King Of The Weakened Kingdom

Matt 25:31-45

To be honest, I had never really paid much attention to John Sargent.

He struck me as a very run of the mill political reporter.

Competent certainly, but to be honest a bit dry dull and boring.

Doing a job, In his comfort zone. Wouldn’t give the man a second thought.

But then I’ve seen him as a contestant on “Strictly Come Dancing”

Suddenly the man’s sparkling – at something he’s not very good at.

He’s flat footed and as far as I can tell, completely lacking in elegance on the dance floor.

And yet, he’s the perfect gentleman. He smiles benignly at the judge’s mild insults.

I think the great British public have kept voting him in – not because he’s a bit of a joke.

But because we see in John Sargent, how we would like to be ourselves.

People who have come to terms with themselves.

People who are not afraid of their weaknesses.

In our Gospel reading we are invited to look for signs of Christ The King in our world.

And we’re told to look for him in unexpected places.

Not amidst wealth, success and superiority.

But in the hungry and the thirsty, the naked and the stranger.

The one who is sick and the one who is in prison.

To discover our King in people of weakness rather than towers of strength.

Each of those characteristics of weakness are things we dread.

To not know where our next meal is coming from.

To not have enough clothes to cover our body.

To not have a friend to turn to.

To be unwell with no signs of recovery.

To be in prison with no release date set.

There is a loud pumping piece of rock music entitled “Search For the Hero inside yourself”

It’s used for motivation. It’s used to bring out the best in people.

But this morning we’re being exhorted to look for the King inside ourselves.

Christ The King.

To go deep within and discover the places where we are like an overweight, flatfooted, inelegant dancer, and see that as the place where Christ is.

The place of our hunger and thirst, our nakedness and our loneliness.

The place of our need for healing and the circumstances of our imprisonment.

It is no wonder we find Christ the King elusive.

It is not surprising we do not easily feel the power of his reign over us.

Because we have to be dragged kicking and screaming to those places.

We know that we are called to become more Christlike, but we didn’t imagine a journey like this.

We thought it was all about growing in our strength, but we see it’s about naming our weakness.

They talk about Christ reigning in glory from the cross.

You won’t find much glory there, not in worldly terms.

But you will find, in stark reality, all the weaknesses described in our reading.

Each and every one of them.

John Sargent is reported as saying

“I’m standing down from “Strictly Come Dancing” because there is just a chance that I might win and that would be a joke too far”

I know what he means – but think on this – it is those who are prepared to live with their weaknesses, those who have the faith to search Christ out within those weaknesses, who in the end will triumph – that’s the Christian message.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said “The question to ask is not – why am I so weak? But rather where am I so weak – and to go to those places is to discover God.

RH 23.11.08