Once upon a time, the story goes, there was a court jester. For many years he was very popular with the king. The jester made him laugh and brought joy and well-being to everyone he met. That country was indeed a kingdom of joy and well-being. Then things started to go wrong in the kingdom. The king’s chief advisers, the politicians, became greedy and unjust and the people grew fearful and violent. Their humour they had became dark and cruel. The jester’s wit was no longer appreciated, especially when he spoke in ways which seemed to give comfort to the poor and marginalised. A campaign grew among the powerful to get rid of him. So the king, though he still remembered liking the jester very much, agreed to condemn him to death. To honour his past regard however, the king said that the jester could choose how he was to die. ‘For example, I could have you hung, drawn and quartered’, the king said, ‘or thrown to hungry wolves, or boiled alive, or shot at dawn by a firing squad, or, like the aristocracy, you might have your head chopped off with a silver sword. It is your choice: there are many ways. How would you like to die? You choose and I will decree it.’ So the jester thought for a brief moment and then answered, as quick as a flash: ‘ in that case, my Lord, I would choose to die..’ He paused… ‘by old age.’ And the king roared with laughter and gave the jester his wish.
Now what, you may say, has that to do with our Gospel reading this morning? Well, just this: in a sense, that jester embodied three key aspects of Jesus’ teaching - firstly, by not fearing; secondly. by not clinging to possessions or position; and thirdly, by above all remaining awake to the presence of God’s kingdom, whatever happens at any moment. For this is the gift of Jesus, the greatest spiritual Jester of our lives: the One who shares the divine laughter and the invitation to share in the true kingdom of God’s love...
Now what, you may say, has that to do with our Gospel reading this morning? Well, just this: in a sense, that jester embodied three key aspects of Jesus’ teaching - firstly, by not fearing; secondly. by not clinging to possessions or position; and thirdly, by above all remaining awake to the presence of God’s kingdom, whatever happens at any moment. For this is the gift of Jesus, the greatest spiritual Jester of our lives: the One who shares the divine laughter and the invitation to share in the true kingdom of God’s love...
Not fearing, not clinging, being awake: let us look at each in turn…Firstly. ‘do not be afraid’: this is the heart of the matter for so many of us, isn’t it? Aren’t we, as human beings, typically creatures who are afraid? Much of our lives and our world runs on fear. We are afraid of all kinds of things, inside and outside of ourselves, and, sadly, many political, religious and other leaders feed on this. Sometimes of course our fears are not without basis. We are called by God also to be shrewd and sensible about genuine threats to our well-being. Yet even rational fears can easily get out of hand. Unlike the jester in the story, we are consequently easily overcome by our fears. Jesus instead not only teaches, but shows us, another way to live: not out of fear but out of love. For this is the ultimate foundation of our lives, isn’t it? We are not created, in the first place, by fear. We are created by the love of God: an eternal love which never leaves us, even in the midst of great fear. This is part of the meaning, and power of the Cross. This is the power and strength we can therefore draw upon, just as the jester did in our story. We do not have to allow ourselves to be held back or consumed by our fears. For, as Jesus says ‘do not be afraid for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ In other words, even when your world, the kingdom of this world, seems to be crumbling around you, remember and rest in the love of God which is in and around you: be like the jester!
Secondly, Jesus talks in today’s Gospel reading about not clinging to money and other possessions. Again, he is right, isn’t he? Note well: Jesus, and the Bible as a whole, never talks about money or posessions being ‘the root of all evil’. That is a shortening, and a consequent misunderstanding, of a famous bible verse. In fact, that verse – 1 Timothy 6.2 actually says ‘the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.’ In other words, money and other possessions, are not in themselves evil. How could they be? They are gifts of God to be used wisely and generously for the benefit of all. Rather, it is our attitude to them which is the significant thing. If we grasp or cling to them, they will disappoint and harm us, and others. For the true kingdom, the real strength of our lives, is love, the love which comes from God: this is the ultimate thing to seek. Thus, like the jester in the story, if we do not cling to our status or possessions, we are then free to respond creatively in the face of change and challenge.
Thirdly, Jesus in today’s Gospel encourages us to stay awake to this love, the gift of the true kingdom of God. Now we can relate this teaching, as many have, and some still do, essentially only to the end of all things: to what Christian tradition calls the Second Coming of Christ. That is one of those mysterious parts of Christian doctrine which the Church, as a whole, does indeed affirm. What, however, does it mean? Surely it does not mean that we need to spend too much energy on expecting Jesus to appear literally among us at any moment? Certainly many of the very earliest Christians did believe that would happen. Some of their anxiety is indeed reflected in the language which the writer Luke puts in the mouth of Jesus. Yet, after 2 000 years, living with that kind of literal expectation does seem a bit strange. Even stranger are those people who spend their lives calculating what they call the exact date of the ‘end times’. Don’t get me wrong! I am not saying that time and space, and everything else we count on in this world, may not come to an immediate end, any moment. Who knows? What I am saying is that speculation about such things is both fruitless and also a distraction from Jesus’ real message in today’s Gospel. Jesus was seeking to teach us much more about how to live in the here and now, and not so much in what is to come. For dwelling on what might or might not happen tends only to increase anxiety and fear: exactly what Jesus was seeking to counter. This is not the wisdom of the jester!
