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The Doulos podcast explores servant leadership in an Orthodox Christian context.
Hollie Benton 0:04
You are listening to Doulos, a podcast of the Ephesus School Network. Doulos offers a scriptural daily bread for God's household and explores servant leadership as an Orthodox Christian. I'm Hollie Benton, your host and executive director for the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative. And with me, of course, is our co host Fr. Timothy Lowe, a retired priest and former rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. Greetings, Fr. Timothy, I always look forward to this time of study together.
Fr. Timothy Lowe 0:33
Here we are in the middle of Holy Week, we'll see how it goes.
Hollie Benton 0:37
Alright, Fr. Timothy, you've taken us on a biblical journey to recall its story of God's people led by a king. The people so desperately wanted a king to be like the other nations, and the Lord permitted it for a time, however, we see through the scriptures than a nation ruled by a king, even one anointed by God, really doesn't seem to behave any differently than the other nations. Nor are the outcomes any different. And the Lord warned them of this, even before anointing their first king, Saul, he warned his people through his prophet Samuel, that a king would take their sons for battle and daughters for labor and the best of their fields and vineyards and flocks, and they would cry out as slaves under their king. So the biblical story of the Kings is simply one big, I told you so. Last week, we finally came to one righteous king, King Josiah, who attempted to lead his people into repentance and remembrance of the Law of Moses. But the Lord's judgment was already upon them. King Josiah died in battle, and the people and the subsequent kings were defeated and taken into exile, where they were made to sit at the table of their enemy, King Nebuchadnezzar. It may seem like God's people ended worse than where they started, had they only listened to the voice of the Lord through his prophet. So what happens between this Babylonian exile, and where we land with the beginning of the Gospels, knowing that a new type of king, and anti-king, in fact, is the Lord's anointed for the salvation of all mankind?
Fr. Timothy Lowe 2:17
Well, thank you for recounting biblical story. As you just said, the image of the exiled king, imprisoned, eating at the table of now his benefactor. And it stays that way. I mean, historically, we do have some information that the next empire comes rolling through, it happens to be the Persian Empire. Cyrus, he is proclaimed the Lord's anointed in the biblical story, which continues this idea of God choosing whoever He will to be His instrument for whatever He wants to happen. The importance of using that term is, of course, he's a non Israelite, he's a non Jew, if you will, and yet he's still the instrument of God. Then they attempt to rebuild the temple. It's a poor example. After that comes the next empire to roll through, which happens to be Alexander the Great. People need to understand that this location of the biblical story in this Middle East, focusing now, of course, on the Israel Palestine area. It's just simply a landbridge, which means it's coming and going at the whims of larger nations, Egypt, and now the Greek Empire, and then it will be the Roman Empire after Alexander. It's just a toy, a play thing in the hands of these greater empires. And so when we come to the context for the biblical story of the birth of Christ, and His coming, in this time, again, of utter despair, because they had a brief moment of independence, under the Hasmoneans. And this is always a tease, because again, small nations can't sustain themselves in the face of larger empires. It's not like the democratic states, and you have a larger empire, securing the democracy of some small city state didn't work that way, as it often works today, for example. So be that as it may, this is where the story of the coming of Christ begins. And the story picks up, which is really an incredible feat of the gospel writers to begin to tie in all that we have talked about, if you will, the epic story from Genesis to the end of Kings, to begin the Gospel story of one who is coming. Now let me just remind people that may not remember the beginnings of the Gospels. Matthew starts with the genealogy which introduces Christ and the biblical story, but then the focus of John the Baptist and the promise of the coming one. Christ is announced as the one who will come and save their people from their sins. And I want people to remember this as we get to Holy Week and we get to the cross, The one, he will save his people from their sins. The reason to read all of this is to see up close and personal their endless cycle of sinfulness and unfaithfulness, starting in their leaders, which means the kings and then of course, later on to priests and whatnot, okay. And the question is, and let's not assume we know the answer, because we're at the beginning of Matthew, how is this going to happen? We're not going to theologize our sins away. How will Christ save this unsavable people? And what I also want people to remember, that the biblical story as it focused from the beginning of creation in Genesis and narrowed itself down to the story of Abraham, and his descendants, which is a very narrow story in the larger reality of the world, an example. As an example. And the question is, if these chosen ones, chosen for a specific purpose, a task to be an example, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, to quote St. Simeon's song from the Gospel of Luke, we see its utter failure. So how can the story continue when it's stuck in an endless cycle? Something is wrong with the core. We've always then begun to generalize and say, it's just not the core of the Israelites. Ultimately, it's the core of all of humanity. And that is the biblical message. It is a universal message as it's reflective of the nations. So whichever empire comes and goes, whether it's Cyrus, whether it's Alexander, whether it's the plethora of Roman emperors and whatnot, it is within this milieu, that we pick up the story of the Gospels. We know that story. We've been marching through Lent, Holy Week has come, Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, you heard the announcement, Christ is coming. And he told them, he's coming. So we are in Jerusalem. And we're going to focus on the end, on the end, and see how it reflects over and against what we have been talking about the last few weeks about the story of kingship and the story of faithlessness. And consequently, judgment. Let's begin there, Hollie, and see where it takes us.
