Let us pray:
Lord, quieten our hearts that we may listen to Your still small voice,
so that in hearing Your Word we may respond in fervent faith. As
Jesus led disciples of old, so lead us your children today. We ask it
his name. Amen.
)
In the television show "Reasonable Doubts". The story was a about a female defense lawyer who represented a man convicted of two brutal killings before a parole board. He was seeking release from prison after serving 14 years and she succeeded in getting him released.
A police man who was present at the original crime scene gives the lawyer a rough time after the hearing, telling her that she should not be representing such people, that the man she was defending was nothing but scum.
Later that day the police officer discovers that the lawyer's mother had died from cancer the night before and so, the next time he sees the lawyer he says, "I'm sorry, if I had known your mother had died I would have gone easier on you."
Another character in the story - the deaf prosecutor who was the main star, also gives the lady lawyer a hard time for representing the killer before the parole board - and she too, later hears about the mother's death.
The next time the prosecutor sees the defense lawyer she also says to her - "Sorry, “If I had known I would have gone easier on you.” This got me to thinking just how often we in fact do and say such things. It happens all the time - in the normal event of daily living - when we are moving too fast, we fail to recognize what is happening around us, - we forget what it is that we should be about.
Some times we too say and do things that later, we realize that we have blown it - that we have acted inappropriately, and we seek out the person concerned and in almost every case we say something like:
So what help can we get from today’s readings to help us too understand a bit more about what will happen on the last day? At first, we might wonder why a section of St Luke’s Passion narrative has been chosen for today the Last Sunday of the Church Year. We usually read that on Good Friday.
Concerning the end times, what hope will we have as everything we hold special and precious in this life disappears and we stand face to face with a righteous God? Where will I find help and comfort as the final day approaches?
Let’s not just think about the end of the world but the end of the world for each of us on the day we die? The thought of leaving everything that we have cherished and worked hard for in this life can be very depressing. We like it here – we don’t want to leave, we don’t want to die.
Not only will the last day bring about the end of everything I enjoy on this earth but there will also be a final judgment. God will ask me how well my faith has affected my daily life. Have I given food to the hungry, a cup of water to the thirsty, or visited the sick?
He will examine how faithful I have been to Jesus and God’s Word. He will take a close look at how well I have trusted him when the chips were down. God will scrutinize all my excuses, which skin of truth stuffed with lies.
Luke and the apostle Paul see Jesus not just as a man who was wrongly condemned and badly treated.
They describe him as lord and king, someone who has authority and power – but so different to the kings and ruler of the world. In the history of the world, kings are usually figures of great wealth and power. They lived in castles and palaces; wore extravagant robes and crowns decked with jewels; hosted lavish banquets and entertained the world's rich and famous. In history, kings and queens had little do with the ordinary people of their kingdoms. They moved about among elite while the commoners suffered hunger and disease.
In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the Paul goes to great lengths to emphasize that Jesus is God's Son, he is everything that God is and that through him "everything in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities" were created.
If he is the creator of all these then, he is also lord and king of everything in heaven and on earth. Paul goes on to say that Jesus is not only king of every part of creation, he is also head of the church; "he is the source of the body’s life".
Paul goes on to describe something very that makes Jesus different from other kings. He died on a cross. The King of kings and Lord of lords, God's Son, died on a horrible human instrument of torture and death. Not only that, he died for all those who are enemies of God because of the evil things they did and thought (Col 1:21).
There is a fairy tale of how a king dressed up as one of the peasants and mingled with them, in the local village. But Jesus doesn’t just dress up to be like us, he is one of us. He takes on our human nature and lived among ordinary people especially sinners and outcasts, including lepers and the demon possessed. What happened to him could hardly be regarded as being kingly.
Between two thieves, his clothes stripped from him, they call out, "If you are a king, then save yourself". As a joke, Pontius Pilate placed a sign above Jesus’ head which read, "This is the King of the Jews".
On that hill outside Jerusalem, there was one person who saw something in Jesus that no one else saw. In spite of the nails, the wounds, the blood, the nakedness and the shame, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus recognized a king, a Saviour. He cried to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!" Jesus promised him, "Today you will be in Paradise with me".
A strange king indeed – suffering, weak, humiliated, despised, rejected and dying. But the death of this unlikely king made us friends with God through his death. God was going to stop at nothing to break down all barriers between him and all people.
He was even prepared to let the King of kings and Lord of lords die in order to make everything right again between him and us. Our sin has been wiped away. Forgiven. Forgotten. "Today you will be with me in Paradise".
At a moment when all would seem to be hopeless and without a future, Jesus is truly a king. He pardons and assures the man that he will be with him in Paradise. The word ‘paradise’ indicates a garden or a park, the kind a king would have.
No earthly king would invite a robber to walk in his garden, but Jesus, the king, died for that man and made it possible for him to be "holy, pure, and faultless" and welcome. When we die or when the last day comes, we too will be welcomed into Paradise because Jesus has made us "holy, pure, and faultless".
If the thought of the last day of our life or the last day of everything fills you with fear then be consoled by the fact that we have a living King. Yes, he did die on the cross, but while there, he spoke of the future. "Today you will be with me in Paradise". He promises us a future after death to all who would believe.
Good Friday have made it possible for us to feel safe and happy about the coming final day when Jesus will return. We have a servant-king who died for us and who has done everything possible to ensure that we need not fear what will happen. At the end of everything, we are safe.
Ruth went to her mailbox and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter:
Dear Ruth:
I am going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit.
Love Always, Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer." With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner." She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five dollars and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least."
She threw on her coat and hurried out the door. A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk leaving Ruth with grand total twelve cents to last her until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm. "Hey lady, can you help us, lady?" Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags
"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it's getting cold and we're getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us.
Lady, we'd really appreciate it." Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to. "Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman myself.
All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I'm having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him."
"Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway." The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley. As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart. "Sir, wait!" The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them.
"Look, why don't you take this food. I'll figure out something else to serve my guest." She handed the man her grocery bag. "Thank you lady. Thank you very much!"
"Yes, thank you!" It was the man's wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering. "You know, I've got another coat at home.
Here, why don't you take this one." Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman's shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street...without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest. "Thank you lady! Thank you very much!"
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox. "That's odd. The mailman doesn't usually come twice in one day." She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.
Dear Ruth:
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always Jesus
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
November 21, 2004