Reflections by Herbert O'Driscoll

 

THE FIRST READING  Jeremiah 23: 1-6

Once again Jeremiah appears on the scene. Typical Jeremiah, confident, unapologetically political. He is deeply concerned about the ruling circle around the king and doesn’t hesitate to say so. “Shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture. it is you who have scattered my flock, and you have not attended to them.” At the time Jeremiah says this, thousands are still in exile, not exactly slaves but at least some of them caught in the forced labour systems of the neighbouring empire. 

For Jeremiah the ultimate shepherd is God. On behalf of God Jeremiah makes a pledge to the people. He assures them that they will return. It’s not a matter of if but when. When they do return, the regime they return to will be a reformed one. In that future there will be good shepherds, decent people of integrity in positions in public life. “ I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them.

However on this particular occasion when he is speaking to a particular gathering, Jeremiah moves beyond the mere social and political and articulates a more mysterious hope for the future. There will come, he says a ruler who will emerge out of the long ago tradition of David, that great figure of the past. This  king is going to embody wisdom, justice,  and righteousness. Many years after Jeremiah's lifetime christians would link this possible ruler with the person of Jesus, a king who would do no less than actually give his own life for his people. 

THE SECOND READING Colossians 1: 11-20 

In this reading and in the Gospel passage we are going to express what christians believe about our Lord Jesus Christ in two absolutely different ways. That’s why we need to use the two passages. 

The first is a letter Paul has written to the community in Colossae. In it he searches for the most exalted language he can find for the risen Jesus. Listen. Glory of the invisible God. Firstborn of all Creation. In Him all things hold together. All language and all the arts have tried to pay this kind of tribute to Christ. The great renaissance paintings of de la Francesca. Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. That’s just to name two. In literature Milton's Paradise Lost and Regained. In architecture - the great Cathedrals. Again and again we try to express the glory of Christ, always just falling short of that glory. 

THE HOLY GOSPEL  Luke 23: 33-43

Now, having as it were brought up everything we have, all the extravagant language,  to glorify Christ, the compilers of the lectionary seem to think that perhaps there is a better way to give glory to Christ - by realizing what he has done and how much it has cost. To do this we have this gospel passage from Luke. And what is it? Nothing less than the terrible day of the crucifixion! We are back on Calvary! The sky black, devastated friends and family keeping watch, armed guards, while Jesus and two others hang in indescribable agony on the crosses. How does this demonstrate our Lord's glory? 

In the contrast between the blazing glory of a cosmic canvas - what we get in the Epistle - and the butchery of a Roman execution, we are given the core of Christian faith. He is Lord in the epistle passage, victim in the Luke passage. All powerful in one, helpless by choice in the other. In the epistle Jesus has become the source of all life, but in the Gospel he is being drained of life. 

The contrast is what makes him our Lord. He chooses to take on my humanity and share it with me. This is the mystery called Kenosis, a Greek word so important we should all know it and what it means. It means to self-empty oneself for others. For me the best expression of this, and the best explanation of what we mean by that word Kenosis, is in John Betjeman’s sublimely simple poem “Christmas” Do find it and read it. If you can’t find it, tell me and I will gladly send it.  

“the maker of the stars and sea 

become a child on earth for me”. .   .   .   .   .   .   .   

No carolling in frosty air

Can with this single truth compare,

That God was Man in Palestine

And comes to day in Bread and Wine.

There is one more sublime moment in this Gospel. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom”  says the dying thief to Jesus.Is it not striking that a great world wide faith, when it wishes to celebrate the kingship of its Lord, places the tribute to him on the lips of a dying criminal undergoing public execution?