A Mysterious Kingship

May I say the obvious? The Evangelist St. Luke wrote a lengthy Gospel detailing the life of Jesus from the prophecy of St. John the Baptist's birth to the Ascension of Christ. And he wrote a lengthy second volume, the Book of Acts, detailing the ministry of the Apostles from the Ascension of Christ until St. Paul's arrival to Rome. But we lack a "middle volume" entitled "The Teachings of the Risen Christ." May I make a second obvious point? This volume, if it had been written, would have been by far the most important volume of the three. It would have been the most holy repository containing the deepest meanings of the Advent of Christ, which we now regard as the "secret teachings" — which were spoken and received with profound reverence.

The Gospels actually propel us into a rising action that anticipates this climax. It were as if we were sitting in the audience of a Shakespeare play. The basic characters and elements of the plot are introduced in the first act. In act two we watch tensions develop in a rising action. Everything converges in a climax usually in act three. followed by a falling action and denouement, or resolution. This, of course, is by way of analogy: Shakespeare would not be born for another fourteen centuries. But this is our case. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, or Luke are analogous to acts one and two. The Book of Acts is analogous to acts four and five. It is as if we were ushered out of the theater following acts one and two ("the doors, the doors!"), and then led back in at the beginning of acts four and five. We have missed the all-important middle act, act three! Act three is where all is revealed! This is what we've been waiting for!

In the Gospel of St. John, for example, the Lord promises,

He lifts the veil and speaks plainly about the Father. This is what we want to know!

In St. Matthew's Gospel Jesus says,

Why are we not numbered among those favored few? Why are these secret not shared with us? We are not ordinary people who are indifferent towards God. We are devout. We hang on every word the Master speaks and then reflect for long hours. But these anticipated, longed-for, plainly-spoken teachings are never to appear, at least not in writing. The forty-day "Masterclass seminar" led by the Risen Christ was never passed on, at least not publicly. St. John seems to be mindful of this when he says,

And again,

Now he is really teasing us. Act three is missing! Why there's so much in it that the world could not contain act three! We ask again: what are these devoutly-to-be-wished teachings? Every true son and true daughter of God asks this question. We must conclude that this incommensurately holy knowledge has been reserved to a certain, chosen few, which included the Apostles. But we are invited to reflect.

First, we must pay very close attention to what is disclosed in the Gospels including "volume two" of St. Luke's Gospel, which we call the Book of Acts. Second, we must read the Apostles. After all, the Apostles did hear these hidden teachings. They were present for the performance of act three. And we must read the Early Church Fathers, for surely the Traditions handed on to them cannot be dispensed with.

This morning, let us attend to the opening words of the Book of Acts very carefully. In very few words we are afforded a glimpse of the Ascension of the Lord. In these fleeting moments, Heaven is wedded to Earth. Those present ask Him, "Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom?" The question immediately poses another: "Which Kingdom?" The whole question of kingship, after all, is deeply stamped on the Jesus stories. He is, for example, the Lord, whose underlying Greek word, kyrios, also means "king." And the Holy Land is about kingship. Anyone approaching this region in the first century would have espied far out at sea the great Temple to Roma soaring high above one of the ancient world's greatest harbors, Caesarea Maritima, bespeaking the Roman Emperor's Imperium, his kingship, his power. The power of Caesar is never far from one's sight as Roman structures are to seen scattered throughout the Roman Province of Judea — splendid white structures like unto Greek temples.

When Jesus asks the great question, "Who do you say that I AM?" His disciples gaze directly behind Him at the Temple to Augustus Caesar at Caesarea Philippi. We have already mention Caesarea Maritima. The name Caesar echoes throughout the ancient Levant and beyond. Kingship is always the main subject. After all, the sentence, "We have one king and that is Caesar," was sufficient to crucify the Son of God.

We know that God is always deeply offended at the notion of earthly kingship. He tells Samuel when the Israelites demand a king, "They have not rejected you," whom a king would replace, "but they have rejected Me from being king over them" (1 Samuel 8:7). And God's Son continues in this Divine repugnance. For it would be the acclamation of Jesus' earthly kingship at the Mount of the Loaves and Fishes, which would signify the last straw which Jesus could endure. From that moment on He sets His face toward Jerusalem to be Crucified.

