“O that today you would listen to his voice!”
“Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Preparing for this sermon this week, I was reminded of the Pantomimes Mark and I took our children to: there are an awful lot of characters in these pantos who are not what they seem. Take the Pantomime “Cinderella”. Cinders meets an old lady in the woods, and out of the goodness of her heart, helps her find wood. Later on, of course, we find out that the old lady is in fact Cinder’s Fairy Godmother, and that small good deed done by Cinderella ends up transforming her life and rescuing her from poverty and oppression. It wasn’t a huge gesture, just helping someone so that their day went better. Cinderella helped someone who was struggling, who was unable to help themselves. And it changed the world. “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Over the past few Sundays we have had readings that tell us about the kingdom. Through parables, Jesus has described what God wants, how God wants the world to be. What the Kingdom of God looks like. And what does it look like? What does God want? What does the rule of God, of Christ the King, mean? Well, to put it in the words of Rowan Williams: the essence of the law, of justice, of the kingdom, for God is “that no-one is forgotten” (1). Christ’s kingdom, where God’s rule is paramount, is where the “very nature of God” is present in all things (2), where the qualities God in Jesus displays are how life is lived. And we see these qualities throughout the Bible, and especially in our readings today. These are qualities of “justice, love, mercy and peace”, as Bishop Adrian Newman puts it. Christ the King desires a kingdom where the hungry have food, the thirsty have water, where God’s “sheep” are not bullied but cared for in green pastures. And Bishop Newman explains that the world in which God’s reign is known, where Christ is King, will be one where “justice, love, mercy and peace” should guide our behaviour (3). And in such a kingdom, no-one would be forgotten. All would be seen as valued, worthwhile, where “no-one is invisible” (4).
“Just as you did it for the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” The first time Jesus announces his mission, his ministry he declares God’s intentions, God’s bias: Jesus picks up the scroll in the synagogue and reads ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ (Luke 4:17-21) And his life fulfills these claims, culminating in that great act of service, the crucifixion and resurrection. He is our God, the servant King, who calls us now to follow him. His hands that threw stars into space also touched the unclean, healed and held those in need (a). And so he calls us to follow him. Because by doing these things, by feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, visiting those in prison, welcoming strangers we are not only welcoming Jesus, welcoming God, but we are also being Jesus in the world. In his life and mission “all (were) “touched, welcomed, received and affirmed by Jesus” (5). He reached out “to those who are forgotten, those who do not have leverage and power in their society and those who are not acceptable within the religious framework of the day” (6). And this is our God, the servant king, the one who sits at the right hand on God, on the “throne of glory”, who calls us now to follow him, as the hymn goes (a). The King we celebrate today as Christ the King, is the servant who came down, was born to parents who were just ordinary, who lived in a normal town, amongst ordinary people. Christ the King is the king who washed the feet of others, who touched untouchables, who loved the unlovable. This is our God, the Servant King. Who calls us now to follow him. To follow his example and obey his command. Because: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as we pray every Sunday.
Because if we pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done, what we mean is let us follow you, your example of service, love and humility, so that Christ the King’s rule of peace, love, justice and mercy will govern the earth. As Rowan Williams says, what does God’s kingdom look like? What does God’s reign look like? “A community in which each is living for the good of all, in which every person is precious” (7). A reign in which peace and prosperity are linked with justice and care for the poor under God, under Jesus, and where the powerful serve as Jesus served (8).
And this reign of God’s justice, love, peace and mercy begins with us. But it doesn’t need to be daunting. It isn’t daunting. We are not asked to change the whole world by ourselves. Rowan Williams tells us: “You don’t have to make every kind of difference, but you do have to make the difference that only you can make” (9). Like in our pantomime at the beginning, Cinderella couldn’t relive the old lady’s poverty, but she could do something to help her, and by doing so changed the world by bringing kindness and compassion where there was need: by simply picking up sticks for someone unable to do so themselves. The actions mentioned in the Gospel are small things we do almost naturally – clothing the poor, giving someone food or a drink, talking to someone who is lonely. These are not impossible acts. We are doing them already. We are not asked to change the world, just to see where God is already changing it and do our bit, however small or big, to join in.
And this is what all of us can do, regardless of age, strength, situation. And for this we can give true thanks to God for all of us. Because even the smallest and the youngest can do acts which bring in the kingdom, in their own way – you just have to see a child’s smiles or the sharing of toys. Everyone can contribute to spreading the kingdom, of allowing God’s will be done, God’s kingdom to come. And this is something we can be thankful for – that we don’t need to have supernatural powers to be part of God’s kingdom, we just need to be us, ourselves, ready to do our small part in that kingdom to respond to the needs of the least of God’s family, God’s children. And we can be thankful for the example of Jesus which shows us how to care, how to love others as he loves us. We can be thankful for his just and gentle rule which leaves no-one out. We can be thankful for each other as we reach out, one to the other, in welcome, love and compassion, and from each other out into the world. And we can be thankful that through God’s gift of grace, through being created in God’s image, we share in this work, begun in Jesus, and now continued through us, and on into the future in the lives of others. If only we will listen to the voice of Christ our Servant King and follow him. Amen.
(1)Rowan Williams No One Can Be Forgotten in God’s Kingdom Anvil 25-2 March 2008 p.119 https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/25-2_117.pdf
(2)Bishop Adrian Newman “(Some) Theology to Save the World” November 2020 https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/leading-thinkers/some-theology-to-save-the-world
(3) Bishop Adrian Newman “(Some) Theology to Save the World” November 2020 https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/leading-thinkers/some-theology-to-save-the-world
(4) Rowan Williams No One Can Be Forgotten in God’s Kingdom Anvil 25-2 March 2008 p.119 https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/25-2_117.pdf
(5) Rowan Williams No One Can Be Forgotten in God’s Kingdom Anvil 25-2 March 2008 p.121 https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/25-2_117.pdf
(6) Rowan Williams No One Can Be Forgotten in God’s Kingdom Anvil 25-2 March 2008 p.121 https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/25-2_117.pdf
(7) Rowan Williams No One Can Be Forgotten in God’s Kingdom Anvil 25-2 March 2008 p.121 https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/25-2_117.pdf
(8)Jane Williams in Gooder et al (2016) Refelctions for Sundays Year A Church House Publishing London p.261
(9) Rowan Williams No One Can Be Forgotten in God’s Kingdom Anvil 25-2 March 2008 p.126 https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/anvil/25-2_117.pdf
(a) Hymn 205 Anglican Hymns Old and New (2008) Kevein Mayhew Suffolk