Born a Child... Christmas 2020 | Raj Patta| Prem Joseph|

My spirit rejoices in God my saviour: Rejoice always! Reflecting on I Thessalonians 5: 16-24

 

The profound moments in our life were the days when Shiny and I were blessed with our sons. The days they were born were moments of sheer joy in our lives. When I recollect and reflect on those moments, all I can say is that those experiences of joy are captured for me in the word “Rejoice.” Those were the moments to rejoice, because our joy knew no bounds. As I write this reflection, I am nostalgic of all those awesome moments of holding the ‘bundle of love’ (our sons) into hands, and they are very precious and priceless. I am sure each of you might have a different experience of moments of sheer joy in your lives, where you can sum that as ‘rejoice’ moments.

 

The third Sunday in Advent is called “Gaudete” Sunday, where the word ‘Gaudete’ refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, “Rejoice,” in way inviting the church to reflect on the theology of rejoice, as we await in hope and joy for the coming of Jesus Christ. On this Sunday, the lectionary also suggests Mary’s song from Luke 1:46-55, where she sings, “my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour” (47v). For Mary, the realisation to rejoice in God arrived, when Elizabeth affirmed the grace of God in her life, as she shared that she is going to bear a child. The reason to rejoice in God for Mary was because “God has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant” (48v). The ripple effect of rejoicing in God came along when Mary continued to be prophetic in her song, challenging the powerful and helping the hungry with good things. For Mary, that moment of sheer joy came when her cousin affirmed in the work of God’s grace in her life as the child was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit, and eventually she rejoiced in God, the saviour. We have been singing this new Christmas song, “Mary did you know?” in which we unknowingly de-celebrate the agency of Mary, and deprived Mary of her confidence and strength as a young woman. Yes, Mary did know that the “child she delivers will soon deliver the world,” which is the message for us to sing this Advent.

 

To the church at Thessalonica, Paul concludes his first ever NT letter with these words of exhortations as recorded in 5:16-24, the prescribed lectionary for this Sunday. He writes certain do’s and don’ts for the church. The three do’s for the church are: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances (16-18v). These do’s are the will of God in Christ Jesus for the church. The three don’ts for the church are: do not quench the Spirit, do not despise the words of prophets and abstain from every form of evil (19-22v). These do’s and don’ts appear to be simple but harder to follow.

 

Firstly, in the do’s, we recognise that all of the three verbs mentioned are to be done forever, never ending, without any break or reservation and certainly without any ‘conditions apply’ terms on to it. Rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving are eternal and to be done at all times, both in season and off season. Secondly, rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving form the heart of the will of God, for I think they always co-exist and co-work together. Thirdly, rejoice, pray and give thanks are all verbs, that call for action and can’t be limited to mere uttering of words. Fourthly, the do’s and the don’ts are correlated and inter-related. For rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving are directly proportional to the Spirit of God for no one can stop her. They are directly proportionate to the prophetic words and also to the abstinence from every form of evil. To put it differently, the Spirit of God, the prophetic words and the abstinence from evil are all reflected in rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving. In other words, rejoice, prayer and thanksgiving should resonate the Spirit of God, the prophetic words and the abstinence from forms of evil.

 

After the exhortations of do’s and don’ts to the Thessalonian church, Paul concludes by saying how one can live up to those do’s and don’ts. His solution is simple and deep, that it is the “God of peace himself who will sanctify entirely” (23v) and makes a profound statement that “the one who calls you is faithful and he will do this (keeping our spirits, bodies and souls sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ)” (24v). Paul was invoking that one can fulfil the do’s and don’ts only by the grace of God, only by God alone, as God is always faithful and helps us to live a life worthy of our calling. By this invocation of God’s grace and God’s strength, Paul was exposing that no one should boast that they can fulfil all the aforementioned do’s and don’ts by their own merit, faith and works, for they may turn to be futile, for unless the Lord builds the house all our labour will be in vain. This is a great matter to rejoice, for God is willing to help us live our lives as God wills for us.

 

Moltmann in writing that “Christianity is a religion of joy” explains that when God comes to judge the earth, the whole creation will rejoice (Psalm 96:11-13), and the day of judgement is a day of rejoicing and not of terror. He further explains that repentance is joining in the joy of God, for God finds his rejoicing in seeking and finding the lost ones. So, repentance is not self-afflicted pain or self-punishment, but is the joy of God. He finally says, “which is greater, the joy or the grief, the happiness of the pain, life or death? And my answer is this: existence is greater than nonexistence, life is more than death, hope is above despair, and so joy is greater than pain. Why? The answer is simple: because whereas in pain we want our suffering to disappear, in joy we want the things that make us happy to endure.” This is what we need in our context today.

