Christ
the King Sunday- November 24, 2013
One of the
misconceptions I used to have about God- was that God’s desire was that I was
to be nice, that I should grow up to be polite young man that we are all
supposed to be good. I thought that I
ought smile at folks when they pass me
in the street, that I ought to hold the door for the person behind me, that I
ought shovel my elderly neighbor’s drive way after a snowstorm. I thought God’s desire was that I shouldn’t
swear- that I should follow the ten commandments- and if I could achieve all
this for the most part I could earn God’s love and that at the end of time
everything would be alright.
Tied up with that
misconception was an image of God who was deeply angered by my sin- a God who
seethed at humanities wrong doings. Of
course, I have good biblical references for this angry God image. Right out of the gate in the book of Genesis—we have the story of the flood- God is
so angry by the evil of humanity that God sends a flood to wipe evil and most
of humanity from the face of the earth saving only the good folks- Noah and his
family. Again and again this angry God
motif repeats itself throughout the entire corpus of the Old Testament.
As a child I can remember being so wracked with guilt, so worried about something I had done, that
one night I had a dream that Pope John Paul the 2nd shows up at my
house. Now Pope John Paul the 2nd didn’t show up in a car, rather
the Holy Father showed up in what I thought at the time was a golf cart, but
what was probably actually the pope mobile- as the dream progresses the pope drives
me around in the pope mobile and he hears my personal confession. I wake up
feeling much better- that I had somehow cleared the air with God.
But how does God
respond to sin? How does God respond to our wrongdoing?
This morning presents
us with an interesting challenge to the angry God image. Did anyone else notice how Jesus responds as
he is dying on the cross? As people are
hurling insults up at him- as people are casting lots for his clothing- Jesus’
response is--- Father forgive them for the they know not what they do.
Jesus responses to the
soldiers who stick a sponge filled with sour wine in his face-- is Father
forgive them for they know not what they-
Jesus response to those who say if you are the king of the Jews- save
yourself- again Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
Jesus’ response- to the
criminals who are hanging on crosses on his right and on his left is not you
wretches- you deserve exactly what you are getting.--- no Jesus response is “today
you will be with me in paradise.
Today is what the
church calls Christ the King- Sunday- Perhaps today we can declare that one of
the things that Jesus is the king of- is Grace- that Jesus is the king of
forgiveness of mercy- someone I read this week suggested that Jesus was the
king of second chances.
So how does Jesus
respond- when we fail to love neighbor- how does Jesus respond when we leave
things undone- how does Jesus respond when we fail to strive for Justice and
peace, to turn the other cheek?
Several years ago, I
found myself working with a Jesuit priest for spiritual direction. I
would meet with the priest on a monthly basis and talk through a number of
things-- my spiritual struggles, my call to ordination- what I was doing on a
regular basis to connect with God. During
that time my spiritual director suggested that perhaps I ought to try a
spiritual practice was called the examination of conscience.
Sounds a little bit
like a funky medical exam you have undergo once you hit fifty years of age-the
examination of conscience.
Anyway one the pieces
of the examination of conscience was taking time every day to review what had
occurred throughout the day. During this review one of the things to do was to remember
the times that you were less than loving, the times that you failed love
neighbor. Remember all the vile thoughts, remember the ways you looks past
somebody- the way you failed So as you
were reviewing this list in your head- every time you came up with something-
the juicy piece of Gossip that you shared with a co-worker- that time you use
international sign language on the road- that time you lost your patience, that
time you failed to recognize the dignity of someone in your midst- when you
recall those moments you are supposed to
then imagine Jesus standing there in your midst and saying –I know and I still
love you. I know and I still love
you.
It is an incredible to
think – that when we are at our lowest points- that when we can’t getting any
worse- Jesus response is not you will burn in hell- but I know and I love you- Jesus response is
father forgive them they know not what they do- Jesus response is today you
will be with me in paradise.
Where do you need to
hear Jesus speak these words- I know and I love you. Where do we need to take these words – I know
and I love you. Who in our lives need
to hear these words from your lips- I know and I love you.
Maybe today we are
reminded today that God’s default setting isn’t anger and vengeance--What if Jesus
shows us a different God- who responds to us with his arms wide open- by
whispering to us I know and I love you.
Perhaps today Jesus is
the king of forgiveness- the king who whispers in the ears of His subjects- I
know your iniquities, I know your wrongdoings, but I love you anyway. Isn’t that a message the world needs to hear?
Isn’t that a message that we need to hear- that God loves us no-exceptions?
AMEN
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