6^th December 2012

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Christ the King Sunday 25 November 2012

Lessons - Psalm 93; Revelation 14-8; John 18:33-38

The readings set for the Festival of Christ the King are highly political.
The Psalmist praises the 'Lord as the king' whose everlasting power is 'for ever and for evermore' (Psalm 93:1,2,5). In the Book of Revelation John acknowledges that the crucified-and-risen Christ is 'the ruler of the kings of the earth' in obedience to God the Father whose dominion is 'for ever and ever' (Revelation 1:6,7). And Jesus tells a powerful political leader that his Kingdom 'is in, but not of, the world' (John 18:36).

Even though political intrigue and a desire for political solutions to our problems dominates the news, politics is not ultimate! So, what Jesus says is highly controversial. He calls disciples to be 'in the world' without giving their ultimate loyalty to politicians or the political process.

That might seem obvious. Many of us are dismayed at the appalling level of political debate in Australia today. At the same time we have unreasonable expectations of politicians. We often say 'the government should fix it' and assume that all would be well if only people voted for our political party.

Jesus does not get involved in 'party politics'. There are things that belong to Caesar and things that belong to God! In saying that 'My kingdom is not of this world' (v36), Jesus is not advocating a retreat from politics. He is issuing an invitation to belong to a different kind of community: a community that is established 'from everlasting to everlasting' by the Creator of all things and the Redeemer of our broken humanity. Unlike political kingdoms which last for a time, the Kingdom of God stretches back to the creation of all things and forward to their consummation. The ruler of this everlasting Kingdom is rightly described as the Alpha and Omega - the beginning and the end - who was and is and is to come (Revelation 1:8; 4:8).

There has always been a tension in the relationship between the political kingdoms and the Kingdom of God. Politicians like Pilate often assume they are ultimately responsible for the well-being of their countries and that the churches should play a role in supporting their efforts to maintain social harmony. At such times, they need to be reminded that the destiny of their nation - and all nations - is in the hands of God. Politicians and the State have an important but limited role to play!

It is instructive that the festival of Christ the King was first instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to remind Italian Christians that their primary allegiance was to Jesus Christ, not to the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Likewise, in the Barmen Declaration (1934), Christians in Germany declared 'Jesus is Lord - Hitler is not!'.

Thus 'Christianity entails the invariably political announcement that Jesus Christ, not Caesar, is Lord; and that to concede that politicians may legitimately ignore this highly specific theological claim is nothing less than an abandonment of the Christian position' (First Things 43, p10). The State has an important but limited role.

Christians should recognise the limited role of the Church in the affairs of the State. She is not a religious political party that exists to pass comment on each and every political issue. Today, this basic point is lost on many mainline church leaders whose frequent criticisms of public policy often mirror the ideals of progressives and civil libertarians. In other times and places, when their views mirrored conservative values, the problem is the same. Instead of reminding politicians about their limited authority, and challenging the State whenever it is tempted to over-reach its God-given mandate, churches often claim that a particular political ideology - Left, Right or Centre - is the will of God.

This is not to denigrate politics. To be 'not of this world' does not mean turning away to a private religious life. Jesus himself recognises the legitimacy of Pilate's authority. The Church must be discerning in making pronouncements about which public issues must be addressed and which are not crucially important.

There are many issues that should concern a Church that is called to embody the humanity displayed in Jesus. She should speak out wherever political policies demean human dignity and mock the good purposes of God. For example, she should support the right treatment of refugees, unborn and abused children, women and minorities and the frail elderly and oppose permissive sexuality, the destruction of marriage and restrictions on freedom of belief.

Today we should be under no illusions! There are powerful forces at work in Australian public life that are determined to treat belief in God as a 'private' matter that must be excluded from the public arena. In acknowledging that some things in the public sphere belong to Caesar and some to God, the Church should protest when there is a strong, militant push by the State to assume absolute power to decide what Christians and others may legitimately think, believe and do in worship, education, health and social welfare.

The State does have a divinely ordained purpose. It is to restrain evil, to uphold just laws, to create a climate in which individuals and communities may flourish and to permit the Church to preach the Gospel and allow it to be expressed in social forms. However, when the State overreaches its mandate and enforces policies that mock faith in God and demean our God-given human dignity, the Church must protest.

The necessity for protest is not based on a negative view of politics as such. Jesus accepted Pilate's authority to sentence him to death as a representative of the God-ordained State! But in saying 'my kingship is not of this world' he showed that our participation 'in the world of politics' is to be determined by an 'extra-political' consideration.
Because Christ the King - unlike other rulers - has come to 'bear witness to the truth', no politician, church leader or party - Left, Right or Centre - may claim the absolute right to determine what its citizens must regard as ultimately true. The State has no right to prescribe (lay down) the truth and thus to proscribe (forbid) beliefs and actions that do not agree with the prevailing ideology.

The Church's primary political role therefore is - as the French theologian Jacques Ellul said - to debunk the 'political illusion'. The State is not the source of what is good and true and the judge of all things humane. When it passes legislation that mocks the glory of God or the glory for which we have been created, it is a tyrannical State and must be opposed! When, as disciples of Jesus we too 'bear witness to the truth', then false claims to represent the truth must be exposed and resisted.

Only in Christ has the Creator, Redeemer and Restorer of humanity, revealed his true purposes for the world. In his incarnate, crucified, risen and ascended life, the truth of God's merciful and transforming love and his power over affliction, evil and death has been decisively revealed. He alone bears witness to the truth about God and our human calling and destiny.

Today in Australia we urgently need to hear this word. During the last few years Federal, State and Local Governments have been holding a multitude of inquiries into Human Rights and Freedom of Religion. They are rightly concerned to protect disabled people, women, children and minority groups.
But they have also promoted the rights of individuals to choose euthanasia, abortion and same-sex 'marriage', thus trying to curtail the rights of those who oppose such 'rights' on the grounds that they are 'wrongs'.

Underlying much of this political activity is a fierce intolerance towards the truth revealed 'in Christ'. De-bunking the truth about God and humanity, and claiming no attachment to ultimate truth, these militant secularists nevertheless exhibit an equally fierce (and absolute) commitment to the truth of relativism. Their argument is powerful, but illogical. Claiming that there is no 'truth' and that everything is 'relative', nevertheless they passionately believe that relativism is absolutely true!

It is a matter of deep regret that many Christian leaders and church members are happy to go along with this apparently more tolerant ideology.
They are thus hastening the demise of a church embarrassed about 'bearing witness to the truth' and incapable of standing up for it in the public square.

We must never forget that the Church's primary public task is to preach the good news of Christ 'in the world'. In his incarnate life, sacrificial death and liberating resurrection there is hope for broken-hearted and arrogant people, irrespective of their political commitments. His Kingdom cannot be manipulated or forced to conform to the demands of political activism (of Left, Right or Centre)! We must de-bunk grossly inflated political expectations, particularly when politicians promise to guarantee our rights, our good health, our safety and our happiness.

We cannot and must not ignore political life, but neither should we mistake it for commitment to the One in whom God's universal mercy and justice have been so magnificently displayed. In his life, death and resurrection the truth about God and humanity has been displayed. This King - unlike all other rulers - has given himself completely and sacrificially in love to forgive sin and defeat the power of evil and death.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.