Being Sheep in the Reign of Christ
You can listen to this sermon here
Gate Pa – Year A 34th Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2023
Readings:
What I want to say:
What I want to happen:
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
2. Matthew
“Do you see all these things? I assure that no stone will be left on another. Everything will be demolished.”
Little
later while they sat on Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple they asked,
“Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming
and the end of the age?”- Warning - “Watch out that no one deceives you”
- Warnings of great suffering
- Invokes the image from Daniel of Son of Man (Human One) coming in power in clouds
o 10 bridesmaids
o So called parable of talents
Jesus is preparing his disciples for the horror of what is to come
- Own arrest and crucifixion
- Midst of that
o Giving hope
o Urgent need to carry on mission that Jesus began
Matthew is using this to speak to his community
- Post fall Jerusalem
o and the horror and trauma associated with that
o Destruction of temple and centre of identity
o Mass slaughter and enslavement that followed
- Early churches expulsion from Jewish diaspora
- Persecution from Rome
- Midst of that
o Giving hope
o Warning against complacency
o Invite faithful waiting
o Remind them of urgent need to carry on mission that Jesus began
Invited to hear the same too in our situation.
- Horror and trauma of war in Ukraine, Israel-Palestine
- Ripples here of antisemitism and islamophobia
- Coming hurdles of the next 3 years
- Midst of that
o Giving hope
o Urgent need to carry on mission that Jesus began
3. Reign of God
- he gathers those invited to follow him
- All they had known of life
- Violence always lurking on the edge
- Poverty defining each day
the poor in spirit,
those who mourn,
the meek,
those who hunger and thirst for God’s justice,
the pure in heart,
the merciful,
the peacemakers,
those who are persecuted for the sake of God’s justice,
How different would this world be?
We belong when we long to be numbered among
the poor in spirit,
those who mourn,
the meek,
those who hunger and thirst for God’s justice,
the pure in heart,
the merciful,
the peacemakers,
those who are persecuted for the sake of God’s justice,
- Where do you see reign of Christ?
4. Sheep and Goats
5. Christ the King – Reign of Christ Sunday
- Mostly because too often we have started with own understanding of what “king“ means
- and imposed that on Jesus
- confused our cultural beliefs with Christianity
- turned Jesus into a voice for status quo
o Christians arguing for slavery,
o For lynching in US
o For racism, sexual harassment
o For white supremacy
o against gun control
seems to have little to do with the vision held in Beatitudes
- especially with idea in Ezekiel that God will feed the people on justice
- want to say true authority resides in Christ
- sometimes that authority is exercised through church
o leave it at that
See it in the sad story around creation of Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa
- confused our Britishness with being Christian
- heartbreakingly sad collation agreement which seeks to redefine the relationship with Nga Iwi o Aotearoa without actually including them in the conversation
o feels very white supremacist to me
6. Conclusion
Wonder
- How does that vision shape us
- How do we allow that vision to shape our priorities and our lives
- On this Reign of Christ Sunday
o How we engage in the political process to allow that reign to come more fully to fruition in our time?
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