Thinking Anew – The heart of the Christian message

The theme of tomorrow’s liturgy the Kingship of Christ raises issues for Christians in a world where religious pluralism and inclusiveness are actively promoted.

What are the implications for Christians and their understanding of the significance of Jesus Christ?

Back in the fifth century, St Augustine of Hippo insisted that “Jesus Christ will be Lord of all or he will not be Lord at all.” This is consistent with the teaching of the Apostles who believed that their mission was to convert the world with their message of new and purposeful living centred on the unique life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Fifteen hundred years later, Orthodox Archbishop Anthony Bloom took a more cautious view: “They (the Apostles) converted the world but not immediately. They started a wave of understanding, of knowledge, or newness of life, that made the whole world different to what it had been for thousands of years before. There are millions of Christians and yet because of us Christians, Christianity seems to become increasingly irrelevant. There is a vast society which lives, acts, thinks, creates in a world that has nothing seemingly to do with the gospel [but] it is not totally true. The principles on which even godless societies are built very often have Christian roots. Christianity has brought into the world a notion that did not exist in antiquity: the absolute, final value of the person, of every single human being. In the past, there were masters and slaves, now there are human beings, men, women and children, unique – and each one of us, even though we may not always know it, has an absolute value and significance in the eyes of God, and even through that in the eyes of society.”

Influence

The archbishop is right to draw attention to the influence of Christianity for good in the world. We have only to consider the achievements of people like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and countless others, to make that point, but we live in a nasty world, as we are reminded by the recent anniversary of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris when 130 people were murdered.

Antoine Leiris, whose wife Hélène was one the victims, sent this message of defiance to her killers and their supporters. “On Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional person, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hate. For as long as he lives, this little boy will insult you with his happiness and freedom.”

In saying “you will not have my hate”, Antoine Leiris takes us to the heart of the Christian message. It is perhaps surprising that tomorrow’s liturgy proclaiming the Kingship of Christ should have as its gospel reading an account of the crucifixion of Jesus when Pilate mockingly declared him to be King of the Jews when, of course, he wasn’t a king – at least not by their standards – but he confronted their world of hatred and violence with forgiveness and compassion, demonstrating for all to see the unbeatable and timeless power of love. The epistle reading explains that this is no ordinary king: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things . . . by making peace through the blood of [the] cross.”

How then can we reconcile religious pluralism with the kingship of Christ? St John’s Gospel says of Jesus: “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

God’s gift

This means that every single human being is in some measure enlightened by Jesus Christ; nobody lives independently of him, not even the most avowed humanist or atheist, though they may deny it. Jesus Christ is not possessed by any church or any denomination; he is God’s gift to humanity. And perhaps because of our many failures to acknowledge this truth we might sing with Leonard Cohen, poet and musician, who sadly died last week, “a holy and a broken Hallelujah”.