 

Drawing a relevance of this text for our context today: we are called to offer Christian faith as a faith of joy that celebrates life over death, hope over despair and happiness over pain. This year 2020 has been one of the toughest years with death, grief, fear, anxiety, distance, separation, gloom and zoom, yet if we have to name some of the ‘rejoicing’ moments this year, I am sure there are certain pointers. The arrival of kindness from unexpected quarters of life during this year is unquantifiable, for they brought joy and consolation in many ways. In all of this God has been faithful, offering us hope to rejoice in the light at the end of the tunnel. Faith has always been (mis)understood as a sigh for those in pain, but the faith in Jesus Christ is a matter of rejoicing in God, calling us to offer joy in this world, by protesting in the name of God against the forces that destroy the joy of God, which is in God’s drawing nearer to God’s creation. During this year, for some moments of rejoicing came through neighbours, through gardens, through families at home, through technology of at least catching up to meet virtually, through the songs of the birds, through the works of the essential workers, and through the arrival of the vaccine.

 

May we all join towards the end of this year to join with Mary in singing, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant (of all the people on the margins).” May we wait on God who is faithful and just, helping us to rejoice in God for God’s grace and God’s love. May we step into the New year rejoicing in God to be channels of sharing God’s joy so that can share gladness to several people we meet. May the rejoice moments in our lives multiply. May we all have a meaningful season of Advent. Amen.

 

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

11th December 2020

 

 

‘Mark’(ing) the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ - Reflecting on Mark 1:1-8

Recently I was asking a group of friends, “what is the first book in the New Testament (NT)?” I heard four different answers which are very interesting to note. The first friend answered, “Matthew is the first book in the NT because with the gospel according to Matthew the NT canon begins.” The second friend replied, “the book of I Thessalonians is the first book in the NT as it was the first book that was written, which was about 51CE, much before the gospels were written.” The third friend replied, “gospel according to Luke is the first book as it records the birth of Jesus Christ, and subsequently gives us the story of Jesus’ ministry, his death on the Cross and the resurrection.” The fourth friend replied, “gospel according to Mark is the first book in the NT as it was the first Gospel to be written among the four gospel writers.” As I heard these four different answers, I recognised a rich diversity in the very understanding of what ‘first’ means, and how such a definition of ‘first’ defines each of my friends' understanding and perspective of faith. The big learning for me in listening to these four diverse answers is the fact that there is no one ‘first’; there are various firsts, where all my friends understand ‘first’ from their own perspective and from their own social location.

 

In the prescribed reading for this second Sunday in Advent, which is from Mark 1:1-8, the gospel writer Mark, who was the youngest and the ‘first’ one to write a gospel among the four gospel writers, begins his gospel with these words. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (v1). ‘The beginning’ of his gospel, according to Mark, is very different from the rest of the three gospel writers. For Matthew, ‘the beginning’ of his gospel has the genealogy of Jesus Christ. For Luke, ‘the beginning’ of his gospel has the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth, besides an introduction that he has researched thoroughly in writing his gospel. For John, ‘the beginning’ of his gospel is about the word who was in the beginning. Again, we notice diverse ‘beginnings,’ for all the four gospel writers begin their gospels to four different audiences and contexts, therefore each has a way of beginning their story of Jesus. The context of the writer and the context of the audience factors in defining ‘the beginning’ for any story and we see it succinctly with the gospel writers.

Let us now reflect on ‘the beginning’ of the Mark’s gospel. In Mark’s beginning to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he quotes a passage from prophet Isaiah and explains that text in reference to the life and ministry of John the Baptiser, who came to prepare the way to Jesus Christ. Allow me to present three ways of understanding ‘the beginning’ of the good news of Jesus Christ according to Mark.

 

1. The beginning begins with a critique of the centres:  

In order to present the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Mark begins by preparing the way, and he has chosen John the baptiser, who according to him lives up to the prophesy of Isaiah. What do you expect when someone begins to narrate or write a story of Jesus Christ, the son of God? One would expect the setting either to be the place where the Son of God lived and dwelt, which should be something palatial and opulent, because he is from God’s family, way above human imagination. Or one would expect the scene to be at a temple, where the people then believed that God’s presence hovered over there. On the contrary, Mark begins the beginning with a scene in the wilderness with John the baptist preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. “And people from the whole Judean countryside, and all the people from Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in river Jordan confessing their sins” (4-5v). The beginning for Mark begins with a critique of the temples and opulence, where he was giving a message to his audience that, Jesus Christ the Son of God locates Godself in sites of margins, the wilderness and not in the centres of the power. For in a way, from that wilderness, from the waters of a small river Jordan, from the sites of the margins, Jesus’ ministry begins, and therefore for Mark such a beginning marks the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God according to Mark begins in the sites of margins, in the dirt, in the wilderness, away from the centres of powers and much far away from the transcendental spheres.  

 

2. The beginning begins with a creative ‘show, don’t tell’ method:

One of the styles in story writings is ‘show don’t’ tell,’ allowing the reader to experience the story through action, words, thoughts feelings etc. The best example is: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on a broken glass.” Having set the beginning in the wilderness, Mark now applies this technique of ‘show, don’t tell,’ where he allows his audience to experience Jesus Christ, the Son of God as a person who baptised with Holy Spirit unlike John the baptiser who baptises with water. Mark explains the power of the Son of God, by demonstrating the humility of John who testifies in verse 7, “the one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.” By beginning his gospel with the story of John the Baptist and his message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Mark was showing to his audience that Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is coming is a forgiving God, who forgives anyone and everyone, for Jesus works on the ministry of grace, with a preferential option to the least, the last and the lost. This beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God is shown by Mark, inviting us to be the demonstrators of the gospel rather than mere tellers of the gospel.

