Gospel, we have part of the encounter between Jesus and Pilate. Pilate holds the fate of Jesus in his hands, Pilate is not sure why Jesus has been brought before him, he is curious about the person he has heard about. And Pilate asks: Are you the king of the Jews?

From the birth story of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, we read how King Herod is concerned at the news that a child has been born who will be King. Herod’s plan was not for some child from small town Galilee to become King, but like most monarchies that his son would be the next ruler.

From his birth to his death Jesus upset leaders by his existence; and Jesus will likely upset our lives as he transforms our lives if we are serious about Jesus being our King.

Our lives will be transformed when Jesus is King of our lives, and in this case, Jesus isn’t a team player; he doesn’t want to share lordship in our lives. If we name Jesus as Lord or King, he is the only Lord or King.  I wonder what else we allow to control our lives, maybe it is money, or friends; maybe our lives are controlled by fear or shame or guilt; maybe our lives are controlled by our desire for perfection. I wonder what it is that prevents you from allowing the Kingdom of God to be more fully present in our life?

Last weekend I met with a student so he could interview me for a school assignment. He asked me about some areas of ethics, including Voluntary Assisted Dying, Abortion, and organ donation. He then asked me what was the guiding idea that was behind my thinking on these and other issues. It was obvious my responses were motivated by pastoral concern more than a doctrinal statement. The verse, or part of a verse that has been in my mind a lot the past year is from John’s gospel: I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. [John 10:10b Contemporary English Version]

Life in its fullest, abundant life, comes from living with Christ as our King. And allowing that to transform our hearts, our minds, and our lives.

Jesus said: My kingdom is not from this world. This is a King without a Royal Yacht, without a palace, without a golden throne; a king who respects and loves and dies for his people; a king who chooses the least, the unlovely, the powerless and offers welcome, inclusion and liberation. This Kingdom is not one we are familiar with. We live in a world where politics is littered with stories of corruption; where business leaders argue for less tax, lower wages, and higher profits, where people are homeless, hungry, lonely. We live in a world that needs the love of Jesus, the grace of Jesus and the hope and peace that comes from lives transformed by this most unkinglike king.

This Kingdom is not one we are familiar with, but it is real, for those with ears to hear and eyes to see. 

I wonder where we see the Kingdom of God;

Where do you see the Reign of Christ around you?

How do you respond to Jesus the King calling you?

Prayers of longing and praising

1 Samuel 1: 1-23

1 Samuel 1:24 – 2: 11

Proclamation of the Word

Our readings this morning have 2 different prayers.

One, almost silent, lips moving, but not heard by human ears.
A prayer of longing, a sigh, a yearning, a hope
A plea to God.

The other joyful and heard by those around her
A prayer of praise, confident, and prophetic
A melody of the world to come.

 

When we gather for worship, we pray, we pray for God to be with us, to forgive our sins. We pray for health and healing; we pray for peace in our world and in our hearts; we pray for family and friends, leaders of nations and leaders of churches; we pray for creation. And when we share around the Lord’s table, we have the great prayer of thanksgiving.

I sometimes wonder if we have too many words in our prayers and not enough yearning, longing, sighing, and honesty with God.

Prayer is one way we grow in our relationship with God, the more we are honest, when we admit our faults and fears and celebrate our joys and courage, the closer our bond.

In Hannah’s prayer we hear about her pain and anguish. We too can come to God with our fears, our hurts, our confusion.  

A quote from Mahatma Gandhi,
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” [UCC SAMUEL]

It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

We live in a society where we are told to put on a brave face, even when we are in pain or grief.  We can become so used to hiding what is happening in our lives and our hearts from those around us, that we also try and hide from God.  

We are people who know God, and that means instead of holding everything inside ourselves, we can pour it all out to God.

God knows about pain and fear and grief,
God, the giver of life, knows the diversity of emotions, the variety of experiences, the terror in the joy of being alive.

God wants to hear our sighs, our fears, God is not scared of our tears or our anger, God wants to hear it all, with or without words.

Hannah does bear a son, Samuel, and another of Hannah's prayers is recorded. This is a very different prayer to the first one. This is a prayer of joy, a prayer about God, to God. Theology is talking about God, prayer is speaking to God, prayer uses first person language. But this prayer is not only a prayer of joy at having a son, it is a prayer about a world turned upside down.

