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The Call to Justice |
By John Oakes 1. Making a Difference. How many of you watched "Live 8" yesterday? What did you make of it? Do you think that it did much good? The problems are so huge in our world that it can be tempting to wonder whether we can do anything about them, can't it? And yet people can make a difference. One of the organisations that has arguably done most for the poor in our modern global village is Doctors without Borders, which was actually awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts. According to William Mosley, Bernard Kouchner, a French founder, is primarily motivated by the simple desire to care for those who cannot care for themselves. "People are bleeding," says Kouchner. "I stop bleeding. I just try to do my job as a doctor, without being stopped by political beliefs. boundaries, or religious affiliations." But Kouchner is also a marathon runner, who competed in the 1993 New York marathon, and he has some interesting things to say about the kind of sacrifices that people are prepared to undergo to compete in that kind of race. Observing the 14,000 people from 89 countries who had gone through so much training, paid so much money and travelled such distances to be present on the day, the doctor was clearly deeply moved. "When I see runners gathering like this today," he told Runner's World magazine, "it seems to me a symbol of what could be done....War is the worst side of humanity....And let me tell you, most of the people making war are not runners. It would be better for the world if they were" (Emphasis, 11-12/96, p. 31). Now I am quite a keen a runner, but even for me the desirability, never mind the practicality, of Kouchner's ideas about running may leave something to be desired. Yet he surely has a point. It is amazing what people can do together when they really put their minds to it. But how often do we waste our efforts on negative and destructive activities, rather than on something really positive, like looking after the weakest in our midst? In this evening's Gospel reading from Matthew 25, Jesus teaches his own, much more universal lesson about the need for compassion or what I've chosen to call "The Call of Justice" in my sermon title. And he does so by focusing on its crucial importance in the one body that should be doing more to care for others than any other, which is the church. The context of our passage is clear. Jesus is teaching in Jerusalem during the last week of his life before his crucifixion and resurrection. And in the parables of the 10 virgins and the talents earlier in Matthew 25, he has continued to expound on the event and circumstances of his second coming. Now, in the strikingly vivid imagery of verse 31 following, Jesus gives his disciples a picture of the end of the world, "when the Son of Man comes in his glory." He imagines himself on a throne of glory judging the nations, and he portrays himself as a cosmic shepherd separating the sheep which find favour from the goats which do not. As with all biblical language about judgement, heaven and related themes, it is important to be careful how we interpret Jesus' words. They use the language of the apocalyptic style of literature that we find in the Books of Daniel and Revelation, which was never intended to be interpreted strictly literally. They are framed in traditional, symbolic form and the events which they describe so transcend our normal experience that it can be misleading to focus too much on individual details. But certain principles are clear, and I want to focus on two in particular this evening - the model of Christ's dignity and his mandate for good deeds. When we think of monarchies nowadays, we don't tend to imagine great power. People like our own Queen Elizabeth or other European royalty may be very wealthy and they may enjoy enormous prestige. But as constitutional monarchs operating in parliamentary democracies, their range of authority is actually quite limited. They are often merely figureheads over the nations that they are supposed to rule. But it was not always thus, of course. In earlier times, kings and queens like Henry VIII or Queen Elizabeth I had enormous prerogatives. They literally had the power of life and death over their subjects. The same was true in Jesus' day, when a man like King Herod, although ultimately still subject to Roman rule, could condemn a whole generation of male infants to death. And the Roman Emperors themselves, of course, were renowned for their dictatorial antics. So when Jesus pictures himself as a King in our passage, this clearly carries associations of great power and authority. All the more so, when we think of the kind of King that he is, coming "in glory," according to verses 31 and 32, "and all the angels with him," or sitting "on his throne in heavenly glory," with all the nations gathered before him for judgement. Jesus is truly a cosmic ruler and universal judge in Matthew 25. There is no getting away from that. He has the whole world in his hands. The Call to Justice - pg. 2 | |
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(This page is maintained by Rev. Dr. John Oakes and Kirsten Oakes .) |
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