An Odd King

On Thursday, June 25 in the afternoon at 2:26pm Pacific Time (5:26 EST) a king died. Sure, he was an odd king, but a king all the same. They called this man “The King of Pop” whose child-like excesses and embellishments granted him the bestselling album of all-time (Thriller), one of the most bizarre estates (Neverland Ranch) and, perhaps, one the most hair-raising reputations after being accused on at least 3 different occasions of inappropriate behaviour and touching with children.

Michael Jackson had one of the most successful musical careers of the last half-century breaking down racial barriers, transforming the art of the music video, and, further, had worked hard enough, and become eccentric enough to have sold more than 750 million albums worldwide – only Elvis and the Beatles have sold more. In fact, they say that his bestselling album alone, entitled Thriller, actually sold worldwide somewhere between 100 million and 109 million records, although the Guiness Book of World Records puts the number at a significantly more modest 65 million. But still that is an odd feat for an odd king. Furthermore, even if his worldwide album sales for Thriller are only a mere 65 million it still puts the album’s reach well beyond the reach of the other big boys who are trying to play with Michael in the sandbox.

For their 1980 record Back in Black AC/DC sold around 45 million records and so did Pink Floyd with their 1973 hit The Dark Side of the Moon. And nobody can forget Meatloaf and his 1977 record Bat Out of Hell and his relentless attempt to resurrect that album’s success with Bat Out of Hell II and Bat Out of Hell III. The original sold 43 million copies worldwide and was closely followed by other well-known albums like the soundtrack to the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, the soundtrack to the 1992 film The Bodyguard, and the Eagles’ compilation record Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) which all have sold over 42 million copies worldwide. But for all that these other records have contributed to popular music folklore, none stands out over the past 50 years like Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

The Thriller album won a record-breaking 8 Grammy Awards in 1984 and won in three different musical genres – rock, R&B and pop. The excesses of Thriller are really a reflection of the excess of the man behind the music and the society from which he was raised. Beyond the success of Thriller, Michael Jackson is one of those rare musicians who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – first as a member of the Jackson Five, and second as a solo artist. But, even more so, the King of Pop will not only be remembered for his chart-topping and legendary music, but for his oddity, as “Wacko Jacko”. Furthermore, Jackson will be remembered for his transformation in the 1980s as a high profile idol of black people worldwide to eyebrow-raising freak-show because of his alteration from black skin to pale white skin. The King of Pop was an odd king – but a king nonetheless; a king who died at age 50 – by our standards a young king. But as piano-man Billy Joel says, “Only the good die young.”

On August 16, 1977 at 3:30pm another king died young. Sure, he was an odd king, but a king all the same. They called this man “The King of Rock and Roll” and his embellishments and mixing of then-contemporary sounds from both black and white music, and his unrestrained performances on stage and TV made him both popular and deeply controversial.

In fact, when his July 8, 1954 single “That’s All Right” was released many listeners were certain that Elvis Presley must’ve been black which prompted white disc-jockeys to ignore his music and caused black DJs to shun him because they “did not want anything to do with any record they knew was made by a white man”. But Elvis’ stage show attracted not only crowds, but riots because of his ability to stretch the meaning of performance. Bob Neale wrote, “it was almost frightening, the reaction... from [white] teenage boys. So many of them, through some sort of jealousy, would practically hate [Elvis].” I surmised that this is probably because he was able to steal the girls’ attention from their boyfriends. One of the most pronounced pieces of the King’s stage show included swingin’ of the hips or, as they were called in the media at the time “gyrations” that would probably cause a Southern Baptist’s blasphemy radar to explode into a million pieces from information overload. Roy Orbison, another odd king, first saw “the King” perform in Odessa, Texas and said, “His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing... I just didn’t know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it.” That was the joy of Elvis – he was creating something new – there was no previous reference point to compare his performances to. The one thing that is certain about Elvis, beyond his music, is that he is probably the first musician and cultural icon to be deemed a “visual and aural embodiment of sex” or, in other words, a sex symbol. Let’s be even more pointed about this. Marjorie Garber, a rock critic writing in 1970, called Presley, “The master of the sexual simile, treating his guitar as both phallus and girl.” Elvis was an odd king – but a king nonetheless; a king who died at age 42 – by our standards a young king. But as piano-man Billy Joel says, “Only the good die young.”