If we are scanning for the phrases that the Risen Christ used to unlock the Scriptures, consider these. It is a startling fact that the phrase the "Kingdom of Heaven" never appears in the Sacred Scriptures until Jesus uses the phrase. It turns out that God's domain is a kingdom; no one knew that. Similarly, the phrase "the Kingdom of God" rarely appears in Scripture .... until Jesus utters these words. And what is the master subject following His forty days with the Disciples?

The Son of God appears in the fullness of His Divinity. And what is His subject: the Kingdom. Just as His Incarnation would be the life which would redeem all, so His Kingship would be the Rule which restored all to right relationship with its Ruler. The prayer that Jesus taught, the perfect prayer, was understood by all who heard it to be apocalyptic, to invite the cataclysm of God's Rule on earth: "Thy Kingdom come."

It is not for nothing that this phrase has become proverbial signifying ultimate destruction as in, "We'll blow them to kingdom-come."

For this is the Coming of God? The Day of the Lord? This had always been understood to be an awful Day of Reckoning.

If we want context for kingdom, let's get it! Consider this sentence from Isaiah:

And this from Ezekiel:

And this from Joel:

And this from Amos:

"Thy Kingdom come"?

"Teach us to pray, Lord" (Lu 11:1). A momentous passage is signaled. Do we imagine devout Hebrew men do not know how to pray?! And then Jesus says, "Thy Kingdom come." These are terrifying words. And "On earth as it is in Heaven." They would have been pale with fear.

Do you understand that this world is out of joint. It is irrevocably broken. And Heaven's lineaments are perfect. To stand in the place where Heaven imposes its Rule on earth is to stand amongst blowing hurricane winds and erupting volcanoes. Earth cannot square with Heaven, cannot makes its brokenness whole in the sight of God, cannot untwist its contorted features back to Heaven's original and pure Creation of earth. But rather, the Creation must avert its eyes when its Architect and Maker comes. For earth has become a shameful thing .... a shambles. In the day of Reckoning, the Creator holds His level-and-square up to humanity and takes the measure of its true state. Frequently, representations of God include a square.

But now we understand that the King has come. And He has instructed us not to avert our eyes but to look upon and to take hold of ourselves. This was something entirely new: the King has come, and He has instructed us to prepare ourselves for the final coming of God.

"He will come in the same way as you saw Him go." This is not judgment but rather intimacy with God.

Imagine yourself sitting on a bench alone awaiting an Authority Figure who will mete our justice. Perhaps it is a court martial bringing a charge of mutiny. Isn't this precisely the charge that should have been brought in the case of the Apostles? And you imagine the impending judgment: the point of the dagger points to you signifying you are to be executed. But instead the awe-inspiring Authority Figure sits on the bench beside you. He places his arm around you. And He says, "I have made a path from here for you."

We understand that path He has made is traveled both in going and in coming. His angels would ascend and descend, He said (Jn 1:51) And He has promised that He prepares a place for us (Jn 14:2-3), and that we are to traverse this same path. It is not a place of execution but a place of love.

He had told the Twelve that they are to sit on twelve thrones as kings (Mt 19:28). Yet, they are not to "lord over" their subjects as earthly kings do (Mk 10:42-45). What is this rare species of kingship? How are we to follow Him? Surely, this Royalty is something we has never been revealed to men. He tells us we are to ascend above a world that seeks to enslave us by means of our passions. And we are to descend in our wholeness, for this is the nature of our kingship.

Ascension life means we are to live as He lived. I have seen the royal dignity of those who have followed Him. Their calm and serene faces give off light. There is nothing in the world's fever and sickness that attracts them. But they do see what those hypnotized by the world do not. They see the lives that have been ruined and blasted. They see souls sick unto death. That is, they see what the Lord Jesus saw when He was among us. And they stoop as He did to offer what help they can. This is their immunity from the evil one. What is their immunity? It is love — love for God and love for the precious creatures He loves so completely and so well.

Have you ever thought about how selfish it is to consent to temptation. This is the choice for self-love. It's all about you destroying everything else around you which is holy.

The royal dignity of God's children, it turns out, has nothing to do with lording power over one another, but rather the opposite. This is a mysterious kingship: one which is seen in humility, one which is known by its lowliness, and one which ascends through descending ..... like our Lord and God and Savior, Who unaccountably stayed with us after we had committed the most unspeakable offenses against Him:

Abide in His love, and we are already half way to our destination.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.   Amen.