 

3. The beginning begins with a clarion call:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for Mark begins with a voice, a voice in the wilderness, a herald, who was calling for action, repentance for the forgiveness of sins from people. With Jesus, the Son of God stepping into the unjust world as a human being, the message that paves the way for him is the voice for action towards justice and peace. The message is not always soothing to the audience, it was a voice disturbing people towards repentance from complacency and injustice. Mark does not record the response of the crowd who heard this voice for repentance, but Luke records it. In Luke 3: 7-17, the crowd asks “what should we do?” and John the baptiser replies, share your food, give up being greedy and don’t be corrupt exploiting people and the systems. All I am trying to say is, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ calls for action, calls for a change, calls for justice, calls for repentance and calls for being and becoming a new creation.

 

One of the English sayings about beginning is “Well begun is half done,” and for me Mark, fulfils that and sets the tone and tenor of the gospel of Jesus Christ with his meaningful beginning. In short, with this kind of beginning, Mark is communicating to his audience then and us now that the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is about critiquing the centres and identifying with the margins, is about showing God’s grace and mercy to all of the creation and is about action, an action for change and new creation.

 

The relevance from this text for our context today is firstly to learn that there is diversity in understanding of ‘the beginning’ and in narrating the gospel of Jesus Christ. The call is to be open and accommodative in humility to knowing and receive others perspectives in sharing the gospel. Secondly, we as a church are called to begin the story of Jesus Christ today, not from the centres of powers but from the sites of the margins, for the Son of God finds margins at home. Thirdly, the gospel of Jesus Christ comes with a clarion call, a call for action, a call for return to God, a call for justice and a call for new creation. It is insufficient to shout in the street corners calling God, “Lord, Lord!” rather God in Jesus is calling us to show our discipleship in action, and in striving for transforming our world today. As we step into a new year, we are hoping for a ‘new’ beginning, and the challenge for us is to envelop the gospel of Jesus Christ relevant for our times today.

 

Finally, I want to conclude this reflection by asking if Mark had a style and message in beginning the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the challenge for each of us and as a church is, how are we marking the beginning the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God today in this context of our post-secular world? The message is clear and loud, we are called to begin the gospel from the margins, led by the ministry of grace and with profound actions for transformation.

 

May God grant God’s strength to us so that we are creative, critical and consistent in our discipling Jesus Christ today.

 

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

4th December 2020  

Advent as a time for ‘Anthropause’: Waiting and celebrating God’s play - Reflecting on Isaiah 64:1-9 for Pandemic Advent -1

 

We step into a new liturgical Christian calendar year from this Sunday as we begin the season of Advent, amidst lockdown and restrictions in place due to this pandemic. Perhaps, it will be right to call this season in 2020 as ‘Pandemic Advent’ and Christmas as ‘Pandemic Christmas,’ for the word ‘pandemic’ not only qualifies Advent and Christmas but also defines our times and context today in which we are called to reflect Advent and Christmas. Collins English dictionary has chosen ‘lockdown’ as the word of the year for 2020. On the other hand, the Oxford English dictionary (OED) has chosen not to name a word of the year, describing 2020 as the ‘unprecedented year’ and ‘year that left us all speechless’ and named too many names to sum up the events of 2020. These words include a wide range of words in various settings. The chosen words for 2020 include ‘unmute,’ ‘mail-in,’ ‘coronavirus,’ ‘lockdown’, ‘pandemic,’ ‘face-masks,’ ‘Black Lives Matter,’ keyworkers,’ ‘workation’ ‘staycation,’ ‘remote,’ ‘social distancing,’ ‘systemic racism,’ and ‘anthropause.’ It was reported that during this year the levels of media coverage for climate change has reduced due to the pandemic. But it was said that it resulted in the using of a new word, ‘anthropause,’ referring to “the global slowdown of travel and other human activity and the subsequent welcome consequences, such as decrease in light and noise pollution, and an increase in opportunities for wildlife to thrive.”

 

As we begin this season of ‘Pandemic Advent,’ I recognise the very meaning and a faith relevance of this word ‘anthropause’ which literally means “human interruption,” where ‘pause’ is a verb. In the text from Isaiah 64:1-9, we notice that the prophet called ‘third Isaiah’ was lamenting to God, confessing the trespasses and the iniquities of his community and seeking the intervention and interruption of God into their times. The community just returned back from the Babylonian exile through the aide of the Persian King, with the challenge of restoring their city, temple, faith and scriptures, in front of them. This post-exilic, post-colonial community as they returned to their own land, out of their desperation, helplessness, division and tiredness were interpreting their times as the period of God’s absence. Through this poetic lament, the prophet calls for an ‘anthropause,’ a human interruption to such notions of periods of God’s absence, for there can never be a phase, space and period in time and history which is devoid of God’s presence. God is always present in every situation, waiting and wanting to work with people and community in restoring their hope, confidence and faith. The prophet in this text invokes ‘anthropause’ in at least two ways. Firstly, he upholds ‘God’s play’, recognising God’s being and God’s activity, where God is at work with some awkward pauses. Secondly, the prophet explains ‘anthropause’ in seeking a confession about humans, an offering made in the presence of God to wait on God, driving away all iniquities and self-righteousness. In other words, ‘anthropause’ is a time of waiting for humanity, especially during Advent, on the one hand where we celebrate God’s play forward, and on the other hand where humanity’s righteousness is taken backwards.