Instead, what today’s Gospel is saying is simply ‘stay awake’: stay awake to the gift of God which is already here within and among you. Don’t be afraid, and don’t be distracted by what you already have or might acquire. For, as Christian tradition and doctrine affirm strongly, Christ may not be all in all in this world, yet Christ is also not wholly absent to us. Rather Christ is already partly present among us. As such, ‘the end times’ are both now and yet to come. If we stay awake to the gift of Christ in us, then we can potentially face any situation with peace and creativity: just like the jester in his time of trial, just like Jesus on the cross.
To summarise: Jesus in today’s Gospel reading is not trying to give us a whole series of commands. Instead, he is trying to encourage us to live with the wisdom of the jester: not fearing; not clinging to possessions or positions; but remaining awake to God’s eternal love and to the creative possibilities and invitation of every precious moment. In other words, Jesus is inviting us not to be conformed to the kingdoms of this world but rather to be transformed by the kingdom of God. Such a kingdom is the kingdom of Jesus the jester, who turns things upside down and calls us to the joys of simplicity and trust. As the great Welsh Anglican poet-priest R.S.Thomas wrote, of that kingdom:
It’s a long way off but inside it
There are quite different things going on:
Festivals at which the poor man
Is king and the consumptive is
Healed; mirrors in which the blind look
At themselves and love looks at them
Back; and industry is for mending
The bent bones and the minds fractured
By life. It’s a long way off, but to get
There takes no time and admission
Is free, if you will purge yourself
Of desire, and present yourself with
Your need only and the simple offering
Of your faith, green as a leaf.
In the name of Jesus, God’s true and eternal jester, who gives us the last laugh in the power of the Resurrection. Amen.
Jo Inkpin for Pentecost 12, Year C, Sunday 7 August 2016
Secondly, Jesus talks in today’s Gospel reading about not clinging to money and other possessions. Again, he is right, isn’t he? Note well: Jesus, and the Bible as a whole, never talks about money or posessions being ‘the root of all evil’. That is a shortening, and a consequent misunderstanding, of a famous bible verse. In fact, that verse – 1 Timothy 6.2 actually says ‘the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.’ In other words, money and other possessions, are not in themselves evil. How could they be? They are gifts of God to be used wisely and generously for the benefit of all. Rather, it is our attitude to them which is the significant thing. If we grasp or cling to them, they will disappoint and harm us, and others. For the true kingdom, the real strength of our lives, is love, the love which comes from God: this is the ultimate thing to seek. Thus, like the jester in the story, if we do not cling to our status or possessions, we are then free to respond creatively in the face of change and challenge.
Thirdly, Jesus in today’s Gospel encourages us to stay awake to this love, the gift of the true kingdom of God. Now we can relate this teaching, as many have, and some still do, essentially only to the end of all things: to what Christian tradition calls the Second Coming of Christ. That is one of those mysterious parts of Christian doctrine which the Church, as a whole, does indeed affirm. What, however, does it mean? Surely it does not mean that we need to spend too much energy on expecting Jesus to appear literally among us at any moment? Certainly many of the very earliest Christians did believe that would happen. Some of their anxiety is indeed reflected in the language which the writer Luke puts in the mouth of Jesus. Yet, after 2 000 years, living with that kind of literal expectation does seem a bit strange. Even stranger are those people who spend their lives calculating what they call the exact date of the ‘end times’. Don’t get me wrong! I am not saying that time and space, and everything else we count on in this world, may not come to an immediate end, any moment. Who knows? What I am saying is that speculation about such things is both fruitless and also a distraction from Jesus’ real message in today’s Gospel. Jesus was seeking to teach us much more about how to live in the here and now, and not so much in what is to come. For dwelling on what might or might not happen tends only to increase anxiety and fear: exactly what Jesus was seeking to counter. This is not the wisdom of the jester!
Instead, what today’s Gospel is saying is simply ‘stay awake’: stay awake to the gift of God which is already here within and among you. Don’t be afraid, and don’t be distracted by what you already have or might acquire. For, as Christian tradition and doctrine affirm strongly, Christ may not be all in all in this world, yet Christ is also not wholly absent to us. Rather Christ is already partly present among us. As such, ‘the end times’ are both now and yet to come. If we stay awake to the gift of Christ in us, then we can potentially face any situation with peace and creativity: just like the jester in his time of trial, just like Jesus on the cross.
To summarise: Jesus in today’s Gospel reading is not trying to give us a whole series of commands. Instead, he is trying to encourage us to live with the wisdom of the jester: not fearing; not clinging to possessions or positions; but remaining awake to God’s eternal love and to the creative possibilities and invitation of every precious moment. In other words, Jesus is inviting us not to be conformed to the kingdoms of this world but rather to be transformed by the kingdom of God. Such a kingdom is the kingdom of Jesus the jester, who turns things upside down and calls us to the joys of simplicity and trust. As the great Welsh Anglican poet-priest R.S.Thomas wrote, of that kingdom:
It’s a long way off but inside it
There are quite different things going on:
Festivals at which the poor man
Is king and the consumptive is
Healed; mirrors in which the blind look
At themselves and love looks at them
Back; and industry is for mending
The bent bones and the minds fractured
By life. It’s a long way off, but to get
There takes no time and admission
Is free, if you will purge yourself
Of desire, and present yourself with
Your need only and the simple offering
Of your faith, green as a leaf.
In the name of Jesus, God’s true and eternal jester, who gives us the last laugh in the power of the Resurrection. Amen.
Jo Inkpin for Pentecost 12, Year C, Sunday 7 August 2016
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