28^th April 2011

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 17 April 2011

Lessons --
Psalm 118:14-29; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 21:1-11; 26:1-5,14-16.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking:
'Who is this?' (Matthew 21:10 NRSV)

As Jesus rode into the Holy City he made a very public statement -- a political statement! It was a symbolic act which evoked ancient hopes that a 'Son of David' would bring in a new reign of goodness befitting the glory of God. No wonder the 'whole city was in turmoil' -- troubled by Jesus' presence. And no wonder they asked 'Who is this?' making such a bold public display.

It is strange therefore that it is often said that Christianity should keep out of public life. At best, faith is treated as a private matter to be shared with other 'religious' people but not to be promoted in a 'secular' society. At worst, faith is treated as a wicked delusion to be eradicated from a truly enlightened society. It is said that Christian faith and ethics have no place in public debate on the great issues facing humanity. 'Keep religion out of politics' is the catch-cry of many
atheists -- and many believers.

Jesus will have none of it! He rides into Jerusalem as a Messianic King.
The Kingdom of God is at hand! When he rides 'triumphantly' into the city, a universal claim is made very publicly. A new political order is come.
Public life for Jews and the nations is forever changed. Our whole personal, communal, national and international life is transformed. The ways in which we relate to one another and the decisions we make in public life are brought into relationship with the One who uniquely displays God's good and gracious purposes for all.

Now this does not mean that we can simply use Jesus to support our religious or political causes. The 'prophet from Nazareth in Galilee'
(v11) is not a left- wing socialist or a right-wing capitalist. He is not an anti-religious thinker (as the chief priests feared) or a jihadist revolutionary (as Judas hoped).

The scandal of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the Christ was 'that he did not quite fit the job description' of a messianic figure. (J Dickson, Life of Jesus, DVD, 2.) He did not ride behind the 'Star of David'. He rejected military force and embraced non-violent suffering love. He did not set up a righteous or radical party. He welcomed the unrighteous and criticised religious leaders and his own disciples. He was not a fanatic. He was betrayed by a disaffected disciple with nationalist sympathies. He did not end persecution but prayed for his enemies. He was crucified, not as a faithful hero but as a disgraced criminal. He did not fulfil nationalistic or religious hopes as expected. No wonder they asked, 'Who is this?'

It is a sad fact that many Christians -- like many other people -- fail to see who this is who comes in God's name with this universal and very public claim.

1. At times Christians have retreated from public life, shunning the
turmoil of secular dispute, keeping alive Jesus' saying that 'my
Kingdom is not of this world' but at the cost of 'being in the
world'. (John 17)

1a. Members of some monastic orders rightly see that what the state
commands must not be mistaken for the Kingdom of God that has come in
Christ. But they do not risk getting their hands dirty in secular
conflicts.

1b. Others prefer to maintain a private faith and, for the sake of
harmony and their own sanity, refuse to get involved in public
controversy, even when faced with corruption and tyranny.

2. On the other hand, Christians have often equated their religious,
political and national goals with the Kingdom of God come in Jesus.
Such a triumphant image has been used to support 'Christian Crusades'
against Muslims (eleventh and twelfth centuries), the 'Wars of
Religion' between Catholics and Protestants (seventeenth century) and
the twentieth century Western idea of a 'Christian Nation' or a
'Nation under God'.

There is a small Serbian Orthodox Church in Canberra. There are
paintings on the ceiling and the walls. Christ's transfiguration and
ascension are depicted on the ceiling. But on the walls are scenes of
Serbian soldiers, the Cross emblazoned on their shields, massacring
Muslim Turks in bloody battles. A more chilling contrast is hard to
imagine. Above, the glory of God in the suffering love of Christ is
celebrated; below, not stories from Christ's ministry of mercy and
goodness, but the celebration of mighty Christian military conquests
over the infidel!

What a terrible misunderstanding of Palm Sunday. The Kingdom of God
that Christ embodies makes its way in our broken world by the power
of costly, suffering love -- not military force.

3. Not surprisingly, disgust at such terrible abuse of the 'Kingdom of
God' has led to opposition to Christian faith from outside the
Church. Today, in Western societies like ours, where (generally
speaking) faith and civilised values have been thought to go hand in
hand, a hostile attitude to Christianity is now deeply embedded in
public life.

The relationship between the Kingdom of God and various political systems under which Christians have lived across the centuries is complex. There is no neat fit between Christian faith and our political loyalties.
British Anglicans have been called the Tory Party at prayer. The UCA has been called the Green Party not at prayer. It is easy to mistake the relationship between faith and public life. Healthy tension between Church and State is good. Harmony between Church and State is rare. Persecution by the State is common.

But when voices hostile to Christianity believe that it is right to silence Christian voices in public debates, they must be resisted.

In The Age on 11 April 2011 religious editor Barney Zwartz discussed the current controversy over teaching Christian education in schools. It is a complex issue. He is particularly concerned about 'radical secularists', like Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion), who want to expunge religion from public life because it is evil, abusive and deluded. If Dawkins were an isolated figure, then his case against Christianity could be robustly questioned. But now that '(T)his radical version is slowly and steadily moving into the mainstream of political discourse' it must be robustly resisted.

Zwartz quotes from Anglican Bishop Tom Frame's 2007 Acton lecture: It '...
represents a veiled form of political tyranny and ideological oppression.
It is yet another closed belief system with little capacity for self- criticism, sustained by an absolute conviction regarding the necessity of its own ascendancy.'

Unfortunately, strident opposition to Christian voices in public life is now common in debates on matters affecting the fabric of our society:
euthanasia; abortion; surrogacy; freedom of religion; charters of human rights; same-sex unions; the environment; chaplaincy; RE in schools;
public celebrations of Christmas and Easter.

When public debate and State legislation is conducted as if the Kingdom of God in Christ is not the ultimate measure of what is right and good, then citizens will put their trust in what they decide is right. When our hope is in ourselves, not in God's mercy, we measure political success purely by our ability to gain and hold on to power. We may comfort ourselves in the knowledge that ours is an enlightened secular ideal rather than a deluded religious ideology, but we will not be open to the One in whom alone there is hope for us and all other members of the flawed human community.

In view of our tendency to make Jesus fit our political ideals, it is vital to see who Christ is: the 'Son of David' who fulfils ancient hopes for a new reign of mercy and goodness. His Kingdom is counter-cultural, challenging our pretentious hopes, religious or political. Jesus' is the way of costly, self- giving love for a broken world. It marks the end of tyranny and fanaticism -- of both the religious and secular kind!

If we see who Jesus is, then we will gladly put our ultimate hope in him -- not in our own political or church causes. Then we will be enabled to resist the pressure to be silent in the face of atrocities that demean our humanity and are done in the name of religion and the Church or secularism and the State. If our eyes are opened to the One who comes in the name of the Lord of the earth, we'll also see the false lords whose pride in their own goodness and power causes so much misery on earth.

Thank God for the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

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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.