On Friday, April 3, 33 at 3pm still another king died young. Sure, he was an odd king, but a king all the same. They called this man “King of the Jews” for he was seen by many of his countrymen as the one to return Israel to its dignity by overthrowing Tiberius – the current Caesar – and establishing a united Israel as an independent nation as had not been seen since the reign of Solomon – David’s son. As with any king, Jesus of Nazareth’s legend is not only limited to the literature of canonized Christian Scripture – letters and books the early church considered to reveal the nature of YHWH – but also includes the tabloids of Jesus’ day and era. Works like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which is an account of Jesus of Nazareth as a child, mainly based on Luke’s account of Jesus at the temple as a 12 year-old boy, really endeavours to add to the Jesus folklore of the day by attempting to satisfy a hunger for more miraculous and anecdotal stories of Jesus than the Gospel of Luke provided. As such, and just like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley received tabloid press, so did Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore we get this story from the Infancy Gospel:

Later [Jesus] was going through the village again when a boy ran and bumped him on the shoulder. Jesus got angry and said to him, “You won't continue your journey.” And all of a sudden, [the boy] fell down and died. Some people saw what had happened and said, “Where has this boy come from? Everything he says happens instantly!" The parents of the dead boy came to Joseph and blamed him saying, “Because you have such a boy, you can't live with us in the village, or else teach him to bless and not curse. He's killing our children!”

So Joseph summoned his child and admonished him in private, saying, “Why are you doing all this? These people are suffering and so they hate and harass us.” Jesus said, “I know that these are not your words, still, I'll keep quiet for your sake. But those people must take their punishment.” There and then his accusers became blind. Those who saw this became very fearful and at a loss. All they could say was, “Every word he says, whether good or bad, has become a deed - a miracle even!” When Joseph saw that Jesus had done such a thing, he got angry and grabbed his ear and pulled very hard. The boy became infuriated with him and replied, "It's one thing for you to seek and not find; it's quite another for you to act this unwisely. Don't you know that I don't really belong to you? Don't make me upset." (Infancy Gospel of Thomas 4:1 – 5:5).

Beyond the tabloids this king was known for being a rebel-rouser. He reportedly told a bunch of his listeners one day:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. (Matt 5:38-41)

So if someone is trying to get the upper hand on you by smacking you on one side of your face, invite them to smack the other side too. If somebody is trying to sue the pants off you (or literally, your underwear off you) give them your bathrobe too. When the Roman soldier demands that you carry a backpack one mile – which he could legally do – shun his oppressive ways by cheerfully carrying it two miles.

Another time Jesus had a crowd gathered and was preaching to them and his mother and brothers wanted to talk to him. So finally somebody gets the courage to come up to him and say, “Ah, Jesus, your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” Jesus turned and replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” He then pointed to his disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

In response to Jesus’ statement here I just want to mention to you that with my VBS staff we have interesting conversations about Jesus and whatnot. I was talking with one of the staff this week about this very topic and I think that we pretend to respond contextually to Jesus’ message by becoming liberal Christians, conservative Christians, evangelical Christians, fundamentalist Christians, progressive Christians, and more. In light of Jesus’ comment I just think that all of these pronouns are ridiculous and get it wrong. Jim Wallis in his book God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It asserts time and again that God is not a Republican or a Democrat. And, to that end, I say that God is not liberal or conservative, progressive or regressive – God is just God. Paul says in the book of Galatians:

Sorry folks, I couldn’t tell that you were Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, because all I could see was a Christian. (paraphrased from Gal. 3:28).

I’m also reminded of Dr. Stanley Hauerwas who is a Christian pacifist from Texas who hates everything liberal in Christian thought and writes often with one of my favourite writers Bishop Will Willimon. He offers actually one great insight. He was saying to a crowd at a university one day, “One of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard from liberal thought is that if we just get to know each other we’ll be less likely to kill each other.” He then asked the crowd, “Do any of you have families?” Do any of you have mothers-in-law that you don’t want to kill?

In the Church we succumb to the sin of idolatry probably more often than any atheist might dare. We spend too much time trying to justify Jesus’ more bizarre statements by explaining them away, we come up with methodologies and programs and techniques to attempt to make our churches grow, and all the while Jesus is just trying to preach. We inhibit the preaching Jesus Christ and the inflammatory Holy Spirit in our wrestling for control of the Church from God.

I know that my preaching inhibits the preaching of Jesus. I mean, never has my preaching invoked such fury in a congregation that they were led to attempt to toss me off the sheer face of the Niagara Escarpment. But, guess what? Jesus got that reaction after his first sermon. Every time that my preaching doesn’t cause you to angrily rage out of this church I leave thinking to myself, “the Gospel hasn’t been preach. Oh well, we’ll try again next week.”

One woman heard the preaching of Jesus and was honestly offended by what she heard. The parable goes like this:

The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them $100 for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About [9am] he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went.

He went out again about [noon] and [3pm] and did the same thing. About [5pm] he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

“Because no one has hired us,” they answered.

