St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
November 22, 2015
Year B, Proper 29:
The Last Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 93
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37
Not From Here
Today
we reach the last Sunday after Pentecost, the final Sunday of the church year,
the Feast of Christ the King.
Next
Sunday we begin a new year. We begin the season of Advent, those four Sundays
when we prepare for the birth, two thousand years ago, of Jesus, born in great
poverty.
Next
Sunday we begin the season of Advent, those four Sundays when we look ahead to
the end, to the time when Christ will come again in glory.
But,
first, today, it’s the Feast of Christ the King.
And,
in the gospel lesson I just read, Jesus is near the end of his earthly life. Jesus
has been betrayed, and has been arrested by the Jewish authorities and brought
before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
Pilate,
trying to figure out this enigmatic rabbi from Galilee, asks Jesus straight out:
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus
doesn’t make it easy for Pilate. He replies, “My kingdom is not from this
world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to
keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not
from here.”
Jesus’
kingdom is not from here.
Not
from here.
That’s
for sure, right?
Jesus
came into this world and lived a life of love.
Jesus
came into this world and taught us to walk in love, to not judge, to forgive
those who wrong us - to forgive,
not just not once, but an infinite number of times.
Jesus
taught us to love and pray for our enemies.
Jesus
taught us to give away our possessions to the poor.
Jesus
taught us to be who we say we are.
Jesus
taught us that in his kingdom it’s the poor, and the hungry, and the mournful,
and the hated who are blessed - while those who now are rich and are laughing
and are flattered by many, well, they’ve been blessed already.
Yes,
Jesus came into the world and lived a life of love and taught us all of this.
Jesus’
way was so different from the way of the world back then. Jesus’ way is so
different from the way of the world today.
So
different that anybody who knew anything about Jesus – or anybody who knows
anything about him today – doesn’t need to be told that Jesus’ kingdom is not
from here.
Not
from here.
Now,
here’s the thing: if Christ really is
our king then we Christians aren’t from here, either.
And
throughout Christian history there have been at least a few who followed Jesus
so faithfully, so courageously, that it’s clear that they weren’t from here,
either.
Right
from the beginning, there’s Mary, just a young girl receiving the most
incredible news from the angel. Anybody else would have said, “You’ve got the
wrong girl, ask somebody else.”
And,
there’s Joseph standing by the pregnant Mary, risking mockery and shame.
Not
from here.
And
there’s our patron Paul who was transformed from someone who persecuted
followers of Jesus into someone who spent his life traveling from one strange
place to another sharing the Good News with people who usually had never even
heard of Jesus, often facing ridicule and failure, and ultimately execution in
Rome.
Not
from here.
There’s
Francis of Assisi, living at a time when the Church had grown rich and corrupt
but taking Jesus at his word so every time he saw someone dressed worse than
himself would take off his clothes and give them away. There’s Francis,
preaching the Gospel through action and word to everybody, even to the animals.
Not
from here.
And,
closer to our own time, about 80 years ago, when the Nazis began systematically
discriminating against and eventually rounding up and killing millions of Jews along
with homosexuals and Communists and disabled people and anybody else they hated
or feared, most people either agreed with the policy, even cheered it on, or if
they had misgivings they kept that to themselves to keep themselves and their
families safe. Or, probably most often, they figured, “I’m not a Jew or a
homosexual or disabled, so it’s not
my problem.”
Many
of these people hunted by the Nazis, including the family of Anne Frank, tried
to secure asylum here in the United States but, to our shame, most, including
Anne and her family, were turned away out of prejudice and fear.
(If
they had been welcomed here, Anne might still be alive at age 86.)
But,
if you’ve read Anne Frank’s diary, you know that when she and her family went
into hiding in Amsterdam, there was a handful of courageous people who, at
great risk to themselves, kept the Frank family fed and safe for two years
until they were finally betrayed, arrested, and taken to the concentration
camp.
Not
from here.
Even
closer to our own time, there’s Dorothy Day living and working among the poor
of New York’s East Village. There’s Archbishop Oscar Romero standing up to the brutal
right-wing military dictatorship of El Salvador. There’s Archbishop Desmond
Tutu standing up to the white government of South Africa and then leading the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help heal that land so deeply scarred by
racism. There’s Sister Helen Prejean still at work advocating against the death
penalty in our own country.
Not
from here.
Anybody
who knew anything about Jesus – or knows anything about him today – doesn’t
need to be told that Jesus’ kingdom is not from here.
Not
from here.
Jesus’
kingdom is not from here.
That
was true two thousand years ago and it’s still true in our own time of terror,
fear, and prejudice.
It’s
still true here in our own city where four young men have been shot and killed in
the last 10 days, killed along Ocean Avenue and MLK Drive and in the IHOP
parking lot.
It’s
still true right here in Jersey City where homeless people sleep in parks and
on church steps, where homeless families are “housed” in a rundown motel on
Route 1 & 9.
Jesus’
kingdom is not from here but, you know, through our baptism and through
receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we are, first and foremost, citizens of
Christ’s kingdom – so, we’re not from here, either.
And
our duty as citizens of Christ’s kingdom is to work with God – to allow God to
work with us, in us, and through us – to build Christ’s kingdom “on earth, as
it is in heaven.”
If
Christ really is our king, then we are meant to live lives of love, to love the
people close to us but also to love the people who are different, the people we
don’t like, and even the people who hurt us – who we are meant to forgive
infinitely.
Not
from here.
If
Christ really is our king, then we don’t judge but we love the people hanging
outside Royal Liquors right now passing the day getting increasingly drunk, we
don’t judge but love the people sleeping in the park or on the church steps, we
don’t judge but love those families “housed” in the motel, we don’t judge but
love those hanging with other gang members on corners up and down Ocean and
MLK.
Not
from here.
If
Christ is our king then we give generously - so generously that our food
donation is as large each month as it was this month, thanks to some of my
suburban friends. As I’ve said before, if we all brought just one item each
week, we would have a mountain of food back there every month.
Not
from here.
And,
if Christ is our king then we don’t build walls that divide us but we tear them
down. Yes, we acknowledge our fears and take precautions but we still welcome
the stranger – we welcome the stranger as if he or she was Christ himself.
Not
from here.
If
Christ really is our king, then we’re
really not from here.
Today
is the last Sunday of the church year.
Next
Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of a new church year.
So,
let’s make a new year’s resolution – let’s resolve to be courageous citizens of
Christ’s kingdom, a kingdom that is not from here.
Let’s
resolve to work with God – to allow God to work with us, in us, and through us
– to build Christ’s kingdom “on earth, as it is in heaven.”
Not
from here. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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