Christ the King Sunday
November 20, 2016
Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46
Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In our most
recent joint Bible study, last week, we looked at some of the differences
between the four Gospels in the telling of the passion story, the story of
Jesus’ death. Some differences are subtle, some not so subtle, and many of them
are essential in understanding the picture of Jesus that any given Gospel
writer is trying to paint. In our conversation, I lifted up one moment that, in
all the passion narratives, stands out as my favorite, and it is unique to
Luke’s Gospel: it is the moment we heard today, when Jesus hangs on the cross,
having been beaten, flogged, and mocked, and now forgives those who persecute
him, and tells the criminal beside him, “Today you will be with me in
paradise.” I find this exchange absolutely stunning, as flummoxing as it is
comforting. For Jesus to offer forgiveness and salvation in this context – I
think incredulously, “What are you doing, Jesus??” and then in amazement, “Who
am I, that my God would do this also for me?” As I said, I find it
When I told
our Bible study this, I was not yet aware that this text was the appointed one
for Christ the King Sunday this year. Christ the King, or sometimes called,
“Reign of Christ,” is a day in the church year when we celebrate that Christ is
our ruler, and is ever working to bring about God’s kingdom here on earth (that
is, working toward this world being a place in which, as we pray in the Lord’s
Prayer, God’s will is done “on earth as in heaven”). All of today’s texts speak
to some aspect of who Christ is as our king. In Jeremiah, he is a shepherd,
gathering us together. Christ as King will execute justice and righteousness.
In the Psalm, God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in time of
danger. Colossians focuses on Christ’s “strength” and “glorious power,” which
he shares with us. This Christ the king is one who rescues, holds together, and
brings peace and reconciliation through the cross.
These are
all good descriptions of what I would expect from a king, and indeed what first
century Jews expected of a king: someone mighty, who saves, and leads, and
protects, and inspires, and brings peace to a hurting people! But then we get
to Luke’s description of the kingly Christ, and we are stopped in our tracks.
This is not the picture of a king that first century Jews expected, nor is it
the one that we would wish for or describe, left to our own devices. This
so-called king, with his crown of thorns, looks weak, beaten down by the enemy,
complacent. There is nothing of the “glorious power” of Colossians, nor the refuge
and strength from Psalms, nor the protector from Jeremiah.
So my two
questions this week have been: first, if this is indeed our king, this man
hanging on a cross, accepting abuse, forgiving his persecutors, and inviting
criminals to join him in paradise – if this is our king, then what does it mean for us as followers of
this king, and second, does this
picture differ from what we expect of our secular rulers?
First, what
does such a king mean for that king’s followers? I mentioned at the beginning
of this sermon that I find this depiction of Jesus stunning, at once upsetting
and comforting. Let me explain that a little further. My experience, living in
this world, is that anxiety is the cause of most if not all conflict. Whether
in a couple, a family, a church, or a corporation, anxiety can be caused by any
number of things: change, miscommunication, differing expectations, etc. And
when anxiety enters the picture, people are more likely to react, lash out,
accuse, and insult. Or, they might avoid, cutting themselves off from the
issue. Or, they might play peace-maker, insisting that everyone get along. We
have seen all of these responses and more in an anxious America in the past two
weeks. In the face of anxiety, our natural response is to engage in fight or
flight.
Which is
what makes Jesus’ response so stunning: it is completely out of our human
experience. He has every reason to feel anxious and more. He’s been publicly
flogged, beaten within an inch of his life, and now hung on a cross to die,
while those who love him stand by and say nothing. But rather than lash out at
his betrayers, or make snarky comments, or give a list of rationale as to why
this is inappropriate… he forgives them. He side-steps the anxiety, and he
simply forgives them, offering salvation even to criminals. That is the king
that God gave to God’s broken people: not a ruler who lashes out, who wields
the sword, who attacks and counter-attacks, who uses people’s faults against
them, nor even one who saves himself, when he has the chance, from even greater
And so to
return to my first question: what does this mean for us, as followers of this
ruler? Once again, I am both comforted and threatened by the answer, for to be
followers of this ruler means to strive for the same: to answer attacks with
love, not hate or even apathy; to respond to anxiety with understanding and
compassion, not sword and shield; to constantly remind each other of our
dependence on God for our salvation, rather than fleeting worldly promises. It
is a tall order, one that can only be met with the love, power and support of
that same king who calls us to this seemingly impossible task.
But then we
move to that second question: is this what we expect also from our worldly
leaders? I have really struggled with this one, because while I want to think I
would seek a leader like Jesus, I also think, “This sort of kingship would
never work in the real world.” It’s all well and good for Jesus to be this way,
but a president? I have many times thought, half sadly, half sarcastically,
that if Jesus ran for president, he wouldn’t get elected. We seek outwardly
powerful people to be our leaders, just like centuries of Jews, who were asking
God for a mighty ruler to fight off their oppressors and use a strong arm to
save them from their enemies. Except, that “powerful” ruler they requested came
as a babe in a manger, and grew up a peasant, and spent his life fraternizing
not with the rich and powerful but with the marginalized, who forgave the most
despised of society (including those who hurt him and accused him directly!),
who lifted up and fought for the lowly, and who, in the end, brought all people
to himself.
All this,
yet his “strength” and “glorious power” came from his very willingness to be
vulnerable, from his willingness to forgive, from his attention to the poor and
needy, the marginalized and disenfranchised. This is a power unlike what we are
accustomed to seeing.
Yet what if
we did expect this from our rulers?
What would such leadership look like in today’s world? If Jesus were president,
for whom would he fight, with whom would he fraternize, and to whom would he
reach out?
I have been
thinking more than usual this week about what my Christian call means in public
life, or said another way, how to be a patriotic American who is also living
out her faith in civil society. I wonder if part of it might be to ask these
questions about how Christ would reign in America today, and then to hold our
elected leaders accountable to that (by calling, visiting, writing letters,
etc). And then to fight for those same things President Jesus would. To work in
whatever way we are able to bring Christ’s reign here to earth, through our
prayers and petitions, our love and compassion, our faith-full voices, our
willingness to use our particular gifts and positions for helping those in
need, as well as our willingness to forgive, and our invitation into Christ’s
salvation.
That is my
Christ the King Sunday hope and prayer this year: that we would all seriously
consider how Christ would reign in this time and place, and then do all we can
to make that reign a reality – in America and in this world. May we all seek first the kingdom of God and
its righteousness, by whatever means necessary.
Let
us pray… Christ, our King, we thank you
for being our ultimate ruler, for showing us what a just society, a righteous
kingdom, can look like, and for empowering us to seek that kingdom. Guide us to
work with you to bring that kingdom upon this earth, by the strength of your
glorious power. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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