Hollie Benton 6:44
So you suggested looking at Matthew 27. That's where we'll be reading from today. "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium. And they gathered the whole battalion before him, and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him. And plating a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him saying, Hail King of the Jews! And they spat upon him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. And over his head, they put the charge against him which read, This iss Jesus, the King of the Jews. So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying, He saved others, he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God, let God deliver him now, if he desires him, for he said, I am the Son of God." So from what we just read, there's nothing in this image of Jesus on a cross that appears kingly in the way we imagine kings. Yes, he's wearing a robe, and has a crown. But it's all for mocking and humiliation. It's clear that the king of Israel cannot save even himself. So what's glorious about Jesus on a cross when he looks like the most defeated loser of all?
Fr. Timothy Lowe 8:14
Well, that's the question, isn't it, Hollie? So what we've learned about kings, you mentioned earlier that Christ is actually an image of an anti-king. He has no palace. I always like to tell people, really, you're following the guy who has no home, no place to lay his head, has no palace, he has no temple. If you recall, he came to Jerusalem, and one of the things he did was actually to cleanse the temple. He has no harem, right? He has no army, no dynasty, okay, no legacy, no slaves. So my point is the Gospel goes to great lengths to show that he is unrecognizable as a king. In fact, the Gospel writers are not comfortable with calling Jesus king. They're not comfortable with it at all because of what it connotes. So as we contemplate the end, the end, what is going on here? What is going on here? Part of being able to start something new is you have to often undo the old, you have to bring it to an end once and for all. And so this is what the gospel writer is doing. You know, we throw around the word, Holy, a lot in the Orthodox Church. I lived in Jerusalem, seven years, the Holy City, right? Jerusalem is not the Holy City. There is nothing holy about Jerusalem in the Gospels. It is a den of thieves. Christ comes and you will rehear it this week in the Holy Thursday, He comes to judge Jerusalem as the sinful city. So he comes as a prophetic voice to stand singularly over and against it in the same way the older prophets of old did. Read Jeremiah who stood in the same way, only Jeremiah ended up not listening to himself, if you read the whole story of Jeremiah. Ezekiel, condemning the uselessness of it all. The idea is that the old has to be brought to an end. And the only way the end comes for anybody, and I want people to remember this, is through judgment. Our listeners may not know that I grew up as a nice, happy Protestant. Often I remember old hymns, and this is in my teen years, because I left Protestantism before I was 20. There's this one hymn, The King is Coming, the rejoicing of that, that Christ is coming. Okay, he's coming for us. And my response to that hymn, well it makes you feel good if you think he's coming for you to save you. But Christ first comes to judge, he sits on the Mount of Olives as an image of the high place overlooking the city, in a very prophetic way. And it's very common, and even someone recently reminded me that's where the Romans came when they came to finally crush the rebellion, which happened 66 AD that's reflected in the Gospel stories as well, that soul crushing event of again, the destruction of the temple, which has not been rebuilt, but the idea is judgment. Christ comes to judge. He has spent his entire life teaching, teaching, teaching, instructing directly, the Sermon on the Mount, and teaching in parables, the whole thing has been about teaching. And I said earlier that he wants to save us from our sins. And the picture of Christ on the cross is straight out of Isaiah 53. Let me read a few verses from that. And it talks about this future suffering servant, that he will have no form or majesty. In other words, he's not going to be impressive in appearance, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Despised, rejected, a man of suffering, one from whom others hide their face, wounded and crushed for our sins, oppressed and afflicted, a lamb led to the slaughter, and now the punch line, yet it was the will of God to crush him and make his life an offering for sin. Christ as the image of the Isaiah lamb, because it was the only hope. Instruction doesn't work. The call to repentance is not heeded in any way. That's significant. That's why just before the exile ends with the story of Josiah. A repentance, unlike anything else ever written in the biblical text, thorough, in hopes of staving off the judgment, but no. So Christ comes. But the irony, and this is what we're hearing, is that the script is already written, the dye is already cast, yet still, the process of rejection, at least in the story, must reach its climax. And so the crucifixion of Christ is the final rejection. Those words crucify him, crucify him, come from the mouths of those that have been following him. This is what even makes the Gospel story even beyond our imagination, a story of cruelty.
Hollie Benton 12:55
The same people who shouted, Hosanna, Blessed it is he who comes in the name of the Lord, as he enters into the city of Jerusalem are the same people who forget and beg him to be crucified.