Hannah's prayer is very much like the song of Mary that we will read in a few weeks, they both talk of a world turned upside down. A world where the poor will have food and the rich will be hungry.

It is the end of the world as we know it.

And that means the beginning of a new world.

A new world based on love and grace, and when we know the God of love and grace, we can be honest about the fears in our minds and the hurt in our hearts, the pains in our bodies.

God didn't create us to live in fear, but God understands our fears. God created us for love and for life, for freedom. We are created, known, and named as God's daughters and sons.

We are called to live as the people of God, people known by God, people loved by God, people blessed by God.

Like Hannah we can mouth our silent please to God and sing in joy of God’s wonderful action in our lives. 

Questions and Answers and Love

Reading is Mark 12:13-34 

 
This exchange between various Jewish leaders and Jesus happens between the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and Passover.  The day after the entry into Jerusalem, and the cheering crowds, Jesus cleanses the Temple, and upsets the religious leaders, who then start looking for a way to kill him “They were afraid of him, because the crowds were completely amazed at his teaching.”  Mark 11:18

The next day when Jesus arrives at the Temple, the religious leaders ask him a question, which in true Jesus’ style he answers with a question, again frustrating the religious leaders.  

Then in chapter 12, Mark writes “The leaders knew that Jesus was really talking about them, and they wanted to arrest him. But because they were afraid of the crowd, they let him alone and left.”

Then the three questions addressed to Jesus, each by a person or group form a different part of the religious leadership.

1.   Should we pay taxes to Rome? Do they want an answer. Yes! Not because they are interested in the answer as such, but because Jesus will be in trouble regardless of whether he answers yes or no.  If he says do not pay taxes to Rome, the political leaders will be after him. If he says pay taxes to Rome, he loses his popular support that is protecting him for the Jewish authorities.[1]

2.   The second question is about who the seven-time widow will be married to in heaven. The Sadducees, who asked this question, do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The question is about a social system that is based on women giving birth to sons. Here Jesus reminds people that “The ‘house’ of Israel is not guaranteed in and through patriarchal marriage structures, but through the promise and faithfulness of Israel’s life-giving God.”[2] In other words, the system that meant a woman was married off to seven brothers, one after the other, each time the family hoping for a son, is not part of God’s Kingdom. Our future is not based on our fertility but the faithfulness of God.

3.     And the third question: which is the greatest commandment. This was a topic of discussion among Rabbi’s, who were the religious teachers and biblical scholars of their day. This time the teacher of the Law agrees with Jesus, and all seems good.
‘When Jesus saw that the man had given a sensible answer, he told him, “You are not far from God’s kingdom.” After this, no one dared ask Jesus any more questions.

 

Three questions, the first two are a set-up, and I wonder how often we ask questions, not to find out the answer, but to humiliate or put someone down. When we ask a question are we listening for an answer that we might learn something or are we wanting to shame or embarrass the person. How do we respond if the answer to our question is not the answer we wanted or expected?  

The two greatest commandments are: Love God with your whole being and love your neighbour as you love yourself.
That all seems simple and clear, but of course it isn’t.

One of my favourite authors on Mark’s Gospel is Ched Meyers and he writes:

‘heaven must come to earth – there is no love of God except in love of neighbour’[3]

 

How do we love our refugee or migrant neighbours when we fear them?
How do we love our Muslim neighbours when we are suspicious of them?
How do we love our addicted neighbours or our homeless neighbours when we avoid them?

The scribe understood the law, he could recite it, and knew that these commandments were important, more important than burnt offerings, which were an important part of Temple life.

So why might Jesus have told him he was close to the Kingdom, he is not there yet. He admires Jesus, he recognises Jesus as a good teacher, he gives praise to Jesus, but he does not follow.

‘More than intellectual assent, this demands a decision to turn the concise gospel into concise living.’[4]

Being a disciple of Jesus, is not about a set of rules, or passing a test in biblical and theological studies. Being a disciple is following Jesus in the way we live, and that means in loving.