 

1.    ‘Anthropause’ is a time, where God’s play is celebrated:

This post-exilic community though came back to their ancestral land, free from the Babylonian captivity, their faith still remained under the rubric of colonisation, where they spelt hopelessness as a situation of God’s forsakenness and even as God’s absence. The prophet was calling for an ‘anthropause’ in their play and faith, and uplifting them to wait, recognise and celebrate God’s play which has been at work. Human beings wanted to play the game, drawing their rules, and taking everything into their own control, without any fair play on the ground. The prophet begins to explain God’s play by calling God as his playmate, inviting God to “tear open the heavens and come down,” (1v) for when God starts playing, the mountains will quake, where the creation serves as a playfield. On God playing in the field, “the nations might tremble” for their unfair rules and unjust play, “for God’s name known to their adversaries,” for God will play against the forces of injustice, inequality and hopelessness. “For no one has heard, no ear has perceived, and no eye has seen” such a player of the histories, the God, whose play is known through eternities, for God is a just player and a best player. God the just player, “meets those who gladly do right and those who remember God in God’s ways.” The height of this moment of ‘anthropause’ arrives, when the prophet affirms in God’s play, that God is “our Father” and “our potter” (8v).

 

God is the father of the play that God plays, and also the father of the play that the humanity plays, which is a wake-up call for the community, for they assumed that they were whole and sole of their play at that point towards restoration. In other words, history is God’s play where God the father of the play, plays along with the creation as God’s playmates. In that recognition, their faith is reinvigorated and revived. When God plays with God’s playmates, the creatures, God is at work, and God helps God’s playmates in overcoming their sense of hopelessness and helplessness. God is also called “our potter” who spends time in the dirt and dust designing diversified pots from the clay. This image of God, the potter, explains that God is at play designing wonderful and unique pots. Both these images of God as “our Father” and “our potter” contests all notions of God as someone away from all the pains and perils of life, and relocates God among people, knowing that God is at play working with them in their common jobs. ‘Anthropause’ therefore is a time to celebrate God’s play as God is our Father and our potter.

 

2.   ‘Anthropause’ is a time, where humanity seeks confession:

In knowing that humanity along with the creation has been chosen as the playmates of and with God, the prophet in this text invoking an ‘anthropause,’ confesses their pride, privilege and prestige explained in their self-seeking righteousness. The playmates, humanity has thought that God, the father of the play, was hiding and therefore they have “sinned and transgressed” (5v). ‘Anthropause’ is a time to understand that lack of God-consciousness is sin and transgression, which implies being God-conscious is finding salvation in God the father of the play. The prophet calls for ‘anthropause’ from humanity where they collectively seek confession, where he laments, “we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth” (6v). This post-exilic community not only de-recognised they were God’s playmates, they were also proud of their own righteousness, thinking that their righteous deeds can save and bring solace and hope in their desperate situation. The word used for ‘filthy cloth’ is used for the cloth used during women’s menstrual periods. In a patriarchal society where men considered any discharge of blood during menstrual periods as polluting, for they thought such blood would have made these Israelites ceremonially unclean. Without undermining or demeaning the normal physical cycles of women, this type of uncleanliness for the ritual seeking Israelites was the worst sort. To mention their acts of righteousness with such cloths is only to explain the depth of their uncleanliness, explaining that they are at a cul-de-sac in their journey of faith, and are now turning towards the righteousness of God.  

 

“Anthropause’ is a time, where the community have recognised that they are ‘clay’ used by God the potter to be mould and designed in God’s creativity. In that moment of ‘anthropause,’ the prophet continues his collective confession by saying, “we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (6v). The self-righteousness will not save them, for they will be carried away by wind and will fade like a leaf, but in the righteousness of God the community now realises that they can flourish and stand up against all odds of life. In that moment of ‘anthropause,’ a time of confession, the prophet ends with a prayer, where pleads, “do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity for ever. Now consider, we are all your people” (9v). ‘Anthropause’ is a time where in that interruption from the norm and status quo, the community on their return to their land have recognised that they as humanity are ‘God’s people,’ ‘God’s playmates’ and ‘God’s co-workers.’

 

