This reflection was written by the College’s principal, the Rev. Dr. Jesse Zink, for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community. You will find reflections from previous weeks here.

The year is not yet three weeks old and yet it seems as if events are unfolding faster than our ability to make sense of them. Someone wrote in a clergy Facebook group recently, “Is anyone else, you know, like, worried or anything?” Among the many worrying trends we’ve seen is the bald assertion that, in effect, might makes right whether in the abduction of the Venezuelan president, the repression and killing of protestors in Iran, the demonization and victim-blaming of protestors in the United States, or threats for more of the same in other parts of the world. In the course of human history, this is not exactly new behaviour but to see it stated so sharply is distressing.

The Biblical image that has come to mind for me is the final temptation that Jesus experiences in the wilderness at the outset of his ministry. The devil offers Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour” if only Jesus was worship him (Matthew 4:8). Jesus, of course, refuses but it seems that a similar prize is awfully tempting to some world leaders right now. Jesus experiences a related temptation at the end of his ministry when he rides triumphally into Jerusalem, clears the money changers out of the temple, and brings his movement right into the heart of political and religious power. It is there for the taking and Jesus knows it: when he is arrested he says, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) Political power is close at hand, but Jesus again refuses the temptation.

There’s are probably many reasons we could list for why Jesus resisted these temptations: it was incompatible with his message, he wasn’t meant to be a political leader, and so on. But I think a fundamental one is that Jesus realizes that a social order built on might, power, and repression cannot endure. The enduring kingdom that he enacts is one that is about mutuality in relationship, the giving and receiving of gifts, and growing together to maturity and wholeness. The way to realize this reign is not by calling legions of angels to one’s side but by following the way that leads to the cross. To many, this message is “foolishness,” as Paul recognizes, but it is in fact “the power of God.” (I Cor. 18) In Christ’s victory over death, we are assured that nothing can separate us from the love of God or, implicitly, from one another.

Some of us had a great and impromptu conversation last Friday in the ministry seminar about what shape the Christian gospel takes in this moment. I appreciated the many perspectives around that table and the urgent need we all felt to be proclaiming and enacting a message that is both good and new and responsive to the context in which we find ourselves. I’ve just told you a bit about the Bible passages and theological themes that are speaking to me in this moment. What is it from your faith that is speaking to you right now, and how is that message both as deeply good and unsettlingly new as it was when it was first embodied in Galilee 2000 years ago?

Faithfully yours,
Jesse Zink
Principal