He said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.”

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”

The workers who were hired at [5pm] came and each received [$100]. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received [$100]. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. “These men who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “And you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”

But he answered one of them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for [$100]? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. (Matt 20:1-16)

The woman who had heard this parable for the first time in her life was outraged and said to the preacher after church one day, “Where do you get these stories you use? The preacher says to her, “Ah, growing up in South Carolina...” She responds saying, “Well I was really offended by the one today because that’s just not the way to treat people; people who’ve worked all day getting paid the same as those who just showed up at the last hour. That’s no way to run a business. That is injustice.” The preacher just made sure to remind her, “Wait a minute honey. That’s not original with me. That’s Matthew. “It’s Matthew?” “You know the Gospel of Matthew? What is your church background?” He was just praying that she wouldn’t say United Church. “Well I went a bit as a kid.” Then the preacher replied, “I just envy you so much, because 250 people just shook my hand this morning saying, ‘Oh it’s reasonable’ or ‘it makes sense’ and you GOT IT! You are offended by this story. And just for your information, the man who told that story was murdered shortly thereafter; for telling that very story. We got organized in Welland after that story.

You see, folks, Jesus was an odd king – but a king nonetheless; a king who died at age 33 – by our standards a young king. But as piano-man Billy Joel says, “Only the good die young.”

And in response to his bizarre story – a story that didn’t end with his death; but really only began with his death – people began to orally recall his story, his teachings, his oddities. One of the first people to begin circulating and systematizing the teachings of Jesus was a man named Paul – who was previously known as Saul – a Pharisee from Tarsus – a city in southern modern-day Turkey on the Mediterranean. For 30 years Paul was writing letters and visiting and establishing churches across the Roman Empire in the name of the King of Fools – Jesus Christ himself. One such church was the congregation at Ephesus who Paul wrote to sometime during his imprisonment in Rome in, or around, 60 CE.

Now Ephesus was a multicultural church, mostly Jewish and Hellenistic, and therefore his letter pertains to the particular context found within that church. He says to the lot of Jewish and Hellenistic (or Greek) Christians and all other Gentile nationalities represented saying to them:

In [Christ] you were chosen, having been [destined] according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will...”

Paul emphasizes that as different as we may be it is Christ who calls out to his congregation; to his creation; to his Church to conform and be directed by his will. Another way of looking at it is considering how many countries attempt to assimilate immigrants into their culture, rather than allow them to bring their cultural heritage from their former country to the new one.

Paul goes on to mention one other piece that should be endemic to those who call the Way their path of faith. He says:

And you were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13-14)

What this is saying is that when somehow your heart stirred in favour of the Gospel of Jesus Christ you became a slave to it. It owned you. It possessed you. And its mark of ownership in your life is the Holy Spirit; the breath of life; the Spirit of truth; the comforter.

Today at Pelham Community Church we have a choice to make – a choice between three kings; but really only two choices. We could choose to live life attempting to mesmerize the world the way both the King of Pop and the King of Rock did, or we could choose to live life as God’s possession, marked by the Holy Spirit – God’s deposit guaranteeing that when the will is put into effect there will be something for each of us.

Perhaps you would like to recommit your life to that odd king Jesus. Perhaps you would like to open your life to his power of healing your wounds – be they physical, emotional, spiritual, relational. Perhaps you are facing too many burdens alone and need a community of faith to walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death. Perhaps you need an encouraging word to help you make it to the end of the day. Perhaps too many Christians around you have the answer, when you don’t even know the questions. Perhaps you just need a gentle hand to lift you up again...I’d like to invite you into the Jesus Narrative. You see folks, you have a lot of ideas about what Christian faith is about. But I just want to remind you that it is the nature of our God to resurrect the dead. I don’t know why this God loves that kind of thing, but it is at the center of who our God is. And so, I’d like to invite you to pray with me. If you would like to you can repeat after me; otherwise we will leave a space for silent prayer where God can pour out resurrection upon your broken heart. Let’s pray:

God of the Resurrection

I surrender my life to your will

Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned

Forgive me Lord, for I have hated my neighbour

Forgive me Lord, for I have only worried about myself

Forgive me Lord, for I have ignored you for so long

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon me

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon this people

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon the nations

Place your seal upon me

Place your seal upon these Christians

Place your seal upon the nations

Jesus I cast away all my burdens

Jesus, I take up the burden of living for you

Jesus, your burdens are liberating

Jesus, your burdens enrich life

Jesus, I surrender to you

Jesus, possess me

Jesus, you own me

So Jesus, take my life and bend it to your will

Until all are taken Up and Away

Amen