The relevance of this text for this Pandemic Advent 1 is at least three-fold. In the context of pandemic, lockdown and restrictions, with the news about the vaccine is now on the horizon, the first learning from this text is to recognise that Advent is a time for an ‘anthropause,’ where we are called to slow down from the busyness of our life, interrupt from the norms of our society, and uphold to that fact that God has always been at play, for God invites us as God’s playmates to join with God in collectively overcoming this phase of life filled with hopelessness and helplessness. Self-righteousness is very unchristian and pulls us down, for we are called to recognise they are ‘filthy cloths’ in the presence of God, for they cannot save us. It is purely waiting on God and willing to be led by God’s grace that this ‘anthropause’ is directed towards. Secondly, Advent is a time to celebrate God’s play, for God in Christ is at play in this field of creation. In his book The God who plays: A Playful approach to Theology and Spirituality, Brian Edgar writes, “the central idea around which everything that follows revolves is the notion that play is the essential and ultimate form of relationship with God. A playful attitude, I suggest, lies at the very heart of all spirituality and is critical for the whole of life.” Christ is God at play, and it is important to recognise this element of play as part of our theology and spirituality, and kindly don’t discount play as childish and unspiritual. God’s play interrupts the flow of games this world engages with, for in God’s play, fairness, justice, peace, equality and love are the only rules and guidelines. Anyone who subscribes to such a play is welcome to join with Jesus in playing the play of the Kingdom of God. Advent is a preparation towards that play, giving us time for warm up, to know the rules and get into the field to play along with Jesus. Thirdly, Advent reaffirms the worth of ‘anthropause’ to this our creation, where we are called to interrupt from polluting this creation and ecology that God has created with our selfish acts of greed and accumulation. It was reported that as bustling metropolises have calmed down due to the ‘anthropause’ in the first lockdowns during this pandemic, it improved the air and water quality, as well as reduced wildlife disturbance. These ecological benefits should not be limited for a short-term, rather we need to consciously allow ‘anthropause’ to happen in our lives, and contribute towards greening our planet, and striving towards sustainability, addressing climate emergencies. Our commitment to our earth is directly proportionate to our faith in Jesus Christ, where the deeper our faith in Jesus Christ, the stronger our commitment for a green planet.   

 

In conclusion, Advent calls for a time of ‘anthropause,’ waiting and celebrating God’s play at work towards peace and justice, transforming our planet to be a better and greener place to live.  “The shortest definition of religion: Interruption” wrote Johanne Baptist Metz, a Catholic theologian from Germany who was articulating his theology after ‘Auschwitz’, where he was challenging that Christian faith cannot be slipped into uncritical weaving into the culture of the powerful and dominant society. By its very nature, for Metz, Christian faith disrupts the histories of conquerors and vanquished and interrupts the ideologies of the powerful and the powerlessness of the victims. To that end, may this season of Pandemic Advent help us to pause and wait on God so that we can be God’s instruments in interrupting the norms and status quo of this world that upholds unjust systems, and join with God as playmates in transforming this our planet into a green planet. ‘Anthropause’ is not only one of the words to define this year 2020, but also serves as a word that finds its meaning and significance in the Christian faith lexicon, especially during this season of Advent. Amen.

 

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta

27th November 2020

Pic credit: https://www.futurity.org/seismic-noise-covid-19-anthropause-2408882-2/

 

 

 

 

Christ the King- Raj Patta

Christ the King’s Reverse Kingship: A Curtain-raiser to the Story of Christmas - Reflecting on Matthew 25:31-46

It is again that time of year, when people are getting ready for Christmas by putting up Christmas trees and lights in this bleak winter, hoping against hope this Christmas is going to bring cheer and happiness amidst the pandemic and the lockdowns. Whilst the Government is discussing the possibilities of families meeting for Christmas following the guidelines of medical experts, there are different Christmas adverts taking over the social media, preparing people into the festive Christmas spirit. As churches we have been discussing about the plans for Christmas, thinking about carols, Advent study, Christmas day services etc. All of these can be summed up in this saying, “this Christmas might not be the same, but the story remains the same,” for it brings us to understand that the real reason for Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ, who was born to offer hope and peace to a world of hopelessness and peace-lessness. I know some of you might be thinking is this not too early to talk about Christmas in November.

The Sunday, before the season of Advent, which is the last Sunday in the Christian liturgical calendar is observed as “Christ the King” Sunday, where churches across the nations seek the relevance of Christ the king in the journey of faith. The text from the lectionary for this Sunday is from Matt 25:31-46, which is about the Son of Man as the king judging the nations. I recognise this text serves as the curtain-raiser to the story of Christmas, where God in Jesus was born as a baby, pitching God’s tent among the creation, particularly with those on the margins to identify with and to be with the creation. This text provides some pointers in understanding Christ the king as a king offering alternative and even reverse kingship, radically very different from the then Roman emperors and even today’s political kings and kingmakers. This text is the last speech of Jesus Christ before his passion, where he shares about sheep and goats, and ultimately he becomes the scapegoat of the empire, for preaching about the kingdom of God as against the kingdom of Rome. Allow me to share three significant pointers in understanding Christ the king’s reverse kingship from this given text.

 

1. Christ the king reverses kingship by serving as a shepherd:

The role of a king is to exercise power and authority over people, and history speaks voluminously of how kings have (mis)used power, (ab)used their thrones and have upheld hierarchy in their positions. Christ the king, on the other hand reverses his kingship by not engaging in ceremonial celebrations of pomp, rather serves as a shepherd, being on the ground, working with the sheep and the goats, dirtying his hands and feet. Christ the king is a king who has a deep love for his people, and wants to identify with the common people, and chose to be a shepherd, a common job in that agrarian pastoral society. Christ the king could command any job to be done just by an order, live a life comfortably in the citadels of palaces, yet he chose to get down and do the job of a shepherd by himself, only to express his care for his people. Christ the king, “did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death (became a scapegoat), even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2: 6-8). Christ the king reverses his kingship and serves as a shepherd not only in solidarity with his community but also as a critique against the power authority of kingships.