Christianity is not a knowledge based religion, but a religion based on relationship with God through Jesus. A relationship that changes who we are, how we live with others and how we see ourselves.  That does not mean we do not study, but that our salvation is about relationship not academic grades.

I remember seeing a picture of our relationship with God and others being like a triangle.

if we want to grow closer to God, we must be growing closer to people.
We cannot love God, with our whole being, if we do not love our neighbours, and ourselves.

That does not mean we put ourselves above others,
but that we have a healthy respect for the life God has given us, other people and all creation.

In some of what I have read recently there have been a few things that have stood out to me. One is that because of the many options in the way we interact with the news, we can stay wholly within a group or groups of people who agree with us.   We do not see much positive about people who disagree with you or their opinions.

How can we love each other when we are suspicious, when we label those with differing political or religious views as wrong or heretics or stupid.

How do we love each other, and live in right relationship with God and each other, when we disagree about how to interpret a Biblical text.

What is fundamental to our faith?

Does our faith help us grow in relationship with God?

Does our faith help us grow in relationship with our neighbour?

How is our living each day shaped by our faith? 

---

[1] Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, p 314.

[2] Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, p 316

[3] Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, p 318

[4] Spill the Beans, Issue 5, p 78.

Greatness, serving, normal?

 Mark 10: 32-45

Something that I have heard about lately is confirmation bias, this is when we look for things that agree with our opinion. For example, if you think people with blue eyes have a higher IQ than people with brown eyes, you will read articles that agree with you, and find ways to disagree with articles or research that says that eye colour is not associated with IQ. You may have noticed this in climate change debates.

This passage from Mark this morning begins with Jesus telling the disciples, for the third time, that he will be arrested and killed. Still the disciples don’t get it. The disciples have seen Jesus in action, healing, teaching, feeding, miracles; they have left their home and family to follow, literally, to walk with him. Why might they not understand or acknowledge what Jesus is saying about his arrest and death?

I wonder if confirmation bias is at play here.

The Jewish people were looking for a Saviour, a Messiah, from the line of David, who would bring them liberation. Jesus is making all the right moves, saying all the right things; surely, he is amassing a mighty army to overthrow the Roman occupiers of Israel. Once again Israel would be great and free, ruled by people who feared and worshipped God.

But, we know, and the disciples were not ready to admit, that the freedom Jesus was offering was not freedom from Roman occupiers. Jesus was not preparing an army of warriors to take on the might of Rome. Jesus was preparing the way for a new kingdom, one that was so different to the current systems of the world, that it was hard to see what it might be like.

James and John, brothers, asked Jesus if they could sit at his left and right in the new Kingdom. Traditionally those who sit next to the King, or leader, were powerful people. It was a place of honour. When you are at an event, maybe a wedding, who sits at the top table, who sits with the parents of the bride and groom, and who sits in the back corner?

Soon the places at the left and right of Jesus will be those crucified with him.

Then Jesus tells the disciples, again, that those who are great are those who serve. This new way of living, the way of Jesus, does not follow the ways of Rome or any other empire. Honour and status is not about wealth or prestige or the number of slaves you own. Being great is not about the size of your army, but the way you serve, the way you live for others.

Then this final sentence in our reading: The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people. You may be more familiar with his version: For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” New Revised Standard Version

One of my favourite writers on the Gospel of Mark is Ched Myers. He writes: The term (ransom) referred to the price required to redeem captives or purchase freedom for indentured servants. Jesus promises then that the way of “servanthood” has been transformed by the Human One into the way of liberation.[1]

It is 20 months since life changed dramatically due to COVID. Since then, we have been able to meet at times, sometimes masked, sometimes singing. At times. we have not been able to visit family and friends, we have missed birthday celebrations and funerals. And we yearn to return to ‘normal’. But what is ‘normal’.

Like James and John, we do what humans do best, we fall back on what we know—what’s comfortable; how the world always worked; we hope and pray that the world has not and will not change as much as it already has and as much as we know it will. What once was, is not working anymore. We know that. Deep in our hearts and souls. And we don’t know how to fix it.[2]

The world around us is changing, it feels chaotic at times, out of our control, confusing and frustrating.

For James and John, they have heard Jesus talk three times now about his impending death, I imagine they may have been confused as well, their idea of a Messiah does not include this death.

