November 24, 2013
Reign of Christ
Luke23:33-43
Colossians 1:11-20
(prayer)
About 60 years before Jesus' death, nearly a century of territorial and civil wars effectively came to an end when the forces of Rome defeated the armies of Egypt. Gaius Octavius and Marcus Antonius had once been allies, fighting together against the insurgency led by Marcus Junius Brutus after the assassination of Julius Caesar ('et tu Brutus, et tu?'). From 32-30BCE, Octavious and Marc Anthony battled against each other as Anthony and his forces sided with Anthony's lover, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Ahh, the power of love!
Octavious was victorious and nearly a century of wars within the territories of Rome came to an end. The Pax Romanus (the Roman Peace) was born. Octavius became known as Augustus, Caesar of the Roman Empire. // According to the gospel of Luke, Augustus was Caesar when Jesus was born. Jesus was born under the Pax Romanus.
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The means by which the peace was maintained was by harsh brute force. If a threat arose challenging Rome's right to rule, even a localized one, it was quashed quickly, brutally and publicly. If a band of revolutionaries (often led by an inspiring, charismatic leader) threatened or acted with violence, they were usually all slaughtered as a sign to all that 'peace would be maintained by all means possible'.
If, on the other hand, the movement was more 'idea-based', sometimes all that was needed was to remove the leader and the non-violent followers would simply scatter and disappear out of fear.
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Jesus was born under the Pax Romanus... and he died under the Pax Romanus. In Rome's eyes, he was a non-violent revolutionary. Yes, he was proclaimed as King of the Jews ('Messiah-Christ-AnnointedOne' is a royal title), but Pontius Pilate (the Roman Governor of Judea) knew that Jesus' band of peasant disciples posed no military threat. If Jesus was serious about being king (at least the only kind of king that Pilate could imagine), he certainly did not have the means to mount a coup d'etat. One crucifixion should solve this small problem.
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Jesus' execution was a demonstration of the Empire's power. Soldiers mocked Jesus' regal authority. Surely everyone who was there got the intended message: don't set yourself up as an enemy of Rome or you'll wind up like this wannabe king.
Powerless, weak, humiliated, defeated. All these things were true as far as the soldiers were concerned. Certainly anyone who thought about responding to Jesus' execution with violence would have another 'think' coming.
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But Jesus' ministry was not one that was intended to inspire violent zealous actions. He sought for people to become zealous about their faith and spirituality. Yes, Jesus' ability to be a physical threat to the Pax Romanus was easily taken away. But matters of the heart, mind and soul... are not so easily wiped out.
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Rome had denied all mercy that day to Jesus and the others who were being crucified for their own crimes against Rome. If any of them had hoped to be given another chance, to receive some level of forgiveness from their accusers, Rome was exercising its power to say an unmistakable "NO!".
But... while being crucified, Jesus prays for his torturers and persecutors. He offers a hope and forgiveness to his fellow prisoners that the enforcers of the Pax Romanus would not.
And there was nothing that Pilate or the soldiers could do about it.
In that moment, we see two contrasting views on peace:
· The political way of maintaining Pax Romanus, and
· Jesus' way: forgiveness of one's enemy.
Yes, true power was on display on Skull Hill that day, but it was not symbolized by the soldiers' spears and swords, nor by the nails and crossed wood of capital punishment. It was known in simple words... today, you will be with me in paradise.
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Pilate's initial assessment that eliminating Jesus, this would cause his followers to scatter in fear, was true. That was the reaction of Mary, Peter, James and the others.
But something else was a-foot that Pilate hadn't considered. These followers were open to the mysteries of God. So, when Mary came back from the garden with news that the tomb was empty and that a resurrection had happened, new life began to emerge in this dying movement.
A mere seven weeks later, the same group who had huddled in a fear-filled room were with the crowds in the streets - marveling at how the Spirit of God was blowing a gift of mutual understand among them.
Jesus was killed, but Christ was alive. The Pax Romanus tried its hardest, but the Peace of Jesus prevailed.
Eventually even the physical means of execution, the cross, became for the followers of Jesus, not a symbol of Roman power but of God's power.
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About fifty years later, a letter was written to the church at Colossae. It was still the height of the Roman Empire. The Emperor's image was everywhere: on coins, in statues. Since the time of Augustus, the caesar was even widely proclaimed as god.
Into that world view, the letter to the Colossians proclaims that God dwells in Jesus, not the Emperor. Caesar may provide the image of a political empire, but Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
While the empire sought to maintain peace through brute force, like the frequent executions of political opponents, the letter explains that Jesus brings peace through self-sacrifice (the text uses the phrase making peace through the blood of the cross).
In modern-speak, we might call Jesus a 'hero'.
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Classically, in Greek mythology, a hero or heroine was a person with one divine and one mortal parent (say, Hercules, son the god, Zeus and human queen, Alcmeme). More generally, a hero(ine) is one who courageously risks one’s own safety or acts beyond expectations to benefit those in need of aid. In some of the writings of the first half century of the Christian movement, like the gospel of Luke and the letter to the Colossians, we can see the beginning of the assigning of a hero-like moniker to Jesus. From a peasant’s life and perspective, he courageously challenges the authority of the powerful, regardless of the impact him personally – preaching in words and actions, the love and mercy of God, to the benefit of the common good. Jesus sat on no throne, he managed no estate, but he had influence enough to change the world.
In a way, the followers of Jesus' Way were rescued from the assumption that peace could only be possible through threats and acts of violence. God's mercy is beyond the ways of the world of Caesar.
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Today is the final Sunday in the calendar of the church year. The season of Pentecost ends today; next Sunday, a new church year begins with the first of four Advent Sundays that will prepare us for Christmas.
This final Sunday of Pentecost is traditionally called "Christ the King" (or Reign of Christ) Sunday. The gospel of John famously quotes Pontius Pilate asking Jesus if he is a king. The gospel records that Jesus' kingdom is not of this world.
The Realm of Christ is based on mercy, not fear - on the heart, not the sword.
In Jesus, we are shown over and over that realm of God's grace and love is beyond the Pax Romanus. We are called to living witnesses to this hope and truth in the we live day to day.
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Let us pray:
God of mercy, your reign has to power to forgive, to welcome, to love. May we be visible witnesses to Jesus' Way to all the world. Amen.
#606VU "In Christ, There is no East or West"
