Rev James Jones: Prophetic Voices

Triennial Consultation
Nairobi : July 2009
The Rt. Rev. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool
1. “When the Son of Man comes will he find faith (in the God of Justice) on
earth?
(Luke 18)
This is one of seven “Son of Man/Earth” sayings in the Gospels. The widow in
the parable asks the Judge for justice. She knows how in Deuteronomy it says:
“Cursed be anyone who deprives the widow and orphan of justice”.
Jesus uses her prophetic persistence to encourage us to keep the faith and to
keep praying for the God of justice to do his just will on the earth.
The widows and orphans of climate change call out to God today for climate
justice.
This parable is not just about faith in general or about prayer in general. It‟s a
parable about praying to and faith in the Just God for justice on the earth.
2. For too long there has been a division between the doctrines of personal
salvation and social justice. How can a person be reconciled through the cross
of Jesus Christ to the God of Justice and Mercy and not be caught up in the will
of God to act justly and love mercy and do God‟s will on earth as it is done in
Heaven? Social justice and personal salvation are two sides of the one coin.
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There is an inextricable link between the doctrine of justification by faith and the
word of justice in God‟s world. That is why “faith without works is dead”.
At the heart of the Lord‟s Prayer is the petition to do God‟s will on earth as it is
done in Heaven. This is a prayer for the earthing of Heaven (see „Jesus and the
Earth‟). The Son of Man has a unique and “glorious” role in “the renewing of all
things”. (Matthew 1928).
3. The seven passages where Jesus calls himself the Son of Man in the same
context as the earth are:
i)
“The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”
(Matthew 9 v2-8)
ii)
“The Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth”
(Matthew 12 v38-42)
iii)
“The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and then
all the tribes on earth will mourn”.
(Matthew 24 v 27-30)
iv)
“(God) will quickly grant justice to them. And yet when the
Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?”
(Luke 18 v8)
v)
“For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole
earth. Be alert at all times praying that you may have the
strength……..to stand before the Son of Man”.
(Luke 21 v35-36)
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vi)
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a
single grain….”
(John 12 v23-24)
vii)
“When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all to myself
…. How can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up”.
(John 12 v32-34)
4. All the major classical studies of the meaning of the “Son of Man” were done
at a time when neither the church nor the academy were aware of the ecological
crisis breaking upon the earth.
“For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea
monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of
the earth”.
Matthew 12 40
If the Jonah motif is one of judgement does the metaphor take us to the
judgement of Adam in Genesis 317-19?
What happens before Jesus is laid in the heart of the earth? The earth quakes.
What happens when he the Son of Man is raised from the heart of the earth?
The earth quakes again.
The earth is a more eloquent commentator on the death, burial and resurrection
of the Son of Man than the Temple curtain.
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Is the quaking earth an expression of Romans 819-23?
5. Mark 10 45
“The Son of Man (Ben Adam) came not to be served but to serve”. The first
mention of Adam serving is in relation to the earth in Genesis 215.
Gordon Wenham explores the priestly role of Adam in the Garden of Eden. He
expounds the verse in Genesis 215 “The Lord took the man (Adam) and put him
in the garden to till it and keep it”. The Hebrew words AVAD (to till) and
SHAMAR (to keep) are variously and better translated as „serve‟ and „preserve‟.
What Wenham highlights is “that the only other passages in the Pentateuch
where these two verbs are used together are to be found in Numbers 37-8, 826
and 185-6, of the Levites duties in guarding and ministering in the sanctuary”.
Wenham points out that if the Garden of Eden is seen as God‟s sanctuary then
perhaps “Adam should be described as an archetypal Levite” as a priest in God‟s
garden. The significance of Wenham‟s point is that it gives a solid biblical
foundation to an idea that is rich in the Orthodox tradition and eloquently
expounded by Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon that humanity is the
Priest of Creation and that “man was created to unite all nature to God” (Christian
Dogmatics p.90 T+T Clark).
Serving and preserving the earth is humanity‟s vocation as we exercise dominion
after the likeness of God (see Moltmann). Adam is called to be the first Servant
Lord. The poet George Herbert captures beautifully this priestly role of humanity
in creation in a poem called “Providence” which, in effect, is the theological term
for that modern concept known as “Sustainability”. Herbert says: “Man is the
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world‟s high priest”. Let me quote but one of the thirty eight verses to give you a
flavour of that sustainable world:
“Bees work for man; and yet they never bruise
Their master‟s flow‟r, but leave it, having done,
As fair as ever and as fit to use;
So both the flow‟r doth stay and hony run”.
Admittedly George Herbert overlooks those forces within nature which Alfred
Tennyson captured so vividly in his poem “In Memoriam” with that memorable
line about nature being “red in tooth and claw”.
Yet even Tennyson harmonises with Herbert‟s vision of providence for he
prefaces such a bleak account with,
“Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation‟s final law –“
It is out of love that God has made the world and sustains his creation.
Humanity, the children of Adam, have a priestly role to serve and preserve it.
Indeed, it is God‟s providence that provides humanity as the agent of that
conservation. It is this theological and Biblical vision which must inform our
attitude to the earth and to the whole of God‟s creation.
6. Because we have neglected our God-given responsibility to serve and
preserve the earth the planet is out of kilter. Climate change is symptomatic of a
moral dis-ease. The tragedy is that those most affected are without the power to
change the situation; those with the power do not feel the full effects of our
profligacy and are not using the moral challenge. Therein lies the injustice.
Copenhagen is an opportunity to redress the balance and to act urgently to
achieve climate justice.
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Will the Son of Man when he comes find us faithful and prayerful and active in
establishing justice on earth?
7. Prayer
Holy Jesus, come in glory and renew the face of the earth.
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