“Jesus is simply affirming here what the world does to those who put their trust in love and follow it through in every aspect of their lives. The disciples are fixated on the rewards for their actions, but that is not what is significant, it’s the ability to trust love and live it out in the world that is the right response to the call of Jesus and the disciples miss the point completely. The kind of power they seek is the very power that will have Jesus crucified.” ^[3]

Once Jesus enters Jerusalem, the world will change. We live on the other side of the cross and empty tomb, and still when we don’t have answers or there don’t seem to be any answers in the immediate future, our human pattern is to “partner with power” rather than “hold hands with humility.”^[4]

I am one of those people who wants the answers, now, all of them. I want to know what is going to happen, I want to be able to plan, and not have those planned changed by COVID or ageing or ill-health or anything else.  I am human. I want the security of knowledge. Jesus asks me to trust in love.

In this passage we are reminded that our faith is not in power or knowledge, but in love and service.

I know it is not much of an advertising slogan, but Christianity isn’t about slogans, but a way of life that offers freedom. Freedom to love, freedom to trust in God, freedom to serve.

Where is God calling you to let go of ‘normal’

Where is God calling you to live in love?

---

[1] Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man,  p 279

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/preaching-in-the-midst-of-merging-crises

[3] Spill the Beans, Issue 5, p 64

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/preaching-in-the-midst-of-merging-crises

the question of divorce?

 

Trigger warning, these readings and the sermon discuss divorce, if this raises issues for you, please talk with someone about it. write their name down now, so you have it later.

The readings are Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and Mark 10:1-16

At first reading, this passage is about divorce, or rather not getting divorced, but is it really?

We start by hearing that Jesus is teaching the crowd, and some Pharisees decide to test Jesus.

They ask Jesus is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?  

Is it lawful?

I wonder what questions we ask.

Is it lawful?

Reminds me of teenagers saying, you didn’t tell me I couldn’t

Is it lawful, is a boundary pushing question.

Yes, this question is about divorce, but also about much more than divorce. The question could have been about anything, the intent of the question is to trap Jesus. No matter how he answers this question, someone will be unhappy, and maybe enough people will walk away from listening to him, and he will no longer be a threat to the power of the Pharisees.

I wonder, what questions do we ask, not when we want an answer, but when we want to trap, or ridicule, or point out to someone how wrong they are. I have seen this in discussions about refugees, same gender marriage, abortion, and climate change.

 The passage begins with Jesus teaching the crowd.

I wonder what Jesus was teaching when the Pharisees interrupted with their question? Throughout the gospels, Jesus is teaching about transformation and the upside nature of the Kingdom of God compared to what we experience in most social and political situations.

In situations where power, status or strength give privilege;
in a world where being male and adult is honoured,
in a world where women and children are treated as property and not human, I wonder what Jesus was teaching about? Maybe sharing resources, or treating all people with dignity, or not judging another person, or …. 

Mark does not tell us.

The Pharisees want to know how Jesus will answer one of the topical and contested issues of the day, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Divorce was an accepted part of both Jewish and Roman societies. Some leaders spoke against divorce as bad for society, but for the most part people debated only details of its legal basis. [Matt Skinner, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-mark-102-16-2]

 If you look up divorce in the Bible, you will find a few references. The law comes from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Some references on divorce are in Leviticus to do with laws for Priests, and in Deuteronomy 22:28, if a man takes a young woman who is not engaged, and rapes her, he must marry her and can never divorce her.

If we look at the Deuteronomy reading [24:1-4], a man divorcing his wife is a given, but if she marries another man, she cannot go back to the ex-husband who divorced her. Genesis 2 implies no divorce, and in Ezra those with foreign wives are expected to divorce them.  

Divorce presumes marriage, and that is how Jesus answers the question.

Something about marriage: marriage at this time was not a result of courtship, romance, flowers, dancing, movies, and meals; marriages were arranged between families, marriage was about property, honour, and status. Therefore, divorce was quite complicated and involved extended families and the community. Today divorce is also complicated, though for different reasons. 