 

2. Christ the king reverses kingship by offering God’s kingdom as a free inheritance:

In the early first century Palestine, who were living under the occupation of the Roman empire, kingship was based on the family succession to the throne. It was more of a patriarchal dynasty rule, where the son inherits the throne after the father’s rule and it continued for generations. Kingship had always been a family inheritance, and the kingdom belonged to the kings as part of the inheritance. In contrast to this norm of kingship and kingdom as a dynasty rule, Christ the king reverses kingship by offering the kingdom of God to people of his choice. The people who have addressed the needs of the ‘others,’ who have been quenching thirst and feeding the hungry with food and justice suddenly became the inheritors of Christ’s kingdom. In verse 34, Christ the king invites all those who served the weak and the vulnerable and offers, “come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Christ the king offers his kingdom of God based on God’s grace to people who challenged the structures and offered hope by sharing food, water, clothing, shelter and care. It is important to recognise that it is God’s grace that chooses people to inherit the kingdom of God, because it is God’s grace that helps them to serve the vulnerable in the society and no one can serve the ‘other’ by their own strength and merit. When they were offered this kingdom, the recipients were surprised, asking “Lord when was it that we gave you water…” for they were chosen to inherit the kingdom of God purely by the grace of God. It is the grace of God that leads people to serve the weak and the poor, and it is not the other way because one serves the weak and poor that they become the recipients of the grace of God. In offering his kingdom as an inheritance to people demonstrating love in action, Christ the king did not follow the book of rules and commandments, and offered it as a surprise package to those who did not even think of inheriting it. Christ the king is a God of surprises, for he surprised all the nations by defying the norms and rules and followed the principle of grace of God that lead to love in action.

 

3. Christ the king reverses kingship by choosing the vulnerable as his family members:

When Meghan married Prince Harry, there were several racist comments made against Meghan that she was “polluting” the royal family with her African American biracial identity. Less than two years after their wedding this royal couple quit as full-time royals, for they were driven by toxic coverage in the media, which often veered into racial harassment and bullying. For some people an “outsider” joining the royal family was a matter of disgrace and couldn’t take that as ‘normal.’ Christ the king in this text, surprised everyone not only by offering his kingdom as an inheritance to people outside of his kingship, but the greater surprise came when he said to those surprised inheritors, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (v40) Christ the king reverses his kingship by choosing ‘the vulnerable,’ ‘the least in the society,’ ‘the outsiders’ as his family members, as his brothers and sisters, and said anything done to such people is done unto him. There was every possibility for Christ the king to choose many other good kings in the history, the rich people, the powerful ones, the prosperous people to be his family members, for it would suit a king to make relationships with other kingly families. But reversing such norms, Christ the king chooses people who are hungry, people who are thirsty, people who are poor, people who are sick, people who are foreigners & strangers, and people who are in prison, who are those supposedly the ‘invalids’ in the society as his family members. It takes a great courage and guts to choose such vulnerable people as valuable people, and even unto making them a family, and it takes only Christ the king to do such a radical reversal from the norm of power.

 

The message that Christ the king offers is, all matters in this life is that, it is only love that thrives. Love for the ‘other’ particularly the ‘outsiders’, the ‘powerless’ and the ‘vulnerable’ is the yardstick to demonstrate the grace of God in each of our lives and communities. There are many inferences that can be drawn from this text as a relevance for us today. Allow me to share three particular points of relevance for us as a Church: Firstly, how much of our church’s mission mandate matches with this text, where love for the ‘other’ in actions thrives? As churches we have been busy trying to keep up the status quo of our churches memberships and have been engrossed in putting our energies for the survival of the church and its properties. Feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring the sick and visiting the imprisoned, these hexagonal representative acts of love in action to the vulnerable people, should be the mission mandate of our churches. When our mission engagements are in such a direction, we are truly serving Christ the king, who has come to reverse the norms of kingship. Church is all about serving in love the community, outside the walls of our church building, particularly the vulnerable people.

 

Secondly, the calling for us as a church is to align with Christ the king who reverses his kingship, for he chose not to be with the powers but consciously chose the powerless as his family members. In that alignment with Christ, we are called to give up our pride, privilege, positions, and power and seek to identify with the weak and the vulnerable in our communities. On how many occasions did we not exhibit out superiority and supremacy as a church? The call is clear and loud, to give up our privilege and supremacy. It is time that we relocate our churches to the margins of the society from the centres of powers, for among such people does Christ reside pitching his tent. As a church if we want to encounter Christ today, it is pitching our tents with Jesus on such sites of margins and vulnerability.

