Christ the King
Today we celebrate Christ the King – and – ‘Breaking the Silence’ Sunday about gender-based violence. In the sermon preparation, I checked Government websites to see what progress is being made to prevent gender-based violence, to see if fewer women and children are being killed, and if incidents are reducing; and I explored again the ideas of Christ the King. I read and reread the lectionary readings for this Sunday.
The Christ we uncover in the gospels and through the prophets, shows God at work with people the world has ignored and considers of no account. Christ isn’t to be found in palaces or leading armies. Instead, Isaiah talks of a Messiah who will:
Bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Jesus quotes these verses at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18-19). In Jeremiah, God tells the people about false leaders, false shepherds, who destroy and scatter his sheep, who have driven them away (Jer.23:1-6). Yet God affirms God will prevent this happening, with a leader and ruler who will reign wisely, bringing justice and righteousness, saving God’s people. We are told about a Suffering Messiah, who is despised and rejected, oppressed and afflicted: this is the Messiah Jesus becomes rather than a conquering, powerful, wealthy and controlling Messiah (Isaiah 53).
Throughout our world, in every community, race, country, faith, in every culture and society, workplace and home, whether rich or poor, educated or illiterate, gender-violence has been tolerated, even encouraged and it has been entrenched with laws, rules, and human built conceptions about male power and privilege. Author Anne Summers said, it is very hard for many men to accept women as having the same rights, intelligence and capacity as men. Yet once we deconstruct the privileging of the male perspective, we see the patriarchal worldview deeply damages both men and women. Our whole understanding and expectations of life, one another and God, unravel to show us what Jesus laid bare in his life, teaching and death: astonishingly all are welcome, and all are loved by God without qualification.
Luke’s Gospel reading (23:33-43) also offers the extraordinary conversation between Jesus and two thieves as they are crucified. By any human standard, Jesus was judged a complete failure as a leader, as a man, as a teacher. He was abandoned and denied by most of his followers, who were rightly fearful of imperial Roman might and power, and by his own religious leaders colluding with the Roman colonisers. Jesus was dying the most shameful of deaths, after a travesty of a trial. He was judged too dangerous with his message of peace, justice, hope and love, believed to be without any real power to change the human story, and no one seemed to be listening anyway. The few women and men who followed him were considered of no account. Their witness was irrelevant. However, there are some quirks in the story: those who listened and stayed with Jesus were women, who remained with him to the end, while men with influence quietly had his body released and were able to provide a tomb. The women prepared his body for burial, waiting until the sabbath was over, to grieve for him. As I think about Jesus as Messiah, the one who has overcome death, who has brought together all God intends for humanity within himself, both God’s Son and utterly human, we can see his death as a complete, whole gift by Jesus, of himself to all people, showing his conviction of God’s love, meaning a different way of living is possible and is in fact, the only way.
As I then look at websites outlining the gender-based violence statistics, the story is horrific. The crucifixion of women is appalling, along with their children; and the men caught up in an unworkable, unliveable and broken belief about their power and rights at the expense of everyone else. God has no love for abusive, controlling power. God offers life-giving love.
Government reports catalogue physical, sexual, emotional abuse, along with all the other forms of abuse and coercive control, such an insidious and maladaptive behaviour to seek to manipulate and control another human being. Like all belief systems based on contempt and abuse of power, it is corrosive and breaks relationships with one another and with God. We know patriarchy is as harmful to men as it is to women. Given it is the basis of our culture across the world, once we see it, we must be willing to understand it and then seek to change the way we as individuals and as the body of Christ, respond in this world and to God. Such work for God’s love and peace will always bring peril; and for those deeply invested in such abusive violent belief systems, faithful Christians endanger themselves by daring to tell God’s different narrative, of love, hope, justice and peace without violence, by challenging the status quo!
The ABS notes it is most common for gender-based violence to be perpetrated by men against women. Gender-based violence against women means any act of violence which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, both in public or private life. In Australia, violence against women is called many different things, including domestic violence, family violence, intimate partner violence, coercive control, online abuse, stalking, workplace sexual harassment, street harassment and sexual assault.
In our reflections today, we can see very clearly, Jesus died rather than use violence or coercion against anyone for any reason. His refusal to buy into the patriarchal power, violence and control worldview of his time, set him at odds with the authorities and his community. Nor did he believe in violence against children, calling children to him, asking us to be like children, remembering our vulnerability which a loving God shows us in the way of servant leadership. We learn from Jesus, power and control are understood differently.
Finally, the Letter from Paul to the Colossians 1:11-20, is one of the most beautiful loving, hope-filled descriptions of Christ’s reign, his supremacy and authority. We see Christ set over all thrones and dominions, rulers and powers; he is the head of the body, the church, in him the fullness of God dwells, and through him we are reconciled by making peace through the blood of his cross. We can disagree with the world’s view of power, control, violence and all which stands between us and God. In doing so, we must let go the belief violence resolves relationships and difference. It is a sin. All which breaks love, breaks us from God. For all who have been subjected to unspeakable, unacceptable violence, including gender-based violence in any relationship, this is not what God desires for you or for anyone. This is not headship or leadership. God calls us into relationship with God and one another differently. This is why Jesus died on the cross for us, to show us the new way. The Lord be with you.