Divorce, then and now, puts people in jeopardy. Then divorce left women in a precarious place. When a man divorced his wife, if her father or brother was unwilling to take her in “the consequences for the woman were devastating -- familial and public disgrace, potentially severe economic hardship, and limited future prospects for her and her children. So Jesus' words were likely intended not to set up a standard by which to judge and stigmatize but rather to protect women who were so much more vulnerable before the law than men.”  [Love and Marriage Monday, October 01, 2012 David Lose] 

“Jesus describes marriage with utmost seriousness, as something that transcends contractual obligations and economic utility, as something rooted in human identity. This offers a sharp reproof to any who would construe marriage as a contract of convenience, casually formed and casually broken.” https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-mark-102-16-2 

I wonder if any of this is helpful for people who want to know God’s will on the issue of divorce. I remember a person coming to see me about problems in their relationship, this person did not want to leave the marriage because ‘I promised before God, I would stay married’. That is what our marriage vows say. But this person was being abused by their spouse. Should they stay, continue to be abused, and their children see one parent beating another?

I doubt anyone would suggest to this person that they must stay because of the importance of marriage. 

I am not suggesting the Bible says divorce is fine, go for it thoughtlessly. But neither does it say you cannot divorce. Each divorce is different. 

Where do we draw the line? That was also an issue in the time of Jesus. 

Just as today there are people who will argue points of law on points of law, and what various words mean in various contexts, the interpretation of the Law of Moses was quite varied. So even though the Pharisees ask, “is it lawful”, they already know what is in the law. The interpretation of this law varied from divorce is only allowed in cases of infidelity, to the other extreme - if your wife is late with your dinner or displeases you in any way you can divorce her.

Notice only the man can divorce the woman. In Jesus’ response, he does say if she divorces her husband, this was permissible in Roman law, but not in Jewish law. 

Why did Moses write that divorce is allowed? In Mark, Jesus says it is because of the hardness of heart, or because people are heartless, depending on the translation. 

We are human, we make mistakes, sometimes we are rude, obnoxious, disloyal, or unfaithful. Some people are forced or coerced into marriage by societal expectations, maybe not so much in our western culture today, but in my lifetime, if you were unmarried and pregnant, a wedding was likely on the horizon, ready or not. 

Divorce left women in a potentially dangerous situation, unable to find shelter or food for herself and any children. I wonder who is most disadvantaged by divorce today. Sometimes it is women and children, sometimes men tell me how hard separation and divorce has been on them and their children. I have heard people say you must stay together for the children, but how is it healthy for children to grow up in a household full of tension. 

This passage is about divorce, but also the questions we ask and how we interpret the law.

I wonder if it also helps us to see where our hearts are hardened to another person or group of people. 

All through the gospels we see people’s lives changed, for the better, by the healing, forgiving, inclusive words of Jesus; and we see the Pharisees and other religious leaders challenged by Jesus when the law is used to condemn people.

Is it lawful?

Maybe there are other questions to ask.

 

VALUES

(Mark 10:2-16)

Jesus pointed out
the hardheartedness he saw
in those around him.

 Pharisees, divorce;
disciples missing the point;
children turned away.

Indignant Jesus
showed the values of God’s realm;
including, blessing.

How do I reflect
God’s including and blessing
day by day by day?

    Jeff Shrowder, 2021

 

Esther

 Reading: the book of Esther

A quick outline of the book of Esther.

The story of Easter is one that you may not be familiar with. The people of Israel were in exile. About 587 years before Christ, Jerusalem was destroyed and in the 10 years following that the Jewish elite were deported to Babylon, around the same time many Jewish people left the land and move to a variety of places. About 539 BC Cyrus the Persian king conquered Babylon, some of the Jews went back home, but some did not.

The book of Esther begins with King Ahasuerus throwing a banquet, 6 months into the banquet, [yes, a banquet that went for at least 6 months!] he calls his wife to come and show the people at the banquet how beautiful she is, but Vashti refuses. Vashti is no longer allowed to be in the presence of the King, and a decree goes out that all the beautiful young virgins to come to the King's harem, and one would be chosen to be the new Queen.

Esther was chosen to be the new Queen.

Esther's uncle Mordecai overheard a plot to kill the King, he told Esther who warned the King, and his life was saved.

