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Dear
Friends,
"The words are yours". And how often that
is true ! We hear what we expect to hear, because we
only half listen; or we listen, but only half understand.
So we go our way, knowing only what we think we heard.
"The words are yours". This is Jesus'
answer to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, when
Pilate asks him: "Are you the king of the Jews ?"
[Mark 15:2 New English Bible]. In other words
(!), Jesus is telling him that the words may be accurate,
but the interpretation or meaning that Pilate and others are
likely to put on them is not. He is `a king`,
but not their sort of king.
Jesus, at his various trials does not attempt to defend himself,
or to explain that they have got it wrong. Indeed, he
actually makes things worse - in the eyes of his accusers
- by telling them that `the Son of Man` will be `seated
at the right hand of God`. Again, he does not actually
say that he is the `Son of Man `, but his accusers
all assume this (as does the Christian Church, but then we
have the benefit of hindsight and do not see it as blasphemy!).
So much in Jesus' trials is assumed, taken for granted,
mis-understood.
Revd Robin Griffiths-Jones, Master of the Temple Church, preaching
on 10th February, concluded his sermon (reflecting
on the Archbishop of Canterbury's lecture about faith
communities and the law) by saying: "The Archbishop is
a truly Christ-like figure. He will draw upon himself all
the fears and anger with which our uncertainties and powerlessness
infect us, and he will absorb them without retaliation.
So, by his own suffering, he will enable us to move on to
a new life. We are privileged to have him as our Archbishop."
He expressed his "profound gratitude to the Archbishop
for exploring the topic in such depth and thoughtfulness and
humanity", and went on to say, "When did we last
have a public leader who invited us to join in such a thoughtful
conversation about a matter of vast import ?"
It is a striking image, and a bold claim, but I cannot help
agreeing with him. He says that the Archbishop "knows
we are ignorant of Islam and frightened of it and so angry
at it. He knows that we will overcome this ignorance,
fear and anger only by listening, learning and encountering.
He knows too that the first people to scratch the surface
of our ignorance, fear and anger will draw down upon themselves
all that thinly hidden rage." And that is exactly
what Jesus did - he drew to himself all the negative energy
of his people and their leaders, all their mis-understandings
of God's truth about himself, all their disappointment
that he (Jesus) had not turned out to be the leader they wanted.
Yet true leaders must surely be so much more than the focus
of others' aspirations ? They must be those who
are brave enough to focus their followers' thoughts where
they need to be, rather than where they want them to be.
True followers, then, are those who hear, listen and understand.
Following Jesus means being like him in so many ways, and
it is rarely easy; but then Resurrection follows Crucifixion.
Happy Easter !
William
Lang.
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