Sermons from St Faith's
Christ the King
Paula O'Shaughnessy,November 17th, 2013
Timothy Jackson stole a jacket from a shop in New
Orleans in 1996. When followed by a detective,
he dropped it and tried to walk away. He was
caught, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment
with NO CHANCE of parole. (The Economist; 16/11/13)
In the state of Louisiana, like many other states in
the US, he fell foul of the 4 strikes (or 3 strikes)
law, for habitual criminals. 3,278 people in the
United States are in prison, for life – without
parole, for committing non-violent crimes. This
is the modern day Oubliette – the place that has been
forgotten, the person imprisoned there forgotten and
the key thrown away. A living death. As
Timothy Jackson's sister said 'It's like he don't
exist no more'. We might like to think of the US
as an enlightened, fair country. Compared with
some countries in the world today, it is.
The cruelty of the State – in condemning individuals,
taking away their liberty and their lives. Where
legal representation is poor or non-existent.
This was so in Jesus' day and tragically remains so
today in many countries. Where life is regarded
as expendable and cheap. Consider for a minute –
the horror of public crucifixion. What it would
be like walking through say, Crosby village and seeing
that sight.
The dreadful thing is, that in some countries this is
still happening today. Amnesty International
reported in May this year that Saudi Arabia had
beheaded and crucified at least 47 people.
After one group execution, the bodies were displayed
outside the University of Jizan, whilst students were
taking exams. Amnesty International report that
those who are executed often receive no trial or legal
representation and may be forced to confess to crimes
under torture.
The ultimate power of the State at work – taking away
the breath of life from a human being and striking
fear in the hearts of the living.
Jesus submits to the same, inhuman treatment as these
poor souls. We know he did not commit any crime,
yet he was condemned, by those with power over life
and death. He refuses to drink the drugged wine
– offered to him by the pious women of the town.
It was the custom for the women to do this, as an act
of mercy – so that the sensations would be numbed for
the suffering ahead. Christ showed the utmost
courage.
How can we understand this? Perhaps a chink of
light in the darkness of our knowledge is given by the
story of Victor Frankl. He was a Jewish man, and
psychiatrist who was incarcerated in the Nazi
concentration camps, survived the holocaust, but lost
his wife to the regime. He gained a profound
insight and understanding through his suffering:
A thought transfixed me: for the
first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set
into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final
wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love
is the ultimate and the highest goal to which Man can
aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest
secret that human
poetry and human
thought and belief have to impart: The salvation
of Man is through love and in love. I understood
how a man who has nothing left in this world still may
know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the
contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter
desolation, when Man cannot express
himself in
positive action, when his only achievement may consist
in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an
honourable way – in such a position Man can,
through loving contemplation of the image he carries
of his beloved, achieve fulfilment. For the first time
in my life I was able to understand the
meaning of the words, "The angels
are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite
glory".
Jesu, offers forgiveness to his persecutors and
promises to the repentant criminal, who dies with him,
at Golgotha that he may enter with him into
Paradise. This was a Persian word meaning walled
garden, and the custom at that time in Persia was that
the king would invite a favoured guest to join him in
the gardens at his court. This was a place of
protection and shelter from evil and harm.
Contemporary readers of the Gospel would have also
recognised Paradise as the holding place of refuge for
those souls saved before the final judgement would
come.
As Christians we can offer a place of refuge and
safety to others, within our hearts. That we are
gentle and kind, and turn away from the ways of
darkness. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao
Tzu said:
Nothing in the world is softer and
weaker than water;
But, for attacking the hard and
strong, there is nothing like it!
For nothing can take its place.
That the weak overcomes the strong,
and the soft overcomes the hard,
This is something known by all, but
practised by none
We should pray for those who suffer around the world,
through persecution and offer what help we can,
through organisations such as Amnesty International.
We recognise in today's Gospel the victory of Christ
the King, as light overcomes darkness in the world.
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