The King's main adviser is a man named Haman, he does not like the Jews. Haman tells the King that there are certain people who do not keep the King's Laws and the King should proclaim a decree for them all to be destroyed. The King accepts Haman’s word, and the decree is sent throughout the land. Then Esther steps in and speaks to the King, the decree cannot be reversed, but another decree goes out that the Jewish people can defend themselves.

There are some oddities in the book of Esther, in its 10 chapters there is no mention of God, the temple, the exodus, or the salvation history of the Jewish people. Esther doesn’t see God or hear from God. Yet Esther is a role model of bravery. She is not perfect. She would have broken all sorts of Torah rules in living in the Palace. Yet, when push came to shove, she chose to risk her life, for the life of her people.

The book of Esther could easily be a soap opera or melodramatic movie. We have a fickle King, a villain, plot twists, an unlikely heroine, war and death, triumph and tragedy. A Hollywood directors dream. Yet this book is in the Bible. I wonder why it was chosen to be included. What does this story of gluttony, promiscuity, and violence have to say to us today.

Esther is part of a religious and ethnic minority. Her ancestors most likely moved to Persia following the fall of Jerusalem; about 100 years later Ahasuerus was King. Even though Jewish people have been living in Persia for 100 years, their life is still perilous, as we see from the actions of Haman, who, by the way, is of Canaanite heritage.   

How do we see people who have a different religious or ethnic background to ourselves? Do we treat them as worth less, more expendable, not as deserving of education, health, work, and housing? Do we trust people from a different background less than people who look like us and speak like us and have similar values? What do you know about the experience of migrants and refugees?

The King is portrayed as incompetent and power drunk. The opening scene has the king giving a banquet for officials and nobles and governors and generals. After 180 days, the king gives a week-long banquet for everyone in Susa in the palace garden. While this happening the queen, Vashti, was giving a banquet for the women. As the story continues there is much feasting and drinking. The King makes rash decisions, and relies for advice from others, who have their own agenda.

I wonder what we look for in our leaders, elected and unelected. I hear people speak about the Royal Family in terms of stability, decency, dedication, and a selfless devotion to the greater good. We do not see this in King Ahasuerus.

Esther, as many people from minority groups do, blends in as much as she can. She joined the other young women in becoming part of the harem. Esther was aware of what was happening and spoke up against injustice. Not the injustice of young women being sexual playthings for the king; but the injustice that could have seen many people killed. In speaking on behalf of her people, Esther took a risk, she risked her life; she could have continued to hide that she was Jewish. The King had not noticed. But she spoke up.

When do we speak up and speak out? Is it for ourselves or for others?  

Nothing in the story of Esther suggests that God spoke to her or gave her a sign, there is no burning bush or voice from heaven.

So often God's action in our life, God's activity in the world around us, is hidden from us; not because God is trying to hide, but because God acts in what looks like our ordinary life.

Most of us will never entertain an Angel, like Mary and Joseph did.
Most of us will not be able to tap a rock and have freshwater flow from it, like Moses.
Most of us will not touch the holes in the hands of Jesus as Thomas did.

We may wish for the certainty of the burning bush, or walking through the Red Sea, but reality is, most of us will not have those experiences.

We can learn from Esther.
We can learn what it is like to be everyday believers.
To be the good news,
To be hope and light
to be ready, to speak, to act.

Our lives, like Esther’s will not be perfect. We will break God’s heart at times, but God still trusts us and calls us to act for humanity.

  

Poem

 

Esther – a woman of action;

   a role-model for the ordinary

   to be extra-ordinary;

   a role-model who took direct action.

   The rabbis have considered her a prophet,

   who neither spoke a word with God

   nor from God,

   but who risked her life

   to save her people.

 

Jeremiah

   Amos

   Jesus

   Caroline Chisholm

   William Wilberforce

   Oscar Romero

   Mother Theresa…

spoke out

   against the wrongs in their societies;

   took action

   to redress those wrongs;

   to offer the world a glimpse

   of the realm of God:

   a community

   of mutual relationship;

   a community in which

   trust, obligation, morality, common good, tradition, goodwill,

   co-operation, religious values, neighbourliness

   and more

   are valued as basic to the good health,

   the wholeness,

   of that community.

 

This alternative vision

   is the realm we are called to live:

   to stand with those whose lives are hurt by the prevailing systems,

   to identify

   not with the powerful

   but the vulnerable.

