The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak
Trinity Church

Waltham, Massachusetts

Exodus 20: 1-4, 12-20; Psalm 19:7-14, Philippians 3: 8-14, Mathew 21: 33-46

From the Book of Exodus:
As God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses, He said,
I am the Lord your God….you shall have no other gods before me….for I the Lord your God am a jealous God….

From St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians:
The apostle wrote, I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ….

And From the Gospel According to St. Matthew:
Teaching the priests and elders in the Temple through parables, Jesus concluded with these words, The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner….Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.

Let us pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen. E

On Friday night, I saw the Northshore Music Theatre’s production of The King and I starring Lorenzo Lamas as the King and Kate Fisher as Anna. Good acting, astounding voices singing the great Rogers and Hammerstein songs, spectacular costumes and a compelling story line made for an evening of superb entertainment. The King and I has become an American musical classic. Songs including I Whistle a Happy Tune, Hello Young Lovers, Getting to Know You, ‘Tis A Puzzlement, We Kiss in a Shadow, Shall We Dance and the very moving Something Wonderful all have taken their places among the greatest show tunes ever written.

The 1951 stage play and the 1956 film starring Yul Brenner and Deborah Kerr are based on the romanticized and highly fictionalized diary of Anna Leonowens, a British tutor whom the King brought to the court to teach his wives, concubines and children science and western literature. Internet accounts vary but the king had between 38 and 67 wives and concubines and as many as 69 children.

King Mongut, who reigned in the mid-19th century, already self-educated and fluent in six languages, wanted to bring Siam into the scientific age. Although fascinated by British culture and western scientific and technological advancement, he nonetheless did not want to compromise Siamese culture and especially the Buddhist religion. A great admirer of President Abraham Lincoln, he sought to incrementally eliminate slavery from his own country. His son would complete that process during his reign.

Having had much contact with highly educated Christian missionaries, he studied the Bible, read theology and faced the hard questions that emerging science posed to established religion – Christianity and Buddhism alike. Having been a monk for nearly 30 years before becoming Siam’s king, he had developed a close friendship with the Roman Catholic cardinal in Siam. One can only imagine the depth and quality of their conversations.

Like Gandhi so many years later, King Mongut saw the Christian moral and ethical teachings as the highest and most demanding of all world religions. He admired Jesus as a great man and teacher but never believed in Him as the incarnation of God or the Savior of the whole world.

We must remember that the King believed – as did his subjects – that he was a kind of divine incarnation. We must not confuse our Lord’s incarnation with Buddhist incarnation and reincarnation; very different phenomenon. But suffice it to say that Siam’s King was the representative of the Buddha himself- a kind of reincarnation of Siddhartha. In fact, many of the Siamese kings bore the name of Buddha as a title.

Enamored with the Law of the Bible, especially as expressed in the Ten Commandments, the king implemented significant reforms in his country for the betterment of his people. Siam became one of the most advanced nations in Southeast Asia as it is today.

Although the law most impressed him, other parts of the Bible had their appeal as well, fitting in with his own Buddhist doctrine. The passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians in which the apostle declares, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse would have made sense to a man who had renounced all worldly things, pleasures and relationships as a monk. But the righteousness in Christ part would probably not have made any sense at all.

In fact, he said of Christianity that it suffered from a lack of rationality. He wanted something more scientific. This seems strange since Buddhism overflows with non-rational and unscientific teachings. But the mystery of the incarnation and the salvation of all mankind achieved through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ does not easily fit into Buddhist consciousness.

Well, the power of the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection makes no sense from a mere rational or scientific perspective. God’s saving grace transcends human understanding – a mystery is just that – a mystery. It can only be experienced – not understood. It lives beyond the reach of science. Human intelligence, logic and rationality remain inadequate to comprehend what God has done.

But the Law has rational appeal. Without a doubt, the Ten Commandments make sense to any one who reads. And even our Lord’s expansion of them in His simple commandment to love one another and love thy neighbor as thyself – and even to love one’s enemy – well, that makes sense as well – at least the part about loving one’s neighbor. Loving one’s enemy may or may not resonate in the unredeemed mind.

And, if the truth be told, very few of us – even those of us who believe in it entirely – do all that well with the loving one’s enemy part. That’s why Christian doctrine is so very high and holy. It demands supernatural grace for it entirely escapes natural man. The Law can only do so much. Only God’s grace can save.

Well, that’s why God came to us – came into the world – in Jesus Christ. He came to fulfill the Law that He had given to Moses and begins the process of establishing His eternal kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And for those who believe in the Law, the grace part may be elusive.

Such was the case for the priests and elders with whom Jesus spoke in the Temple. Committed to the Law they found His teachings about the true nature of the kingdom difficult if not impossible to accept.

Instead of seeing how God’s grace fulfilled the divinely given Law, they saw that same grace as undermining the Law. Grace opposed the Law rather than fulfilled it. Hence, they rejected the personification of the divine grace – Jesus Christ Himself – and in that rejection lost the kingdom. Christ’s kingdom becomes available to a new nation – a nation – a kingdom – not of geographic or political boundaries – but of those who believe in Him.

The eternal kingdom can only be received by faith and not by obedience to the Law. Yet obedience remains essential as a manifestation – not as a pre-condition – as a manifestation – to salvation. Make sense? No. It’s a divine mystery received by faith and experienced rather than understood. And yet, when one believe, one understands but not by the normal means of rationality. Faith brings transcendent understanding.
God gives salvation. But it’s not just a gift in and of itself. It’s a gift of Himself. Salvation comes packaged in the incarnate Christ. The two are inseparable. To receive salvation and eternal life in the kingdom, one must receive the person of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, because only in and through Him is the kingdom available.
We experience this mystery when we, by faith, receive this Great Sacrament of Eternal Life, the Sacrament of our Lord’s broken body and shed blood. In, on, over, under, around and through these simple elements of bread and of wine, we take God’s grace into ourselves as He takes us into His kingdom. Alive in Him, we live forever.
So come to this sacred table. Receive the crucified and risen Christ. And feed on Him in thy hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
And one last word about those difficult words that God spoke when He gave the Ten Commandments – the ones about being a jealous God. Although definitions of marriage vary around the world and over time, almost every culture and religion recognize that breaking a marriage vow is a serious offense. It’s called adultery.
Such infidelity can break the human spirit and cause even a mild mannered individual to become enraged with jealousy. And in most places over most of human history, the penalty for adultery has been death. Such was the case in 19th century Siam. Such is the case in much of the non-Christian world today.
We, as believing members of Christ’s church, are the bride of Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way, truth and life. If we depart from Him, we loose the kingdom of eternal life. Hence fidelity to Him who is always faithful to us remains essential.

Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, in great gratitude we come to your table. Deliver us from our pre-conditions for salvation and simply let us receive you in the power of your redeeming grace. Make of us gracious people, alive in you as you live in us and as you empower us to overcome the world so as to live in the kingdom.
In the name of and for the sake of
your Son our only Saviour, Jesus Christ
we offer this and all our prayers.
Amen. E