In the movie “Monty Python
and the Holy Grail” Arthur King of the Britons goes around on his mock horse,
clip-clop, clip-clop, announcing “I am Arthur King of the Britons” – it’s blatant self-heralding.
What a way to build a
kingdom. What a way to gather a people.
It doesn’t work of course.
Most people respond something like
[jeering] “Oh yeah?”
And one group goes so far as
to respond to his announcement in an even more subversive manner…
“I am Arthur, King of the
Britons.”
“I don’t know we had a king.
I thought we were an autonomous collective.”
Jesus was not a
self-heralding king. In fact, by some accounts, he shushed up all business
about himself as much as he could.
But the word got out.
The kingdom, that is, the
reign, of God, is at hand. It’s time to get ready.
That kingdom is shalom, the
peace of God.
What would it be like to live
in peace, God’s peace? How would you get there? What would it look like?
To reach God’s shalom,
justice and
righteousness must be established.
To live in safety,
the fear of death
must be removed.
As a shepherd,
beholding lost
sheep, scattered over distant hills,
Jesus regards with compassion
the people who have
come out to seek him
in a deserted place
Powered by faith alone.
Send them away, the disciples
said,
so they can buy for
themselves
something to eat.
No, you feed them.
How shall we feed so many?
He had them group themselves
for the meal
organized like
Moses’ flock into hundreds and fifties
into impromptu
households
like
the people fleeing Pharaoh on that first Passover
Giving thanks
he broke the bread
telling them
this
is my own body
Giving thanks – but who has
seen him?
When you fed me, gave me
drink, clothed me, visited me,
then you saw me
And so John can testify
we proclaim to you
what we have
heard,
what we have seen
with our eyes,
what we have looked
at
and touched with our
hands,
(1 John 1:1)
So Jesus host of the sacred
meal
gives thanks
as Israel always had
Blessed
be thou O Lord our God,
king
of the universe,
who
brings forth bread from the earth
From the earth
he feeds God’s
people
Taking up the resources of
creation
what they had
what they brought
blessing it
revealing its transformative
power
When shared
no longer victims
they are God’s
people once again set free
Like the first Passover
Like the bread in the
wilderness, bread from heaven,
once again God feeds them
with the food he
provides
once again
as with the binding
of Isaac
God himself provides
the offering
Jesus
like a shepherd
comforts
feeds his people
calms their fears
and goes on
teaching
healing
moving among the
people
Our shepherd
gathers us in
transforms us with
his word
and
his self-gift of the meal
sends us out again
as
his messengers
his
disciples
to bear Jesus
his
word
into the world.
Jeremiah assures the people
of Israel that their true shepherds are coming, sent by the Lord. The word to
the unfaithful shepherds, leaders who have failed to look after the people and
be their guides: you will be called to account.
To the people God’s
assurance:
I will gather, I
will bring back, my people
They will be well
and increase
I will give them
shepherds
true
leaders
they shall be safe
and
not afraid
The letter to the Ephesians
proclaims that
we will all become
one flock under one shepherd.
Hostility between
peoples is broken down.
All are gathered
around God’s table.
Nobody is left out,
any more.
We are reconciled in Christ
and through his
cross
we are made one people
in him.
We are all members of his
household.
There is a banquet
not like the dinner
party Herod threw for his own birthday
a heaven-sent
banquet
not
just for the prominent or the select
all are at the table
this
time
the table that is
the kingdom feast of God.
But can we do enough?
Are the resources we have
enough for God to work with?
And who will come,
if we extend the
invitation? God knows!
When you open the doors,
who knows who will
come in,
who God will send.
We find out, a bit, simply
enough:
God keeps sending us
people,
like the people of
Edmonds,
Mountlake
Terrace, North Seattle, …
God keeps sending us the
familiar stranger
as well as the
heroically Other.
Whoever God sends us,
God calls us to be
faithful
in serving
as
his messengers, his disciples, his friends.
We are no longer strangers –
but remember (God says),
you were a stranger
once;
know you who are a
member of the household,
a citizen numbered
with the saints,
know to be prepared
to become one great
people of glory
to be built into a
dwelling place
for – not ourselves
–
for God.
Risen Christ,
faithful shepherd of your
Father’s sheep:
teach us to hear your voice
and to follow your command,
that all your people may be
gathered into one flock,
to the glory of God the
Father.
Closing prayer from Common Worship (http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts.aspx)
Notes for a sermon to be given Sunday 22 July 2012 at Saint Alban's Episcopal Church, Edmonds, Wash. (stalbansedmonds.org)
Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23,
Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-34, Mark 6:53-56, BProper11, Shepherd, Shepherd
King, JRL+
