READING: Psalm 145
READING: John 13:1-17
SERMON ‘Whose kingdom? Whose glory?
Let’s pray:
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen
Jesus, my Lord.
What are you doing?
You must stop this now.
Now!
Look, everyone will see.
You can’t do this to me.
Not me.
You’re the guest of honour.
Not the servant.
I mean, what’s the point of being in charge
when you don’t get the glory?
Look - you’ll get your prayer shawl dirty.
It’s going to trail in the water.
Dirty water for washing mucky feet.
Are you mad, Lord?
Please get up now before everyone notices.
It’s not your job to wash hot and dusty feet -
you’re the Rabbi, the Master...
not the servant.
...Get up.
Please Jesus, please get up and
stop this foolish nonsense.
This is not how it should be.
How is this modelling God’s kingdom?
God’s power?
God’s glory?
Please ....stop.
This is making me so uncomfortable.
Why would you do such a thing?
Is this a lesson in humility?
Is this what you’re trying to teach me?
Or is it something else?
Is it about hospitality, learning to serve?
Is this what I need to learn?
Is this what you want us to do?
Well let me tell you now, it’ll never happen.
People who should be honoured...serving?
The great becoming...least?
Yet, here you are… doing exactly that.
You, my Lord, my Master, my friend and brother,
kneeling right here,
humbling yourself... before...me.
I thought that the Messiah, when he came,
would be strong, powerful;
a warrior who would sweep through the land
and conquer all before him -
throw down the Romans,
restore our nation...
make us a great kingdom once more.
What sort of kingdom,
what sort of glory is it that you bring?
A kingdom where the mighty wash dirty feet?
Where the powerful use their power
to bring a healing touch,
kindness, care and compassion?
Where real glory is found in raising others -
helping them stand, valuing all?
Are we to serve too?
Are we to do this to others?
You know, I don’t know if I can…
But if you can, then I must.
As you wash my feet, I wonder who else
you will do this to.
Will you do it to everyone, each one of us?
Surely not just me, Lord.
Will you do it to Judas? Will you?
Are we to reach out to everyone?
To wash the feet of all?
The homeless?
The addict?
The diseased?
The weak and the hungry?
Those different from us?
Those from a different country?
Those from a different faith?
Those we’d rather not know and want to avoid?
Surely not them?
And I look at your feet,
your vulnerable feet.
And I look at your hand,
resting so assuredly there.
And then I see your eyes,
reflected in the water of the bowl.
And our eyes meet.
You look sad, Jesus.
Are you sad with me?
Sad that I haven’t understood yet?
Are you sad with all of us?
That we haven’t done what you expected?
That we’re not ready yet?
Lord, I’m trying.
I’m really trying to understand.
Give me time and I’ll get it.
I know I will.
Just let me get my head round this
awesome thing you’re asking of me.
Of us.
None of us are ready, Lord.
But I’ll try.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, let me serve you, as you have served me.*
-----------------------------
‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen.’
I’ve been following some of the political debates amongst the
various contenders vying to become President of the United States.
In particular, a certain Donald Trump,
he of the American version of ‘The Apprentice’.
There’s an ironic aptness to his name,
for Trump seems supremely skilled at blowing his own horn.
He is awesome.
He’s the best, the smartest, the most efficient...
not like all those other stupid idiots...
He is powerful, rich, influential
and will crush anyone who stands in his way.
He’s strong - tough - and more than capable of doing the job of President:
heck, it’s a walk in the park on a sunny day.
You’d be dumb if you didn’t back him.
... Well, that appears to be the message he’s trying to get folk to buy into.
Alongside this, is a policy that seems to be one of
trying to find the most crass, offensive and outrageous statement to make,
in order to get more media space.
Nothing seems sacred,
no-one is deserving of respect:
well, possibly only Mr Trump himself.
In the kingdom of Trump, the weak, the inefficient,
the non-producers, the immigrants,
would be crushed or exiled,
and women put back in their rightful place -
doing as they’re told and being thankful...
and woe betide them if they suffer the misfortune of not being pretty.
In Trump’s kingdom, a dog eat dog world,
only the strongest survive and deserve to thrive -
no one else has a place at the conference table.
‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen.’
There have always been Donald Trumps.
