Colombia stands at the crossroads between Central America and South America. Centuries before European contact a lucrative trade that flourished between the Mayans and Aztecs to the north and the Incas and other peoples to the south. Gold and sacred feathers from macaws and toucans made their way through the land, and the local Chibcha chieftains charged interest on their passing through. Its strategic location and lucrative business made it an oft-contended place. Even today a trade flourishes on its way through Colombia, but now it is not gold and feathers, but cocaine and opium. It has created in Colombia two great dominions: The dominion of the official government with aid from our government to stop the drug trade, and the dominion of the drug cartels, incredibly wealthy, immensely powerful, paying standing armies to protect their interests, and totally illegitimate.

I do not wish to cast aspersions on our brothers and sisters from Colombia, but the situation there helps us to understand today’s theme. There are in this world two great dominions. One is rooted in creation and the God who is the author of being, eternal and true, and another that is incredibly powerful, immensely wealthy, and in the light of eternity, entirely illegitimate. The Bible calls them the Kingdom of heaven and the kingdoms of this world. One’s citizenship in one or the other has nothing to do with passports, it has everything to do with the spirit, that radically free part of us that chooses. We choose what is true, right and beautiful as we have come to know them in Jesus Christ and we choose the kingdom of heaven. We choose what is false, wrong and ugly and we choose the kingdoms of this world. If we choose the illegitimate one we make ourselves illegitimate, which deals death; if we choose the legitimate one we make ourselves legitimate which is life. Being a Christian means learning to choose that which is native to the Kingdom of heaven rather than the kingdoms of this world. It means choosing Christ as our King.

These themes are developed in today’s lessons: Jeremiah pronounces God’s displeasure with the shepherds of His people who use their positions of leadership for their own gain, as if their dominion were their own creation, and not an extension of that of the Great Shepherd. Their rule is, therefore, illegitimate, self-created, and false. God will replace their dominions with a King of His own—the root of David, the Messiah. Paul, writing to the Colossians, reminds them that they have already been transferred from the dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of Christ. He goes on to show how Christ is the legitimate King, and prays that they be strengthened with legitimate power.

In the Gospel lesson Jesus hangs from the cross. He is condemned to die by the dominions of this world. By the standards of this world Jesus is vanquished and subdued. But who would guess that by dying at the hand of this world Jesus would end up the ultimate victor, the One whose Dominion does not end? He has been crowned by the kingdoms of this world with a crown of thorns: Meant to be a mockery from the dominions of this world, it becomes a symbol of a different kind of King. Who would guess it was the perfect symbol for the Suffering Servant, exactly the opposite that all that the kingdoms of this world stand for? The cross becomes the throne of the new King: Symbolizing a different, more ancient form of power, the power of self-sacrifice. It is a symbol that legitimacy does not have to force itself on anyone.

How then do we, as citizens of that kingdom, live? Standing before any choice in our lives we have the power to choose between a myriad of options. I have a friend who told me that once when he was really, really angry he pulled up a tree about 6 inches in diameter by the roots. He chose to do something with his adrenalin that was rather astounding. Mahatma Gandhi chose not to eat until his followers could get along—and almost starved himself to death. He chose to do something with his hunger that was rather against the demands of his body. Cory Ten Boom’s sister gave thanks for the fleas in their Nazi prison camp because they kept the guards at a distance. She chose to do something with her emotions that ran against her instincts. We tend to choose along well-worn paths of habit, but at any time we can break that habit. We tend to try to make circumstances or other people the causes for our choices, but ultimately, we do not have to choose any one option over another. Our bodies make demands, our emotions push us here and there, our thoughts imply one thing or another, but in the final analysis our spirit is radically free to choose—it comprises our moral capacity.

But among the myriad of options there is ultimately only one choice: We choose who is our master. We choose options that serve the Foundation of our being, and express submission to God, or we choose options that establish ourselves as ultimate beings, and set up illegitimate powers. Herein is the great paradox, that reveals the deception of the illegitimate, and validates the reality of the legitimate, that in choosing what seems to be radical freedom I end up in slavery, but in choosing slavery, I end up truly free.

And so we choose slavery of our own free will. We choose: 1) Slavery to God, His people, His law, His will and His ways, and we claim His Son as our King. 2) Slavery to one another in loving service, seeking to follow the example of our King who, even when we were at odds with Him, laid down His life for us. We choose another’s good, another’s honor, another’s decency, another’s respect. 3) Slavery to the Kingdom, that great dominion of God in the earth, by aligning our dominions to serve His dominion and so to share in its power. We choose stewardship of our time, talents and treasures for the sake of the Kingdom—as the good general said last week—a tithe of all we are and have.

This week my hawk and I reached that point in our relationship where I took off all tethers and flew him free. It was less than two weeks since he thought I would eat him, and now he comes to me of his own free will. But every falconer knows that there is nothing automatic about his return—it’s always the magical generosity of the hawk’s choice! He is choosing life with me every time I take the leash off. In the same way, every time we face a choice we choose between life and death, slavery and freedom, legitimacy and illegitimacy. Wield that great power of your human spirit and choose life.

Fr. Paul Moore+