Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost

November 25, 2007

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Psalm 46

Colossians 1:11-20

Luke 23:35-43

              “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might; heaven and earth are full of your Glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the Highest.”

              We sing these familiar words of our Sanctus at every Eucharist.  And there is a good reason for that.  The words of our Sanctus acknowledge the sovereignty of our triune God.  And this is the Sunday we celebrate his Son as our sovereign King.  This is Christ the King Sunday.  And this last Sunday of Pentecost is the right time in our liturgical year to honor Christ as our king.  It is the right time for Jesus to take his place in his heavenly kingdom so that we have time and space during Advent to prepare for his coming to us again.  In that space of four weeks the flesh and blood Jesus of the manger and the cross will be absent from us.  Christ the King Sunday assures us, however, that he reigns in our hearts and minds as our sovereign Lord and King.  That is, if we will allow him to reign as king over our life.   

Accepting Jesus as our Lord and King is the hard part of being a Christian in the modern world, especially for those of us who live in a nation which was founded in opposition to being ruled by a king.  A nation founded on principles of an enlightened citizenry, living under an enlightened representative government.  A nation so independent of the idea of being ruled by anybody, we find it difficult to even use the language of “king” and “sovereign,” to describe our Lord and our God.   And yet so many of our scriptures, our prayers and our hymns are filled with references to Jesus as our king.      

              I have to admit I have had my own problems with the language of kingship, and I would not be surprised to know that you have, too.  I don’t know how Christians maneuver around the many places in scripture and liturgy where the language of kingship and kingdoms is used to describe God and Jesus.  Perhaps we just ignore such descriptions, or maybe we just dismiss them out of hand as archaic ways of describing our God and his Son.  I am aware of many Christians who are embarrassed, even offended by kingly references.  And we know for a fact that the language of kings and kingdoms can be a stumbling block for people who are exploring the possibility of becoming a Christian.  It is a stumbling block which can be overcome, however, if we understand that our perception of kings and kingdoms in the modern world is much different from the ways they were understood by the ancient world, especially as they come to us in Hebrew scripture.

              We need to remember that most of our king and kingdom references in Christian scripture concerning God and his son, Jesus, come from Hebrew scripture.  So it is important to know what these writers had in mind when they used kingly language to make reference to God and to a coming Messiah.  We know that in Hebrew scripture the honor of becoming a king to the Jews was an honor bestowed by God.  The kings of the Old Testament were expected to serve God and God’s people faithfully and honorably.   A godly king was a beneficent king.  He ruled with justice and he ruled in righteousness.  He was a servant king who provided the people with their basic needs and led them into prosperity.  He protected his people from harm and danger.  A king exemplified the kingly qualities of God and people honored him by his worthiness to be their king.  We know from the stories of kings in Hebrew scripture that when a king began to seek his own will rather than God’s will; when he began to define the terms of his own righteousness rather than seek to live in God’s righteousness; when he began to exploit his subjects for self-serving purpose and ignore God’s purpose for him, he soon fell into dishonor and even to his death.

              So we shouldn’t be surprised that writers of the New Testament would quote from the beautiful kingly language of Isaiah to describe the birth of Jesus and the coming of God’s kingdom to this earth.  Despite the fact that so many of their kings failed them, Jews believed God would remain faithful; that he would, indeed, send them the king of all kings.  His lineage would derive from a branch out of the tree of Jesse, which meant that he would be descended from their most favored king, King David.  And as we well know, Isaiah’s prophetic words would be issued to us at Jesus’ birth.  Jesus would be born a king from the house and lineage of David, but he would not, in any way, resemble the kings which had ruled them in the past.  And sure enough, when Jesus made his way into and through the world, he did not even come close to resembling a king, especially the kings of Rome.

Yet, people remembered that he was to be their king.  And in the end he was mocked and scorned for being called a king.  Neither Pontius Pilate, nor the criminals which hung on their crosses on each side of Jesus would understand.  For that matter, neither would the Jews who called for his death, because this Jesus did not suit their own perception of the king they had come to believe God would send them.  But their perception was skewed by the political climate of their day.  They were looking for a mighty and an all-powerful king who would save his chosen people from the injustice and oppression they suffered under Roman rule.  They were looking for a king who would defeat the armies of this world so that the reign of God would be established on this earth by the rule of his people.

