The Not-Yet Kingdom of God (Third Sunday of Advent, 15 December 2019)

The Not-Yet Kingdom of God

The Third Sunday of Advent

The Ven. Richard Geoffrey Leggett

15 December 2019

Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral

New Westminster BC

            In early December 1998 my wife, Paula, was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Mary’s in Kerrisdale.  During the reception that followed one of the people who had been present went up to our older son, David, who was nine years old at the time.  ‘What a special occasion this is,’ this person said to David.  ‘Your father’s a priest and now your mother is as well.’  ‘Well,’ said David, ‘it’s not the kingdom of God.’

            In some ways the last twenty-four years have proven David to be right.  I’m sure that other families have their stories to tell, but the last twenty-four years have not been easy for clergy families.  The various conflicts within the Anglican Church of Canada have not only reached out to touch Anglicans in other parts of the world; they have also touched the lives of clergy families.  Each time I was interviewed in the media about one matter or another during that time I call ‘the troubles’, our children heard about it on the playground at their schools.

            They’ve had to listen to their parents talk about the challenges we’ve faced in the congregations we’ve served.  They know all too well the fragility of many congregations and the ever-lurking possibility that one or both of their parents might find themselves without a living.  Our daughter’s fiancé, Ali, who was raised in an Iranian Muslim context, recently asked a question about Christian belief.  Our younger son, Owen, said, ‘Oh no, Ali!  Not more church talk.  You don’t want to go there.’

            I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.  Our children have benefitted from a wide array of foster aunts, uncles and grandparents, all associated with the church.  But, as David said, ‘It’s not the kingdom of God.’  Yet!

            In today’s reading from the Gospel according to Matthew, the crowds following Jesus are all buzzing with one question:  Is Jesus the One?  Is he the one who is going to end two centuries of political powerlessness and restore the sovereignty of the Jewish people?  Are the hated Romans going to be sent packing back across the Mediterranean Sea?  Are the despised religious authorities who are collaborating with the Romans going to be cast down?

            Even John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, in prison for his own prophetic ministry, can’t keep himself from asking the same question as the crowds.  He sends messengers to Jesus to ask, ‘Are you the one, cousin?’

            Once again Jesus answers the question by asking his audience to make up their own minds. Jesus knows that they are hoping for a grand show, a dramatic presentation of God’s power.  John is one of their heroes who has pulled on the lion’s tail and dared to condemn openly the immoral and self-serving behaviour of the ruling class.  Certainly the stage has been set, thinks the crowd.

            But Jesus dares to betray the crowd’s expectations of what the kingdom will look like.  ‘Look around you,’ he say, ‘look around you to see the kingdom.'  

• The blind receive their sight. 
• The lame walk.  
• The lepers are cleansed.  
• The deaf hear.  
• The dead are raised.  
• The poor have good news to preached to them.

‘And I am the least in the kingdom of God,’ says Jesus.  ‘There’s even more to come after I’ve left the stage.’

            My friends, with the death and resurrection of Jesus, the first act of God’s saving drama was brought to an end.  It was an act intended to work a transformation in the hearts, minds and souls of ordinary people who take no offense in the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth.

            Since that first Easter we have been in the midst of God’s second act.  What God wrought in the ancient Roman province of Judea is now playing out on every continent, in every nation, in every language.

            

            As Christmas draws near, we are still surrounded by a crowd who ask us whether the kingdom of God is at hand.  Look around.  

• Those who were blind to the needs of their sisters and brothers have opened their eyes.
• Those who unable to stand by themselves have found allies to stand at their side. 
• Those who were thought ‘untouchable’ are re-discovering their dignity.  
• Those who could not hear the voices of the hungry and homeless are beginning to listen.
• Those who thought themselves dead to hope and to the future dare to dream.   
• Those whom some thought expendable in the race for profit and self-interest have begun to hear voices raised in resistance.  

All this here in New Westminster and throughout the world.

            My son was right.  It’s not the kingdom of God.  Yet!  But seeing what I see --- despite all the shadows, the conflicts and the disappointments --- I cannot wait to see the third act.  May it come soon!