 This is our risky journey

 of discipleship.

 

© Jeff Shrowder, 2012. (Adapted from a sermon from some years ago, which may have drawn on material from other, long-forgotten, sources.)        

Greatness, Serving, Silence, Fear

Mark 9: 30-37 [we are not able to meet in person due to COVID] 

There are a few things that stand out in this passage for me this week; the first is the disciples were silent because of fear, the discussion about greatness, and the idea of turning things upside down.

Sometimes people are called the greatest cricketer, comedian, politician, whatever…  of all time.

How do we decide who is the greatest?

And I wonder what would make one the greatest disciple?

This conversation happens just after Jesus tells the disciples again that he will be handed over to people who will kill him, and three days later he will rise. Now I get that this would be confusing or weird for the disciples to hear, even the second time around.

But, looking at the life of Jesus, and hearing that we will die and rise again, arguing over who is the greatest, seems ridiculous.

 Twice in this passage the disciples stay quiet. Firstly, when Jesus reminds them of his coming death, they do not understand, but they keep quiet because they are afraid.

I wonder what they are afraid about.
Is it that they would have to accept that what Jesus said will come true. That their idea of a Messiah who will overthrow the Roman oppressors is not wrong.   

Maybe they don’t want to appear foolish.

There are times I haven’t asked questions because I thought everyone else understood except me, and I would look silly. This happened a lot in class at college. When I did ask, people would thank me at lunchtime, they also did not understand or want to appear foolish, but they were pleased when I asked.

I wonder if the disciples were all waiting for someone else to ask Jesus to explain what he meant.

 The second time the disciples stay quiet is when Jesus asks them what they were talking about as they walked to Capernaum. I wonder if this time they stayed quiet because they knew that arguing about greatness does not fit in with the way of Jesus. Like when you ask a child what they have in their mouth, and they know it is something they should not have.  All innocent looks and no words.

What do you not ask?

When do you stay silent?

 

Jesus then makes 2 statements in this part of the passage about greatness, the first is that greatness is about serving, but not only serving people we like, or people who are like us. “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

Then Jesus goes on to give an example of what that serving might look like. “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”  

Now this is no cute, sweet, innocent picture. In Jesus’ time, children were at the bottom of the human pecking order.  They rated lower than women, and just above the cattle. The child is an illustration of the type of people to welcome, the vulnerable, the lowly, the powerless, the one without income or property or rank, welcome the outcast, the one who has no means to repay.

The kind of greatness which God values in human beings is not having power and wealth but having compassion.

This reminds me how strange the kingdom of God is in modern times, well, it was strange in the first century as well.

As a church, as a group of disciples, we follow the One who came and ate with sinners, loved all people, forgave sinners, and reminded people who judged that they would be judged. We follow the One who came and made people whole, saw the dignity in every human, refused to treat women or children or servants as second- or third-class citizens. The One who said the first will be last and the last will be first; and the greatest is the servant of all.

This kingdom of God was, and is, coming into being,

·       where love flourishes

·       where fear does not stop us from speaking

·       where all people are included

·       where all people are valued

This is an upside-down kingdom, where children and slaves and women are not property but people. Where love and compassion are more important than wealth or status. Where love and compassion replace fear and apathy.   

Jesus is teaching the disciples, and us, about a different way of living.

In a world, then and now, where armies and money and prestige were seen as signs of greatness, Jesus talked of serving.

In a world where having more was a sign of being blessed, Jesus spoke of sharing and trusting God for each day.

In a world where people were divided by race and gender and work, Jesus says everyone counts, all are equally loved and cherished by God. All are included.

Our nation, and the world, is divided today in so many ways. Access to clean water and food. Access to health care and education. Access to safe and secure housing. And now we see divisions over who has access to COVID vaccines.

You may have heard people say, “we are all in this together”. Well yes, and no. We are all in the same storm, but some have a surfboard, some have a dinghy, and some have a supertanker. We are in the same storm, but our experience is different.

How we live shows God’s love and grace.
When we share resources shows God’s generosity.
When we listen to another’s pain or anxiety,
when we include the outcast,
when we welcome the addict, the abused, the prisoner,
we see a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.