Advent Kingship

How do we know that the kingdom of God has come near? 

The blind receive sight. The lame walk. The leper is cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. The poor have good news brought to them.

We heard it in Isaiah. We heard it in the Gospel.

The kingdom of God is good news for the sick, injured, bed-bound, the elderly, excluded, and those in poverty. You might say, the Kingdom of God is a little like the NHS! So are we closer now than when we first believed?

For better, for worse, we are in the one constituency which in this election had a little something for everyone. Except the Lib Dems – but they also bucked the trend for our neighbours in Barnes.

Don’t worry – I’m not going to give you my view. I don’t even tell Rhiannon who I vote for. And I’m not partisan. I don’t write off Marxists for their bad mouthing of religion as the opiate of the people. I’ve always thought opiate sounds like ‘opal fruits’, which younger listeners would recognise as ‘Starburst’ sweets. In either case that would make religion a delicious treat.

Neither do I harangue liberals as selfish capitalist pigs only out for themselves. I’ve heard a few people claim you can’t be Christian and vote Conservative,  but it’s also a long-established rumour that the Church of England is the Tory party at prayer. But not in Putney, eh comrades?

By the time I was ordained I’d spent over a decade in and out of universities.  Educational establishments tend to be left-leaning; even Exeter University, though it’s the only university to have a guild of students, rather than a students’ union! Anyway, I noticed a certain mental block when I came to my first church in the Conservative-stronghold of the Cities of Westminster and London, attended not infrequently by councillors.  It felt like my language wasn’t getting through to people, and the change of context required a change in approach. Before, I’d spoken about collective responsibilities, about what communities can achieve and social formation. What spoke to people more in this context was individual responsibility, freedom, choice and opportunity.

 Now all these things are important; but how you prioritise them, and how you tell the story of yourself, will certainly affect your politics and how you relate to the Christian faith. So Comrade Putney will see a toxic cycle of poverty, poor health and education, and crime, whereby individuals in certain postcodes have little chance of escaping ‘the system’. There is a statistical determination to our fate.  The answer is central funding – improving education, health services, infrastructure, raising the level of all society.

Lord Granard, however, thinks that what’s needed is a little enterprise. We need to create opportunities so that people can lift themselves out of poverty. Systems just eat up money. If we want our school to succeed, let’s get a few of us to invest in it and take responsibility for giving our children more opportunities. Then it’s up to them to make the most of it. There are plenty of people who succeed in difficult circumstances; You can’t just write people off and tell them that because they’re born poor they won’t succeed.

We will probably drift more or less to one of these philosophies: Either: society forms people and we must improve people by improving society. Or: the individual is responsible for herself. She can improve her situation, then she can look to improve society. Your view on that question may well determine your starting box on the ballot. Our view on that question, though, is also a matter of culture. We’ve had an au pair from Florida the last few months and she, like many Americans, would certainly subscribe to the latter position. And to generalise, Americans are much less happy about paying tax; but they are also much more generous at charitable giving. In 2016 Britons donated £10bn to charity. It’s estimated Americans that year donated nearly £300bn. Their population is roughly 5 times larger, but not 30 times. It’s not that the British are not charitable; But they have different expectations about what is social or state responsibility and what is individual responsibility. I was struck talking to a colleague recently who said he would not start Glass Door at his church as he believed it was the council’s responsibility.

 Whatever your politics, I would say that part of our Christian duty is to watch what’s happening in our country and do what we can within our means for those who are most vulnerable, and most exposed to changes in policy.

Now, today we’re concerned with John the Baptist. He stands in that line of prophets who are concerned with the direction society has taken. So people are coming out of society into the wilderness to turn from their ways and commit themselves to be better. His advice as we heard above is to look after the vulnerable in society. That is how you bring about the kingdom of God.

 But it’s also interesting that they come to John. As we heard John is nearly naked, eating locusts and honey.Not, I’m guessing, as delicious as it sounds. No, I’m guessing it’s something about authority. Jesus in today’s passage is teasing the crowds who had gone to him: “What did you expect to find? Someone dressed in soft robes? Those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.”

 Normally people look to their leaders for vision. They look to kings in soft robes. In the Old Testament the Hebrews all clamour for a king. God tells them no – the King will just take the best that they have and leave everyone else poorer. In a landslide referendum the people get their way and God relents. The people get their king. Likewise, Socrates in The Republic suggests that philosophers should lead society. And if Plato and God both say that prophets and philosophers should lead society who am I to argue? But of course the prophets and philosophers get murdered and we’re stuck with kings. So I’ll probably keep my hat out of that ring.

As I tried to show a couple of weeks ago Jesus parodies kingship. With the crown of thorns we have something quite different. The prophets do not wear soft robes. But people love the glamour of kingship. Diamonds are not a prophet’s best friend. So this Christmas, as you’re singing your carols, hopefully joining us tonight at 6pm, think every time the text goes to kingship, power, wealth and riches, think about the kingship that Jesus advocates and ask yourself how are you understanding this kingship: “born the king of angels, Glory to the new born king Who is God and Lord of all”

Our mode of thinking tends to be that kingship is good. But we don’t always have good kings. Christ came and judged those in authority and in power; so that in heaven all the positions will be reversed. Jesus and John the Baptist will be in the soft robes drinking martinis.  The kings and politicians will be in the prison cells and headed for the block. Then like stars his children crowned All in white shall wait around.

I think that is not correct. Jesus came to show that God works with a different kind of power. And the kingdom of heaven. If you remember, where: The blind receive sight. The lame walk. The leper is cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised, The poor have good news brought to them. The kingdom of heaven is where those who seem to be on the lowest rung of society will have found their rightful place in a society of equals, with God and sinners reconciled. 

There are many ways to make society better. We have to hope that those in their palaces, wearing soft robes, will try their best to improve things as they can.  But our first inspiration should come from elsewhere, The voice crying out in the wilderness. We should not begin from those wearing crowns; But from the one who was raised up with a crown of thorns. A different sort of power which is found in the lowest in society; So that whatever happens in Westminster, our hearts are set on the kingdom of heaven, and the priorities of God and not Man. So comrades, workers of the world, let’s get the kingdom of God done. Amen.