              But as we well know, this is not the king God sent into the world.  From the circumstances of his birth to the circumstances of his death, Jesus did not even come close to being the king expected by the Jews, nor did he come close to being the king rulers of Rome had feared he might become.  Jews came to despise him, and  Romans came to ridicule and mock and scorn him for the king he was.  To the Jews, this king is even a greater disappointment than any they have known, and to the Roman authorities this king is just a fool.  In the end, this king who people claim to be their savior cannot even save himself.  They believe that he cannot; but in fact Jesus will not.  Kings of this world are ultimately concerned with saving themselves, even at the expense of their kingdoms.  But Jesus is not of this world.  He does not need to save himself.  His sole purpose for coming into our world was to save us.

              Jesus came to the world to bring God’s kingdom to this earth.  It is a kingdom which is incomprehensible to earthly rulers and to the people who are ruled by them, because Jesus shows us a total reversal of the role kings have played throughout human history.  Jesus is of the house and lineage of a king, but this king is born in humility and lives in humble circumstances throughout his life.  Throughout his kingship on this earth, Jesus is a servant king; not a king to be served.  Jesus is a king who places the needs of others ahead of his own needs; he lives for what he can give to the world, not what he can take from it to serve his own purpose.  Jesus surrounds himself, not with royalty and wealth, but with the poor and the needy and the disenfranchised.  Jesus seeks to worship and serve the One who sent him; he does not seek to be worshiped and served by the people he has been sent to.  Jesus finds strength in his vulnerability and power in his powerlessness.  He does not use force as a means of controlling people; rather he leads people to reconciliation and into relationship with God and with others by his compassionate love and loving compassion for them.  Jesus will choose to suffer violence and die a victim rather than turn to violence to defend his innocence.  He knows by his own experience that violence does not bring a just or righteous end to conflict; violence only breeds more violence.

           In the end Jesus will not save himself because that is not what God’s salvation is meant to do.  Jesus did not come to save us FROM the world; he came to save us IN the world.  Jesus came to show us how we might live into God’s kingdom in the next world, right here and right now, in this world.  And his whole life, from his birth to his death was meant to show us how to do that.  Only one of the criminals on each side of Jesus got it that day.  Only one of them figured out why Jesus would not save himself from suffering and death on that cross; he begins to understand that Jesus does not save us FROM our crosses, he saves us ON them.  He shows us a different way of living through the difficult times of our life; he shows us how to bear our crosses.  Only one criminal came to realize who Jesus was by the very fact that this innocent man was willing to suffer and die the death of one who is guilty of a criminal offense.  Because Jesus WAS guilty.  He was guilty of being innocent, innocent of using any of the means by which worldly kings use their powers to self-serving and evil ends.  Jesus was guilty of not living by the world’s rules and expectations of a king and a savior.   

          There is only one criminal who gets it.  And when he does, he asks Jesus if he will remember him when he comes into his kingdom.  Jesus gives him the most astonishing answer.  “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  What Jesus is telling this criminal is something really important, even essential, about God’s kingdom.  God’s kingdom has already come.  It is already here.  God’s kingdom is real and present on this earth even today; as real and present as Jesus was real and present in bringing it to us.  We have evidence of it. 

          We have evidence every time we witness someone placing the care or well-being of someone else ahead of himself.  We see evidence of the kingdom any time someone takes a stand for what is right, any time we see people working for peace and justice, unity and reconciliation in the world rather than contributing to the violence and divisiveness in it.  We see evidence of the kingdom in anyone who will suffer ridicule, scorn or even injury rather than bring ridicule or scorn or injury against someone else.  We see evidence of the kingdom any time we experience leadership as servant hood, and authority which serves the best interest of others.  Perhaps the most succinct and comprehensive evidence that God’s kingdom can be found on this earth is demonstrated by those who live a life based on Jesus’ beatitudes.  People who find blessing in their life by being a blessing to others.  Need I go on? 

          On this last day of Pentecost, this day when we celebrate Christ the King, we acknowledge the kingship of Christ as the reversal of power and violence and domination in the world.  We recognize our king as one who does not resemble the kings of human history.  And we continue to recognize God’s kingdom come to this earth by the ways God’s people live their life after the example of their king and savior, Jesus. 

          Today I wear an alb and stole with a cross and a crown to symbolize Christ the King.  To most people these symbols would seem to be contradictory.  Only a Christian can know how well they complement each other.  Only a follower of Christ can know the power of Jesus’ cross and Jesus’ crown to save us each and every day, not FROM this world, but IN it.