Sunday next before Advent – Christ our Prophet, Priest & King

Jeremiah 23:5-8       St John 6:5-14

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw a large crowd coming towards him…
…And he said, “Have the people sit down.”

Today we are at the end of the Church Year.

Over the past year we’ve hopefully caught a greater glimpse of who Jesus is and are being transformed by that vision. 

How are you doing compared to one year ago?  Do you feel you have grown closer to God?  Have you come to know and love Jesus better?

Our readings today emphasize the three principle aspects of Jesus’ ministry: He is our Prophet, Priest, and King

I have mentioned this before, but for fans of Tolkien’s, The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien showed these three offices – prophet, priest, king – in the central characters of his great trilogy:

• Gandalf – is a prophet – he can perform miracles with his staff and he is wise;
• Frodo – is a priest, who must bear the ring of power, a kind of figure of human sin, which become a heavier and heavier burden to carry, and
• Aragorn – is a king, who is at first hidden, and only humbly and reluctantly, comes forth to Middle earth to rule. 

If you know the three novels, or have seen the wonderful film adaptations, it is only because these three characters work together that the salvation of Middle earth can be brought about from the dark despotism of the evil Saron.

This story is powerful, precisely because it mirrors in profound ways the character of Jesus Christ who came to manifest in his own person this threefold ministry of Prophet, Priest and King.  Jesus fulfills all these offices, these characteristics, in his own person… perfectly.

Let’s look at these three offices in relation to Jesus.

First, Jesus is the Prophet

Our Gospel, this morning, is St John’s account of the miraculous feeding of 5,000 in the wilderness from five barley loaves and two fish.  In the last verse of today’s Gospel, John writes, “when the people saw the sign which Jesus had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’”  The people were referring back to a promise made by God to Moses, about 1200 years before Christ.  Moses spoke of it in his farewell speech to the people of Israel on the border of the Holy Land they were about to enter.  [Deut 18:15-18]  God had said to Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

Remember Jesus himself says in John 14: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works…I do as the Father has commanded me.”  [10, 31]  And in his transfiguration on the holy mountain, God the Father said to Jesus’ disciples, “This is my Son, my Beloved, listen to Him.”  [Lk 9:35]

The people in today’s Gospel who proclaimed that “This is indeed the Prophet”, that day on the mountainside, concluded it when they witnessed the miracle and listened to his teaching.  Moses had fed the people with manna from heaven in the wilderness and had given them the Law.  Jesus had now just fed them with bread by a miracle, and he spoke powerfully to them the words of life, revealing the will of God. “No one every spoke like this man!” [Jn 7:46]

This Sunday we have completed another Church Year.  As we orbit one more time around the sun, are we focused ever more clearly on the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.  Are we drawn to reading the Bible for ourselves more than last year?  Are we holding the stories and sayings of Jesus and his Apostles before our minds?  Are we seeking from Him a miracle of transformation in our lives?

We can trust that every word from His mouth is perfect, reliable, trustworthy for our salvation.  We need not look for another prophet.

Second – Jesus is our High Priest

Later in the same chapter of John’s Gospel – the miracle of bread is interpreted by Jesus as something much more than simply food for their stomachs.  He tells the people who kept following him, you follow me because you want your fill of bread – but I have come for so much more.  He has not come just to satisfy our earthly needs but our highest needs for union with the Divine:  “I am the living bread which came down from heaven…He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.” [6:51,54]  The work of a priest was to connect people with the Divine.  In the Old Testament they were the ones who received the offerings from the people, offering their sacrifices up to reconcile the people with God.  They prayed to God for the people.  Jesus clarifies that the miracle of bread was only a sign.  It points to the High Priestly role that Jesus will take as mediator by laying down his life for us on the Cross. 

In our day to day life what means of mediation on earth are we using for the pain and suffering we experience – are we trying to use drugs or alcohol, or excessive eating or earthly pleasures? are we avoiding our pain with endless distraction – obsession with the news, or entertainment…?  Or is Jesus our only Mediator?

As we orbit one more time around the sun, are we focused ever more clearly on the Son of God as our High Priest – do we hold the Cross of Christ more before our eyes when we view the brokenness of the world and our own soul?  Are we seeking Jesus’ intercession more often, for our neighbour, the Church and the world?  Are we more devoted to receiving the Holy Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins and for the new risen life that He imparts?  Does our mind turn to Jesus’ sacrifice as the chief means for our peace of mind and of soul and for reconciliation with our neighbour?

Third, Christ is our King

The verse right after this morning’s Gospel, is this: “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” [vs 15]

The promise of God of a prophet like Moses, was given to Israel about two hundred years before the time of kings in Israel.  But the character of the Prophet, the Messiah, the Chosen One, began to be seen also as a King.  This added element of the character of the Messiah comes through the promise of God to King David: “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”  [2 Samuel 7:12-13]

In today’s reading from Jeremiah, 400 years after David, God repeats the promise of this coming one: “I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

So it makes sense that the people who called Jesus the Prophet would seek to make him King.

We all have a desire for good governance that we might remain free.  We experience this especially around election times when we are given a choice in our democracies as to who will lead us.  But we know that that rule will be imperfect and we place all sorts of constraints around earthly leadership to limit corruption and the misuse of power.   Oh that we had the perfect ruler!  This longing in us to be led perfectly is deep in our souls.

As we orbit one more time around the sun, are we focused ever more clearly on the Son of God as our King – do we seek to follow Jesus’ commandments every more closely? Are we committed to introspection about how we are treating our neighbour daily?  Are we manifesting God’s justice in our actions towards our neighbour?  Is Jesus’ merciful rule being exercised by us towards our neighbour?  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!

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We can celebrate today that God has manifested Himself on earth in Jesus Christ to fulfill our longings for guidance in all aspects of our life, for miraculous transformation, for perfect reconciliation with God and for wise rule.

Jesus calls on each of us to become like Him and so to fulfill in our own lives in some way this threefold character of Jesus. St Peter says (1 Peter 3:19) about you and I as members of the Church Jesus came to build:  “You are a chosen race, a royal (kingly) priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him (i.e to be a prophet) who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” 

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This morning – as we come to the end of the Church Year, and look forward to the next – Jesus ministers to us in these ways.  He has spoken to us through His prophetic Word and soon, in the Holy Communion, will give Himself to us as our great High Priest.  Let us come now and submit ourselves gladly to this most gentle, wise and mighty King. 

And may each one of us become on earth to others His prophet, His priest, and His king.

Amen +