The Rev. Joseph Farnes
All Saints, Boise
Proper 14C
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Floating in the background of western Christianity is a not-so-nice image of God. Floating in the background is this image of a God who sent Jesus to suffer and die on behalf of us because someone had to suffer for all the stuff humanity has done. Floating in the background is this image of a God who is a cold, distant, occasionally wrathful father-figure, waiting to get us unless we proclaim a faith in Jesus.
The fruit of that image of God is apparent these days: Christians who are keener on proclaiming Jesus than following him, Christians who are happy to impose their will on others just like they feel God imposes his will on them, Christians who love vengeance more than mercy. And all they have to do is point to this image of God that Western Christianity has created for itself.
But, as you see in the Gospel reading today, God is not that. Jesus says, “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
“Good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. This is not the language of a distant father who is only begrudgingly giving a gift. It is a pleasure, a joy, a delight to God, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit, to share all the riches of God’s love with us.
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were not a “back-up” plan because we messed up God’s original plan. Jesus didn’t suffer on the cross because someone had to suffer for humanity messing up stuff. Jesus willingly chose his life, his death, and his resurrection out of pure, perfect, abundant, ever-flowing, delightful love for us, to share with us in our own suffering, to consecrate us to God. God the Father – not a cold, distant, stern father, but the father from the parable of the Prodigal Son who runs out to greet us and hug us even before we can stammer out our rehearsed apology – God the Father rejoices in being our God. And God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, pours out graces and blessings abundantly.
It’s God’s good pleasure to give us everything. It delights God to be generous.
Notice the line a little later in the Gospel: “Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.” Did you notice the twist? Our world is just as hierarchical as the ancient one, just in different ways. Let me retell that line: “Blessed are those admin assistants the CEO will find alert when she arrives; truly the CEO will have those assistants sit down to eat, and she will come and serve them.” “Blessed are those interns the president will find alert when he arrives; truly the president will have the interns sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.” That isn’t happening in our universe anytime soon.
The image doesn’t end with the CEO grumbling, “I guess I’ll keep you on the payroll.” It doesn’t end with the president begrudgingly saying, “I guess I won’t yell at you.” No, no, no. Jesus says God is generous, abundant, delighted, loving. God gives us everything, and is delighted to give us more.
So, then, what do we make of this image of the thief in the night? Just as God is generous, God is sneaky. The seeds of the kingdom, the interruption of “things as they are” has already happened, and is still happening now. The powers that be, the powers that parade around pompously and pridefully plunder the people – their house has been broken into by Jesus. The powers that be are shaken out of their beds by the music coming from below, a party thrown by God where everyone is invited and the doors are thrown open. Blessed are those servants who kept watch for Jesus and made sure all the good stuff was set out for the party in advance.
Perhaps this image will make sense of it: Robin Hood. Specifically, the 1970s cartoon Robin Hood, the one where everyone’s animals. That one. The definitive one. Prince John is the phony king of England, and Robin Hood steals from the rich to give to the poor. Robin Hood is sneaky and clever, and he loves a good party in Sherwood Forest. He makes friends and is tender-hearted. He sets people free from prison and doesn’t back down in the face of the menacing Sheriff of Nottingham.
Like Robin Hood, Jesus breaks into the world – to set us free and to speak the truth, and bring us all together in celebration and mutual care. It is no drudgery for God – it is a delight, and God’s good pleasure to give us the fullness of the kingdom.
This image of God puts us in the cast of characters with God – not nameless, not faceless, not anonymous servants but part of the divine mission, keeping watch and doing good and making good trouble for the kingdom that we’re all a part of. The Kingdom of God is not something that grudgingly accepts us as residents but is delighted to share with us in its richness as royal children.
To push the Robin Hood comparison a little farther, then, who might you be? It’s not just Robin Hood who does all the work – are you the strong and boisterous Little John, the feisty Friar Tuck, or any of the other townsfolk sharing in the mission on behalf of the Kingdom of God? It is God’s good pleasure to do all this for you – and to do it with you, with us, a huge ensemble cast of saints who do our part for the Kingdom. It is God’s good pleasure, it is God’s delight. Now what part shall we play? Amen.