Fr. Timothy Lowe 13:07
Yes, the chief priests and the Sadducees are the ultimate image of conspiring evil, but it's the people who finally voice their desire that he should be crucified. And then of course, the ultimate self judgment. So it's a story of self destruction, okay, it's not just judgment from above, but of self destruction. And this is the human story. And this is what people need to hear, we just need to open up any website that has news and you'll see self destruction everywhere. Who wants to mention the latest mass murderer going on with someone with a gun that's so efficient at being able to kill people. That's the American story. But let's not pretend it isn't the American story. Because it happens. It's so routine. I want us to see that if Christ is trying to save the world from its sins, it is also by rejecting everything that the world imagines is important, is of value, where we put our hope. You see, poor Ukraine needs more arms to have any hope to the present, let's just say regional conflict, as an example of the destruction, whether it's coming from one source or another. Whatever, it just is, it just is, it's the human story. And so here we are called to see how we get it all wrong. And so when I think about the Lenten season, and it's come to an end now in Holy Week. Saturday night, things will be transformed, we'll be singing Christ is risen. We'll be celebrating a Paschal meal, maybe more than one because why not? And we'll feel good for a moment. And then Monday and then Tuesday. Sometimes, Hollie, I think we get it backwards in so many ways. That now that we've heard this story is when we must begin to mourn and not quickly just brush it aside with, Oh, okay, things are better now, Christ is risen from the dead. No, we should begin to mourn and not quickly take a quick fix to the next celebratory shot of iced vodka in celebration of Pascha. So let us hear the story, not jump to thinking that Christ is Risen is going to solve it all. That is the hope. Now this is the key. We Christians have to live with hope, spit in the eye of despair, which is everywhere, not a false hope, not just a hope that somehow we just make it a trick of the mind. But we mean, need to continue to labor even though, even though we've read the biblical story, we've seen the cyclical nature of it, of the human failure that continues to our day in time. And yet we live in hope. While we breathe, we hope. Not in a cockiness, not in an assuredness, one of my disagreements with a lot of my brothers and sisters from different Christian traditions is they think that they're once saved, always saved, they're guaranteed they're going to heaven. And to me, it's a trick of the mind. There's no guarantee. Because if Christ is king, and ultimately he's going to sit on the throne of judgment. And when you think of King now we have to think of judgment, the one who has been empowered to bring righteousness and justice. And that includes the very depths of our own life. Are we ready to face that? The answer? Of course not. So how is he saving us from our sins? Not magically through a transaction of dying for us as an atonement sacrifice, that doesn't work. No, you and I have beat on this so many times, because the Bible beats on it. It is through repentance, hearing the Word of God and doing it. So what makes Christ special? Simply he's presented as the one from the very beginning, he did the will of God, even when he knew the depths of what that meant, and the biblical story, which is that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer and die and be rejected. Ironically, after even telling his disciples three times about the events in Jerusalem, they still rejected the very notion of it. It did not sit well in the depths of their soul, it did not sit well. How do we reject Christ? We reject his message, the same message, there's nothing new, nothing fancy, the same message, "Not my will. Thy will be done." There's the same neighbor, who might want some of our earthly goods or in desperation, or maybe they're being just irresponsible. I mean, this is America, anybody can get a job and work and be somewhat self-sustaining, at least that's what we tell ourselves, with the lack of charity sometimes. First we judge the person, is he worthy of our hard earned money? Are they worthy of charity? Or is it just them being irresponsible, and now we have the burden of their well being? You see how I can be very cynical in my own thoughts, having just revealed some of them. But no. And we know cynically, that it's not going to make any difference. So God help us as we celebrate Christ's victory over death. Why? Because the Father raises him. He does not raise himself. This is an important little fact. It is God who raises him up, he does not raise himself, he commits himself into the hands of the Father. It's the father's business. This is you and I, imperfection. My point is, while we are not the Messiah, we are the servants. He is the Lord, the master, the Anointed One, the teacher, and even now I'm still hesitating, Hollie, to use the word King. It's not a word that fits well in this context, without having to spend 25 minutes explaining why he's not that kind of king. He is the King when he sits on his throne to judge, but even then Matthew calls him the Son of Man, when he comes in his glory, he will sit on his glorious throne, and all the nations will come. So even Matthew doesn't even want to go there. So I think I'll just stick with Matthew, and call him this insignificant Son of Man who will appear in the glory of his Father. God help us. Soon we will chant the mournful 12 Gospels and the Holy Friday services and then ultimately will explode with the music of the risen Christ. So I hope it brings us more hope.
Hollie Benton 19:21
More hope and sobriety too.
Fr. Timothy Lowe 19:23
Sobriety. Yes, please. Thank you.
Hollie Benton 19:25
Thank you, Father, for this.
Fr. Timothy Lowe 19:27
Absolutely.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai