18 Nov 2015
Did Jesus really say that?
Did he really say: Bring “those enemies of mine who didn’t want me as
their king, . . . and slay them before me.”
It’s hard to picture Jesus saying that.
And yet, there it is in the Gospel—and in the Gospel of Luke, no less; the gospel we usually
associate with God’s kindness and compassion and mercy.
Maybe it’s a stretch to say it, but Jesus sounds like a
terrorist here: “Do what I say and accept me as ruler of your life, or I’m
going to hurt you.” I mean, that’s what
a terrorist would say. And so, it’s a
hard parable to hear this morning, for sure.
Of course, Jesus isn’t a terrorist.
But his message does strike
fear in people who don’t understand him; who think he’s just like any other
heartless person in the world.
But to us who know
Jesus, what he says makes sense. God is love.
God is mercy. God is
life. God does keep the universe working in harmony within itself. God is endlessly
giving. And so, it makes sense . . . if people reject
the Lord of Life as their Lord of
life, what would they be left with
but death and fear, terror and darkness.
If you turn out the light, you’re going to be in the dark. If
you don’t accept love and mercy as
your mode of living, you’re going to live
in fear and terror. Jesus cancels out
death and fear. But if you cancel out
Jesus, well, you better expect to feel
death and fear in your heart. So, in a
real way, what Jesus says is true: His enemies “who don’t want him as their king
will be slain.” And they’ll be cut down by
their own hand . . . because they chose death as leader, and not Life.
It’s not what Jesus wants.
It’s just simple cause-and-effect.
Jesus wants everybody to live
under his kingship—under the influence of love and mercy, truth and goodness,
justice and beauty. But his brand of
Love is so perfect, he won’t force anybody to accept him. He won’t force anyone to love him . . .
because that would be unloving. Ironically, the most loving thing he does is when
he lets people fall—by their own will.
The choice to listen to Christ, the choice to let Love itself
influence us and guide us, is our choice. The real
terrorists today have made their choice.
Murderers and thieves have made their choice. Cold, unfeeling, and harsh people in our
world have made their choice. They’ve decided
against Jesus, and have chosen the
way of death, the way of fear and hatred.
But we’re here in this place because we’ve chosen to be one
of those faithful servants of Jesus; one of the servants of Love and Life. We want
to live; we don’t want to live in
fear and death . . . and so, we’ve chosen Jesus as our king, as the ruler of
our life. And that’s because Jesus is love; he is mercy and harmony, truth, goodness, beauty, and so on.
He’s everything humanity wants. And we say “yes” to him again and again,
every day, “yes” to Jesus as the ruler of our life. He’s everything we want. How lucky for us. Even if others disagree—how lucky for us to have as our Lord, the
Lord of all that is . . . good.
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