7. CHRISTIAN PRESENCE AND THE ROYAL

PRIESTHOOD

John 10:1-18

The priesthood of the Church belongs to every member of it. It is a participation in Christ’s priesthood. We have ‘such a highpriest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Heb.7:26), who ‘has entered .... into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf’ (Heb.9:24), who ‘holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever’ (Heb.3:14).

This is not usually taught in youth movement circles, but this belongs to the heart of our mission in the world. Failure in holiness and in the priestly ministry of sustained intercession for the world lies at the base of our contemporary failure in mission. Our ministry demands the holiness of hope, faith, and love, and the continuing life of disciplined prayer if it is to share in Christ’s ministry.

But what exactly does the word ‘royal’ mean in the expression ‘royal priesthood’? In the Old Testament it clearly meant ‘a priestly kingdom’, on behalf of other kingdoms. But in the Book of Revelation, the concept takes on a new meaning. Revelation 1: 6 has at least two versions in the Greek. One version says, ‘(Christ has) made us (Christians) a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.’ Another version says, ‘(Christ has) made us (Christians) kings and priests for His God and Father.’

In Revelation 5:10, the meaning becomes clear. The four living beings of the vision of St. John fall before the Lamb, and they sing a new song:

"Worthy art thou to take scroll and to open its seals:

For thou wast slain and by thy blood ransomed for God From every tribe and tongue, and people and nation And made them into a kingdom and priests to our God And they shall reign on the earth.’

The kingship or lordship, as we call it, belongs to Christ the God-man. But it is given to us as well. And it is this kingship which God has given to mankind that forms the second aspect of the mystery of the royal priesthood.

We basically misunderstand the lordship of Christ only as lordship or kingship over us and over the creation. That is true, but not the whole truth. Christ shares his kingship with other men. We share not only in his priesthood, but also in his kingship. We are also ‘royal’ because we belong to the household of the great king.

But we misunderstand the kingship of Christ as well as our own participation in it, if we take our image of a king from the arbitrary rulers of history -- Ashoka or Akbar, Alexander or Augustus. The dialogue between Pilate and Jesus is very instructive here. Pilate asks Jesus: ‘Are you the king of Jews?’ (Jn. 18:33). Jesus replies with a question: ‘Are you asking for yourself, or did others say it to you?’ Pilate says something irrelevant in reply, and Christ continues, ‘My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of the worldly kind, then my servants would have fought, so that I would not have been handed over to the Jews. But my kingship does not belong to the same class as the kingship of this world’ (18:36).

The inscription ‘Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews’ does not appear on a throne but on the top of a cross. The Old Testament made a basic distinction between a king and a shepherd. Israel had no king but God, but they wanted one because everybody else had one. Read the amusing story in I Samuel 8:4 ff on how they finally got a king, Saul, head and shoulders above the ordinary people (I Sam. 9:2). But when Saul became an oppressor, God chose a shepherd boy, David, to be king, The Messiah was expected to be a shepherd-king. It is in this light that we have to understand Christ’s description of himself as ‘the good Shepherd’.

The passage in John 10: 1-18 describes the qualities of the good shepherd, of the real messianic King. Some of these qualities are to be specially noted, as the exercise of our sharing in Christ’s kingship.

1. The shepherd knows the sheep intimately, and calls them by name, and the sheep recognise his voice as a voice that can be trusted, because it always acts in their best interests (10: 3-5)

2. The shepherd leads the sheep out of the confinement of the sheepfold into the wide open pastures, goes before them, and feeds them (10: 3, 4, 9, 10).

3. The shepherd stays by the sheep even when the wolves come, face the wolves, and when necessary lays down his life in defence of the sheep. (10: 11-15).

4. The shepherd works in order that all the sheep may be brought into one fold (where all can be fed by the same shepherd) (10:16).

1. We need to develop such intimate and detailed knowledge of the world so that we know each sheep by its name. This is not merely academic knowledge of the world, but intimate personal knowledge gained by actual ‘living with the sheep.’ Our way of life should win for us authenticity. The world should be able to recognise the voice and actions of the church as always speaking in the best interests of the world and not for selfish purposes. We must by our way of life earn our credentials for being respected by the world. This comes from the holiness of hope, faith and love, and from loving, self-sacrificing service to the world.

2. We have always to help in the process of leading men from their confinement into the open field of a better life. We should become pioneers who show the way by daring to do new things, to challenge old confining fears, to lead people into the fullness of life, and be with the world in all its aspirations for food and freedom.

3. Such creative pioneering in finding freedom and food for the sheep will soon invite the wolves who want to feed on the sheep -- the oppressor and the exploiter, armed with great power, cunning and avarice. The Christian community takes the full brunt of the opposition of the wolves, and does not forsake the sheep for fear of the wolves. This identification with the poor to the point of death, in the face of opposition from the oppressor and the exploiter, is an integral part of the royal priesthood.

4. The Good Shepherd and those who share in His shepherdly ministry are anxious that there should be one shepherd and one fold. This means labouring for the one united Church under the one Shepherd, Christ. But it means more. It means also committing ourselves to one world, a single humanity, in which the welfare and destiny of each member is the concern of all and the welfare of all the concern of each. To work to establish a single worldwide structure, economic, social and political, with full freedom and diversity, but without injustice, oppression and mutual exploitation, belongs integrally to our royal priesthood.

The royal priesthood thus consists of two elements:

(a) the priestly element of a holy or set-apart community which exists for the whole of humanity, grows in holiness by growing in hope, faith and love, and continues in Christ's ministry of intercession, and

(b) the pastoral, kingly or shepherdly ministry of identification with the aspirations of the world, close intimacy with all mankind and especially the poor, creative pioneering, fearless facing of opposition even to the point of death, and working for the unity of the Church and for a single worldwide structure of justice and welfare for all humanity.

QUESTION

1. What is the relation between holiness and mission?

2. Can there be true Christian service of our fellow men which is not sustained by a life of prayer and intercession for them?

3. How can youth and student groups like ours give expression to the royal priesthood in the conditions of India today?