a sermon by Rev. Shannon Mang, Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge
The work we are always called to do as Christians, is to translate between living in the world as it is, and living by a new way, in a new realm. The language of the New Testament, cleverly engages this sense of addressing the way things are, and our yearning for the new ways that God calls us to, by using many familiar words in new ways.
The Greek word that we translate the Kingdom of God--- or Kin-dom
of God is basileia. It shows up all through the New Testament. But this same word, basileia was also the word that
the Roman Empire used to describe itself.
So every time the very first Christians heard the word basileia they
would experience it in two different worlds. Inside the community of Jesus
followers, basileia would cue them to think about the Kingdom, or
Kin-dom of God, the place shown them by Jesus where everyone was equal, and
they were all sisters and brothers – kin, or siblings, in Christ. Outside of their protective community, basileia
was a totally different and fearsome thing: the whole Roman Empire, a
place of fear where people were enslaved and used and thrown aside.
But basileia isn’t the only word that had
more than one meaning for the early Christians.
Son of God was a term in their little house church gatherings
that referred to Jesus, but outside those gatherings, in every city in the
Empire, Son of God was Caesar’s title. Gospel was a term that
referred to the good news of Jesus Christ inside the house church, while outside
their gatherings, gospel was the title that Rome gave to its press
releases that were announced and plastered on walls and gates and pillars in
town and city centers. These words – basileia, Son of God, Gospel – experienced
in our day as churchy words, were in the days of Jesus political words, and their
use by the early followers of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament was
intentional, setting Jesus and the rule of God over the rule of Caesar and his
Empire.
In the book of Revelation this becomes even more clear.
Empire is symbolized by the evil city of Babylon, while the rule of God is symbolized
by the New Jerusalem. The first readers of
this book were challenged to choose which city they were going to be citizens
of: would they embrace the established ways of Empire, or choose and indeed
build the new home of God’s powerful love. This question remains for every person who has
read this book for the past two thousand years.
The Book of Revelation is like
a graphic novel revealing the terrifying realities of the seven Churches named
at the beginning of the book. Those people were trying their best to get by—to
survive under Roman rule—and trying to remain faithful followers of Jesus in
the messes of their lives. The writer and preacher and pastor, John of Patmos,
encouraged them to not bend to Empire, even though this was a public, visible expectation. At Roman holidays throughout the year, everyone
was expected to bow down and worshipping Caesar, the Empire’s Son of God, and
this forced a choice: would the early Christians just do it and not bring any
attention to themselves, or would they refuse and stand out from the crowd.
History tells us that when Christians refused to worship Caesar, they were first
isolated, then that turned into enslavement, and finally, it turned into crucifixion,
so the cost of following Jesus, the Son of God became very high.
True believers could see their
world being destroyed and sucked into the vortex of the evils spread by Empire. John’s Revelation showed how Empire, through
the metaphor of Babylon, corrupted all human cities and exploited and
ruined and polluted all of creation in its greed and its lust for power.
But it wasn’t all gloom and doom; the book of Revelation let the people know
that God knew of their suffering and loved them beyond measure. In these hard
times, they were encouraged to stay in relationship with God and with one
another. Such choices might not keep
them from being hurt or killed by the evil Empire, but staying in relationship
with God through Christ would ultimately save them. God would win this battle.
And Revelation doesn’t leave
it at that. Once God wins, then God re-creates. God took the evil symbol of the
city and redeemed it, creating a holy city, a new Jerusalem. God took the mess
of the lives of the earliest Christians trying to resist Empire, and redeemed
them as citizens of a New Heaven and New Earth.
It is a good thing that God
loves our messes, even the ones that seem beyond redemption—for God enters our
messes when invited and goes about doing what God does best: re-creating newness,
right here, right now. The Book of Revelation shows how God always shows up: followers
of the Risen Christ will always find the Kin-dom of God emerging, sometimes
where we least expect it. We are urged to look for the New Creation already
being built, and learn what it is to dwell in God’s New Heaven and New Earth.
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