The Good News Proclaimed

Preached by the Reverend Doctor Mona West at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, November 22, 2009.

In our gospel lesson today we come to the end of Mark and the end of Jesus’ life. It might seem odd to talk about Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion just as we are about to enter into the Advent season which celebrates Jesus’ birth. This is the last Sunday in the Christian Liturgical calendar. In many traditions this Sunday is called Christ the King or the Reign of Christ. It was originally associated with the Ascension of Jesus and celebrated in the month of October. In 1969 Pope Paul VI moved it to the last Sunday of November as a transitional Sunday leading to Advent. (I guess that is one of the perks of being the Pope… you get to move religious holidays around.) The traditional theme for this Sunday is the sovereignty of Christ over all creation. On this New Year’s Eve of the church, Christians are called to take a look back at the significance of Christ in the world and their lives and to look ahead anticipating how the coming of this Christ once more into the history of the world challenges and gives hope for the future.

Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews. Jesus’ life and teaching indicated over and over again that he came to redefine the world’s definitions of kingship and power. The disciples as well as Pilate were always missing it. They continually argued over who would be the first in the kingdom. Who would sit at Jesus’ right and who would sit at Jesus’ left? And Jesus was always correcting them. Telling them things like: “the first will be last and the last will be first,” “my kingdom is not of this world,” “the kingdom of heaven is like a great banquet that the rich and powerful refused but the poor and outcast attend,” “it is like getting paid for a full day’s work only when you have worked an hour,” “the kingdom… is within you!”

Jesus’ actions as well as his teachings indicated that his kingship and God’s kingdom operated in ways that didn’t make sense to the world, or that played by the world’s rules. If anything Jesus kingship was subversive—turning the economy of winners and losers, haves and have not’s, on its head. Jesus’ kingship is about God’s great reversal.

So how do we as modern day disciples, the church of the 21^st century, post 9/11, understand the reign of Christ? Like those early disciples I think there are times we don’t get it. Times when we have to be reminded that God’s power is not identified with a particular majority or nation or way of life. God’s power is made manifest when the good news in the form of food, clothing, shelter, and physical healing are brought to the poor.

Some years ago a theologian by the name of Sally McFague published a ground breaking book titled Models of God. In it she argued that the hierarchical model of God as king was outmoded, even harmful, for a time in human history when nuclear holocaust guarantees no winners. The model of God as king is irrelevant in a context where human power to uncreate the world seems to supersede God’s power as creator and sustainer. She goes on to point out that we live in a time which has seen the passing of our awe over the power of nature. We now have the power to destroy our own environment.

McFague suggests that we replace this hierarchical model of God as king with relational models that connect us to God, our world and each other. What would happen, she ponders, if we called God ‘Mother’, ‘Lover’, ‘Friend’? She suggests that it is not helpful to see the cross of Jesus as a king’s one time sacrifice or ransom for the sins humans have committed against God. Rather she points to the life of Jesus and the parables to remind us that sin is something we do to one another and the earth and that the cross is God’s way of radical love — a “being with” that inevitably will bring suffering, sometimes even to the point of death. It is a being with — Emmanuel, God with us — that is not a one-time event, but a permanent reality through all the seasons of our lives.

McFague’s book made big waves in theological circles when it was published in 1987. Since then she has been interviewed by Bill Moyers, and a guest speaker at countless colleges and universities. Her book had a profound impact on my own life, but the person who has taught me the most about the models of God that rule my life is the African American poet, novelist and in her own right theologian, Alice Walker. There is a poignant conversation about God in her 1982 novel The Color Purple which takes place between an abused black woman named Celie and her female lover, Shug.

Shug asks Celie what her God looks like and she replies, “He big and old and tall and gray-bearded and white. He wear white robes and go barefooted.” Shug replies, “This old white man is the same God I used to see when I prayed. If you wait to find God in church Celie, that’s who is bound to show up, ’cause that’s where he live. That’s the one in the white folks’ white bible. God looks just like the white folks only bigger with a heap more hair. Man corrupt everything. He on your box of grits, in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere. Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain’t…”

Let’s see how that conversation ends (clip)

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Remember that saying from childhood? Well it’s not entirely true. Words do have the power to hurt or to heal. The language we use for God matters. Language shapes our reality so we should take a serious look at the models we use for God. What are the models that guide you? Are they relevant for your life? How do the models you use for God influence your relationships with others? The earth? Yourself?

On this last Sunday of the Christian year I invite you to make some New Year’s resolutions about the models of God you invoke.