Reign of ChristC, 2007
Matthew 5:1-12
‘CHRIST’ OR ‘JESUS’. AN ON-GOING CONVERSATION
Many people today find the traditional name for today’s Lectionary theme
to be problematic - Christ the King Day.
In our egalitarian culture, the concept of kingship rings a note
that is artificial for most, and offensive to some.
But being on the edge of the ‘baby boomer’ generation
I do remember a king or two...
Elvis, known simply as ‘The King’...
Graham Kennedy, known as the King of Australian TV...
So let’s play around with this day and its title for a while.
And to do so, I guess I want to talk about the ‘historical Jesus’
rather than the traditional ‘mythical Christ’.
oo0oo
Bishop John Shelby Spong is well-known
for his questioning of a doctrine-based Christianity.
In one of his books he has said we need a new God-definition
that resonates with the humanity of Jesus. Spong writes:
“What I see is a new portrait of Jesus... I see him pointing to something he calls the realm (or kingdom) of God, where new possibilities demand to be considered... I see him inviting his followers to join with him, to walk without fear beyond those security boundaries that always prohibit, block, or deny our access to a deeper humanity” (Spong 2001:131).
Tony Kelly is an Australian Catholic theologian.
He too has written several books over the past 25+ years,
most of them helping to shape an Australian theology.
In a sermon in his book, Seasons of hope, (Kelly 1984) Kelly spends some time
also commenting on the life of the ‘historical Jesus’.
Let me share some of his thoughts. And I will use Kelly’s four categories:
• Jesus of the gospels
• Jesus rejected all factions
• Jesus adopted the powerless ones
• Jesus liberated God
As they are thumbnail sketches, they will only be brief.
oo0oo
(i) • Jesus of the gospels
The gospels present Jesus as a man of startling, fascinating freedom.
He interpreted the traditions of his people in a most liberating way.
In his presence values were radically reversed.
Any law or tradition had to be relativised
so the real love of God for struggling human beings
would be made clear.
In a world of exclusive segregations,
he was remarkably accessible and hospitable.
As both guest and host,
he shared the sacred fellowship of the table with all types and classes.
(ii) • Jesus rejected all factions
In such a world of factions and intrigues Jesus
would eventually disappoint every group
that tried to capture him for its purpose.
He disappointed the Zealots, hell bent on freeing the Holy Land
from the pagan occupying power - the Romans.
He disappointed the Pharisees, a devout minority
dedicated to the maintenance of the distinctively Jewish way of life.
He disappointed the baptists, because his way
was in sharp contrast to the thundering asceticism of John.
Kelly says:
“To the devout, he was irreligious. To the learned, he was untutored. To the revolutionary, he was too idealistic. To the priests, he was a meddling layman. To the aristocratic establishment, he was a cause for alarm” (Kelly 1984: 112).
(iii) • Jesus adopted the powerless ones
No one really had room for him except those whom no one cared about...
Those whom he called the poor,
the least,
the lost sheep of Israel.
These are decried at different times as:
sinners,
prostitutes,
lepers,
demoniacs,
beggars,
the diseased and the crippled,
the hungry,
the widowed...
All those his society had excluded as it used its religion to dehumanise itself.
In such company, however, Jesus seems to have made God real
in a way that the traditional religion of his day could not.
Again Tony Kelly suggests:
“A kind of springtime of religious awareness radiated from him” (Kelly 1984:112).
(iv) • Jesus liberated God
Jesus’ way of life implied that God was not really interested in
your wealth,
your status,
your virtue,
your sacrifices,
or even your sin.
He was happy with your trust, or the word traditionally used, faith.
If you had that, you had everything.
oo0oo
Since Tony Kelly published his sermon ‘Dangerous memories’ on Jesus,
in the book Seasons of hope, there have been many books
published specifically on the ‘historical Jesus’…
Robert Funk’s Honest to Jesus and A credible Jesus. Fragments of a vision.
Marcus Borg’s Jesus. Uncovering the life, teachings and relevance of a religious revolutionary.
All important books. Because, I reckon,
how we see Jesus affects how we see christianity.
If you saw the ABC TV program ‘Compass’ a couple of weeks back,
you probably noticed one of my colleagues was very strong on
a christianity which is based on creeds and doctrine.
That the object of faith or religion, is belief.
And what we believe is in the bible and in the creeds and in the tradition.
On the other hand, I tried to suggest, equally strongly, that the way we are christian
is in having trust with Jesus, not trust in Jesus.
Not ‘belief’, even though what we believe is important,
but as ‘way’, as ‘trust’, walking without fear,
daring to be surprised by life.
So this day, Christ the King Day in traditional language, or the
Reign of Christ Day in a bit of a modern re-write,
is really an ongoing conversation about
how we see Jesus and how we see christianity.
And in our multifaith community, I reckon such a conversation is really important.
I hope you might think so, as well.
Notes:
Kelly, A. 1984. Seasons of hope. Christian faith and social issues. VIC: Blackburn. Dove Communications.
Spong, J. S. 2001. A new christianity for a new world. NY: New York. HarperCollins.