People who have worked at becoming powerful:
people who have used their skills, their connections,
everything at their disposal to control others.
Wars have been fought - and continue even now -
to establish supremacy,
to conquer and subjugate others,
to stake a claim in the corridors of power
and in the history books.
We live, too, in the age of self-glorification:
the cult of celebrity,
where people are famous for...being famous,
not necessarily for any particular skill.
A society in which consumerism prods at
internal insecurities and encourages us all
to get this or that new gadget, car, home...
to keep up with the neighbours, or even better:
to forge ahead of them,
to be a trendsetter, to be cool.
To be the one everyone else wants to hang out with,
and who everyone else is secretly a little jealous of.
You’ve got to make your mark on those around you...
‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen.’
Kingdoms, power, glory.
Might versus right.
But where is real power to be found?
Is it in the jockeying for political position?
Is it found in all the pride and the posturing?
Is it there, in amidst the growing pile of possessions,
where reputations are built upon getting just the right brand?
Our psalm, and our gospel reading, serve to give us perspective,
to provide a different definition of kingdom,
of power, of glory.
They help us to re-frame the questions, and, our lives, once more:
Whose kingdom?
God’s.
Whose power?
God’s.
Whose glory...?
God’s.
‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen.’
Not our kingdoms,
the small empires we try to create,
not our power,
not our glory...
and not forever -
for we are dust, and to dust we will return.
In an upper room,
the One who is in the place of honour,
humbles himself,
and kneels.
Real power is found
in the tenderest of touches,
in the feel of water
on foot,
and a towel
wiping dry.
Later,
real power will be found
outside the gates of the city,
where the flotsam and jetsam
of life hang,
suspended upon wood:
where he will hang,
on a cross,
between thieves,
with a sign saying ‘King’.
A strange throne for a king.
Three days after that,
real power will be found
in an early morning garden
at the open door of a tomb.
Real power is not brokering fear;
it’s found in words of reassurance -
and a voice saying
'peace be with you, be not afraid.'
Real power is found in a love that loves to the end,
that lays down his life for others,
and where glory is found in service to all.
‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen.’
Real power is not raging,
nor plotting, nor self-aggrandising:
for when power is real
it has no need of such devices.
Real power is vulnerable,
compassionate, and self-giving.
It points to a kingdom where those who seek refuge are blessed,
where those who are least, are raised up -
a kingdom of the Magnificat -
of liberation from false power that oppresses the weak,
a kingdom that breaks the chains of poverty,
and allows dreams to breathe,
hope to be nurtured,
...potential to be nourished;
a kingdom where the King of glory
walks with the wounded and the weary,
the footsore, and the heart-sick;
who gives comfort to the suffering ones
even at the cost of personal suffering.
‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen.’
Whose kingdom?
God’s.
Whose power?
God’s.
Whose glory...?
God’s.
Here, at the very end of the Lord’s Prayer,
having asked God for our own needs,
we come full circle, back to God.
We find ourselves echoing, as a reminder,
just whose kingdom we’re praying for, and about.
‘Thy kingdom come’...
‘For thine is the kingdom’,
and we remember just who it is we’re praying to:
the One who holds all power in his hands,
and who models that power
in the Son,
who holds a towel
in his ...
Let us pray:
Jesus, our Lord, our Saviour, our friend...
You knew your hour had come.
You knew your betrayer.
You knew your enemies.
But you loved unto the end.
Thank you for loving us, even unto death.
Teach us to love like you love.
Teach us to love each other,
to love even our enemies,
like you loved us.
You took on the form of a servant,
washing the feet of those whom you discipled.
You defined power and glory
through humility and servanthood.
You are he who was surely sent from God.
Thank you for serving for us.
Teach us to be servants without fail;
to make humility our constant companion
and to seek no glory for ourselves.
Each time we pray the prayer you taught us,
remind us, when we forget, whose we are,
and whom we serve.
As your community, as disciples,
and, as friends who try to follow in your way,
so we pray together your prayer, praying:
OUR FATHER...
*Sermon beginning, in italics, adapted from a meditation by Rev Ruth Innes.
The original can be found here. With thanks to Ruth for her permission to use this.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hi - thanks for visiting.
We're always happy to receive comments, however,
we do moderate them to avoid spam.