 

Thirdly, in this text all we see Christ the king distinguishes is, those that demonstrate love in action to the ‘outsiders’ and those who don’t demonstrate love in action to the ‘outsiders.’ The calling from this text for us is to move from not demonstrating love in action to demonstrating love in action, for Christ the king is a God of love and justice, and would not want anyone to be lost. This text serves as a challenge and an encouragement in that direction to submit ourselves to the grace of God who receives any one and everyone into her fold. Rather than titling this text as ‘judgement of the nations’ as it is titled in most versions of the Bible, for me there are two titles that I want to give to this given test. The first title I choose to label this text is “Christ the king’s reverse kingship from power to love,” and second title I label is “Love alone thrives, for love to the ‘outsider’ is all that matters.” This text, thus serves as a curtain-raiser to the story of Christmas, where God in Jesus Christ reverses the kingship and is pitching his tent with the margins by being born as a baby in Bethlehem. For God in order to demonstrate God’s love in action to this world comes down as a child born of mother Mary, identifying with the weak and the vulnerable and the ‘outsiders.’ The whole story of Christmas is a celebration of the reverse kingship of God, for God did not come as a massive giant disciplining the world with a cane in his hand, nor God did not come to be born as a rich guy enjoying all the privileges and comforts of life, rather God came down as a baby, born in a manger, in the context of Roman empire, to give life and life in all its fullness to the entire creation. Therefore this text from Matthew 25:31-46 serves as a perfect curtain-raiser to the story of Christmas, and if at all I want to do a Biblical advert for Christmas, I would choose this text as my plot and convey that “love alone thrives, for God in Jesus was born for love, offering love as a way forward for any life situation.”

 

As we enter into a new Church liturgical calendar from next week, as we begin the season of Advent, let me pray and wish you all a meaningful season. Let us strive in keeping Christ the reason for this season, and if Christ is the reason, then his family members, the vulnerable, the weak, the powerless and the ‘outsiders’ should be at the heart of our mission and ministry of love. May God’s grace go with each of us so that we can serve the community God has placed us in. Amen.

 

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

19th November 2020

Pic credit: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/407998047472284049/ 

Review with Reverend - rajpatta/frankio Soorarai Potru/Aakasam nee Had...

Hope in the time of Unpredictability - Raj Patta

Hope in the time of unpredictability Reflecting on I Thessalonians 5:1-11

I overheard a conversation between a Dad and his fourteen-year-old curious son, where the son was asking his Dad, “can he get to the driver’s seat and drive his car at the big car park, where there is no traffic?” For which the Dad replied, “My dear son, never try to go ahead of time, nor go behind the time, always go along with time. When you are eighteen years old, you will be legal to drive a car and then you can get to the driver’s seat and drive the car. Till then observe driving and get to know the rules of the road.” “Going ahead of time” is one of the catch words today in this post-modern world, where everyone wants to be ‘ahead of time’ and do things at an early stage. Many people are eager to get to know the future well ahead, but it is important for us to understand that living the present moment and living in and with our times is essential in the journey of life. By trying to be ahead of time, we lose to live the present fully and miss out to live a life in all its fullness, for we get busy predicting the future, trying to take everything into our control, thinking we can tame the future according to our whims and fancies. 

 

In the reading for this Sunday from I Thessalonians 5:1-11, we see that the church at Thessalonica was very eager to know the future time, particularly the return of Jesus Christ, and in a way were trying to take everything in to their control. They have given up their works and jobs, and have been curious to know well ahead about the return of Jesus Christ, which was the ultimate event of the future. To such a congregation, Paul writes, “now concerning the times (chronos = chronological time) and seasons (Kairos = appointed time), brothers and sisters you do not need to have anything written to you.” (1v) Paul was encouraging this Thessalonian church to live the present truthfully, to live the moment faithfully and to live in Jesus Christ meaningfully. By saying that ‘you do not need to have anything written to you,’ Paul was keeping the future open, in other words, he was opening the future into a situation of unpredictability, allowing the church to recognise that it is God who works in that situation offering hope through the present. Imagine if Paul would have written to this church what the future is offering to them or the details of the future, in this case the exact date and time of the return of Jesus Christ. If he did so, I think Paul would have brought disgrace to the grace of God, for God’s grace works amazingly in situations of unpredictability, for God’s Spirit does not know from which direction it comes from and to which direction it goes forth. Unpredictability is in the very essence of God, who surprises people through God’s grace at the right appointed time in the historical time-line for every person. By keeping the future ambiguous and mysterious, Paul was upholding the unpredictability character of God. Paul further explains the unpredictability character of God by offering two common examples, which is like the ‘thief in the night’ and like the ‘labour pains to a pregnant woman.’ ‘The day of the Lord’ is the day of the ultimate future, which is a day of the unpredictability nature of God, for it is only God who knows when is that ultimate future, and offers the present for the creation to live in and live with it. In the globally most watched web series on Netflix, ‘Money Heist’ a Spanish drama of robbing Royal mint by a group of robbers, one can understand what it takes for the ‘thief to come,’ who works with careful planning and execution of plan, anticipating well ahead the situations and events that they will meet during the heist. ‘The day of the Lord,’ will come in that moment of unpredictability, which is only in the hands of God, who is timeless and eternal.

 

In such a context of keeping the future unwritten and unpredictable, Paul offers hope into the present time through Jesus Christ. Paul mentions several binaries in this passage, binaries like night and day, sleep and awake, drunk and sober, darkness and light to explain the living of a Christian life in a context of persecution, false prophecies and (un)predictability of the return of Christ. However, Paul offers hope in Jesus Christ to the Thessalonian church, which also has a relevance for our context today. I want to emphasise on three signs of hope in the time of unpredictability from 8-10 verses.

