Martin Luther King, speaking at the height of the struggle for Civil Rights in America said that Riots are the language of the unheard.  That observation applies not only to then but to many situations where people feel that they are not listened to.  Not being listened to is also a symptom of our own society.  In a small way I have experienced it myself this week.

I was recently given a parking fine in circumstances that gave justifiable grounds for appeal. The computer-generated letter I received in response to this appeal demonstrated to me that I wasn’t listened to. The complaint against Westminster City Council was dealt with by someone in Warrington who assured me that my appeal had been considered carefully but the feeling I am left with is that I have been unheard.  I was not tempted to riot – at least not yet, though if you know any Westminster City Councillors you had better warn them!

I am sure that many of you have experienced similar frustrations when you are dealt with by a faceless system, sometimes based in faraway countries as well as Warrington, which seems a favoured venue for organizations who want to avoid personal contact at all cost. One wonders where the unfortunate people of Warrington go to have their complaints heard!

When we are not heard or understood this can lead, even in so-called democratic societies, to feelings of injustice and left untreated, in some circumstances can result in violent action.  Recently the Buddhist monks of Burma led a protest against an oppressive regime because the people were not being heard and now, in Pakistan, there is a similar protest. People who are unheard have taken the course of action that Martin Luther King warned of , though one wonders what the result will be. The media circus have left Burma now so it is hard to tell and the Pakistan drama has yet to reach a conclusion.  People have a right to be heard and understood and the consequences when they are not can be devastating.

Today’s Gospel for the feast of Christ the King is partly about not being heard.

Jesus and his message was not heard by the Jewish religious authorities, nor by the Roman occupiers of the Holy Land.  What was heard was interpreted as a threat.

The Gospel Jesus preached had consequences that were too frightening to contemplate.  The Jewish leaders, the ruling family of Ciaphas and Annas, were frightened of a loss of power, influence and control.  Pilate was afraid that Roman authority was being challenged by someone who was accused of wanting to be King – who came with the message that God rules with a love which conquers everything .  That was much too disturbing a message for some to hear because it carries with it a radical change of understanding about power, kingship and authority – demanding a new way of seeing things.  It threatened the status quo of self-interest and it brought together a strange coalition of Jew and Roman who did what all men do when they are in fear and perceive a threat.  Get rid of the opposition!

It’s happening in Pakistan and it has happened throughout history.  The fearful lash out and if they are strong enough the result can be devastating.  As it turned out to be for Jesus.  His death on the Cross was the answer to the threat.

Even then Jesus sticks to his guns. From the heart of his pain and suffering he makes the plea of love we heard in today’s Gospel – Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.  This seems ironic because it certainly looked as if they knew what they were doing. They certainly believed so.  They were getting rid of a trouble-maker and one who, as far as Rome was concerned, had made claims to be the Messiah – the long awaited, often prophesied about – Warrior King who would come to rid the land of the occupying oppressor and who would rally his troops to fight for the establishment of God’s reign on earth.

If Rome believed that then the Jewish leaders saw things a little differently.  How could a wandering preacher with his ragbag of followers be the Messiah – and yet the people seemed to be swallowing his message and he was getting dangerous. His grand ideas and the way he tried to free people from the yoke of their imposed religious observances, was just too much. The only way to put paid to people’s aspirations was to destroy its focus.  How often it happens in our world and sadly, sometimes in the Church.

How easy it is to make God in our own image and expect him to jump through the hoops we put before him in order to justify actions which bolster up a view against alternative views.

How easy it is to believe that some interpretation of doctrine is the only right way of going about things – made all the more insidious because it is born of self-righteousness.

The trouble is that none of this converts people. Often it simply excludes them or they exclude themselves by walking away. Or it excludes God.

You know the story of the man who tried to get into a church but his way was barred because those inside thought he was too much a sinner and because he didn’t seem to accept their way of thinking.  He knocked again and again on the Church door. Then God appears and asked him what’s the matter. ‘They won’t let me in’” he cried. “I know” said God, “they won’t let me in either.”

The only way that you can convert people is through love and so often those who take hard-line stances in the church and in the world have little love in them.  Jesus taught the truth of God but much more importantly, he showed – and still shows – that love was and is God’s meaning.  At the heart of the Gospel is the truth that God loves the world so much that He sent His only Son to bring his loving salvation to all.

What was so radical about Jesus was that he refused to accept that anyone was beyond the love of God – even the Jewish and Roman leaders for whose forgiveness he fervently prayed from the Cross.  Jesus had this crazy vision for humanity that no matter what we are like we can all become something better, greater, more real, more complete if only we allow God’s love to transform our hearts.  That goes for sinners, for the excluded, the oppressed and even, it seems, for those who, refusing to listen to others, wallow in their own self-justification.  Jesus listens to our hearts and that’s the other, indeed central message, of today’s Gospel passage.

Jesus is on the Cross because His message has not been heard or misunderstood but if humans fail to listen to each other that is not so with God. God listens to us all and this is vividly illustrated in the way that Jesus deals with the Penitent Thief.  The seemingly broken Christ on the Cross showed that nothing can extinguish love and one person in that Crucifixion scene both heard and understood the truth of it.  Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.  The Penitent Thief, deserving the justice of man which had led to his crucifixion, saw in Jesus the Kingship of Love and begged Love to save him.  Though we may not always listen to each other, God always listens to the hearts of any who seek a better way.   Jesus heard the thief’s plea and responded to it.

Today you will be with me in Paradise. 
God made his own judgement crystal clear. His judgement of the thief was the judgement of love.  Acceptance and Salvation were the sentence God passed on that man’s life as He does on ours.  More than ever, in our Society and also in the Church we need to hear that message.  God listens to our hearts and converts them with love.

No one is outside that judgement – it is a possibility for all – it is open to everyone and those we disapprove of, shut the door against, or ignore are all included.  The broken crucified Jesus was the Kingly Jesus and His Kingship and His Kingdom is built on Love and on Love alone – and that is something open to all – even , it would seem, those who think they already possess the truth and who, therefore, probably don’t need God at all.

The Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross, said that when the eventide of our life comes – when we stand before the judgement seat of God - we shall be judged on how much we have loved. 

That is the challenge Christ our King throws down to us from His Cross.  It is so radical that men (and women) have often hid from its blazing truth and sought refuge in oppression, self-righteousness, hatred and fear.  Yet there is no hiding place for those who want to enter the Kingdom and share the joy of Jesus, our High King of Heaven.  Do you want to be with Jesus in Paradise?  Then listen to him and learn His way of Love.