Before I share the three signs of hope, allow me to share that we are trying to reimagine the meaning of this text rather than repetition of it for our times today. As we know, evidence suggest that the first book that is written in the New Testament was I Thessalonians which was around 50 CE, about 20 years much before the Gospels were written. In other words, if we have a chronological New Testament in our hands, I Thessalonians will be the first book in such a canon. Paul was writing his letters to the churches in the context of Roman empire, where military language of breastplates and helmets were part of their common vocabulary. The people in these churches saw soldiers wearing such Roman military uniforms as an everyday experience. So, Paul creatively borrows the language of his public sphere and explains a counter-public message in the gospel of Jesus Christ. A mere repetition of such military words, like breastplate, sword, helmet etc. for our context will be out of place and out of meaning for us, as they are not only out of our world-view of our public sphere today, they are also not used as our critique and contestation of occupation and war that happens anywhere in our world today. So, here are the three signs of hope in times of unpredictability.

 

1. Wrapping the hearts with faith and love:

Paul reminds the Thessalonian church to not be in the trance caused due to drunkenness, but be sober, awake and alert to the message of Jesus Christ. So, the first sign of hope is by calling on the church to wrap their hearts with faith and love. As a church when they were anxious with the unpredictability of Christ’s return, the sign of hope is to fill the hearts with faith and love, where faith offers a grounding in God, and love demonstrates such grounding in God through actions, meeting the needs of the creation. God in Jesus provides meaning to the very understanding of wrapping hearts with faith and love, where the church is invited to reflect their faith in God through their love for God and love for one another. Such an act of exhibiting and living out love in faith is a key to overcome anxiety, for we live the moment in faith and we celebrate the moment in love.

 

As we reimagine this sign of hope today, when people are anxious about the future of the church in the context of this pandemic, when people are depressed with the unpredictability and uncertainty due to this lockdown, the message is clear and loud, wrap our hearts with faith and love. Faith and love offer courage to face the situation now, and also offers strength to wait on God, the source of all hope for the world today. Faith and love co-exist together, for one without the other loses their relevance. Faith without love is a dead faith, and love without faith is abstract. In the context of growing hunger in our times, faith and love has to be shown in actions today.

 

2. Wearing the hope of salvation as a headgear:

Secondly, Paul calls on the church to put on a headgear of hope of salvation, in overcoming the unpredictability of the day of the Lord. The good news is that what they have been waiting for has already begun in Jesus Christ. The gospel is not about a spiritual existence in some ether place, but a reality of living life in and with the times now, for the salvation in Jesus offers hope to face that unpredictability. By wearing the hope of salvation in Jesus, the church is called to be critical in their reflections, be vigilant in their faith, and be fervent in their love. Hope of salvation serves as a perspective, serves as a hermeneutic for the church, where they interpret the signs of the times in that hope of salvation. When this hope of salvation becomes a mindset for the church, all it can offer is hopefulness and optimism in facing uncertainty.

 

For our times today, we as a church needs this headgear called hope of salvation, where we don’t take easy answers, but are open to find hope through critical and creative thinking, even in situations of hopelessness. This hope of salvation flows into our lives, as we embody God’s love offered in Jesus in the here and now. This headgear provides protection to negativity and leads us into optimism and positivity. As a church we should provide these headgears to all people in our community.

 

3. Wonder of offering a destination of life for all people:

There isn’t any greater hope than to know that God has destined all people not for wrath but for salvation offering the gift to live with him, whether they are awake or asleep. When the Thessalonian church was wondering what would have happened to those who died before them in meeting Jesus Christ on his return. Paul was writing that the God in Jesus is a God of love, a God who surprises by receiving everyone and offering a destination of life to all. God in Jesus is a God who offers life in situations of unpredictability. Paul also writes that God has destined everyone salvation through Jesus Christ. Such an assurance, such a belief in God offers hope to the church.

 

The church today is called to offer life to all people, and all means all, irrespective of their identity, race, gender, whether asleep or awake. We in following Jesus are not called to preach wrath and judgement against people, but offer hope to cope with situations of uncertainty. In verse 11, Paul says, “Therefore encourage one another, build up each other, and indeed you are doing.” The assurance that one receives in the vertical relationship with God needs to shared and shown horizontally with our neighbours, so that collectively we celebrate life, and courageously face the unpredictable future.

 

In closing, let me conclude this reflection using the words of Graham Tomlin, who in his book “Why being yourself is a bad idea” where he offers love and wonder as the purpose of life. He says,

 

“According to the Christian faith, that is what you are here for. Whether you become famous, earn lots of money, travel the world and collect amazing experiences is all secondary and relatively trivial against the real purpose of your life, which is to learn to live in tune with the power that gave birth to the world, to live with the grain of universe, to become somebody capable of love. And again, to avoid misunderstanding, this is not primarily about feeling warm thoughts about others, but about the slow, steady, patient ability to surrender your own comfort and prosperity for the sake of someone else – not just your friends and family, but your neighbour and, even more, your enemies. It is to extend to your neighbour exactly the kind of care that you would give to yourself and to find in doing so that you thrive and flourish – finding yourself by losing yourself.”

 

May God’s grace and hope always remain with us. Amen.

 

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

13th November 2020