First Presbyterian Church, Willmar, MN
November 25, 2012
The Reign of Christ the King
“So You Are a King?”
John 18:33-37
This is the Sunday that we celebrate as Christ the King
Sunday or The Reign of Christ the King.
In 1925, Pope Pius XI, a cleric very sensitive to and aware of the
growing claims of racism and super-nationalism that were growing throughout the
world, proclaimed the Feast of Christ the King. Pope Pius XI felt it was necessary to proclaim
loudly that Christ is our King!
In 1969 the extraordinary Pope Paul VI set the date of the
festival of “Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe” as the last Sunday in the
church year in order to stress the significance of the return of Christ at the
end of time as we know it. By the way,
Swedish Lutherans – being Swedish – call it the “Sunday of Doom” since it is
the day that looks toward the day of judgment.
Personally, I prefer “The Reign of Christ the King!”
Let me read you a small part of Mathew’s narrative of the
Last Supper.
[Matthew 26:20-25] When
it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating,
he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ And they became greatly
distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’ He
answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray
me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom
the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have
been born.’ Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied,
‘You have said so.’
Have you ever noticed that Judas’ question is different than
the other disciples’ question. The
others all ask: “Surely not I, Lord?”
Judas had been a pretty good disciple. He apparently held the treasury and kept the
books. He greatly admired Jesus as a
leader and a teacher. He was sort of like
all those people who, like Thomas Jefferson, view Jesus as a good man, a good
moral teacher, but nothing more. The
other disciples said: “Surely not I, Lord?” But Judas said: “Surely not I, Rabbi?”
Judas had already dismissed the notion that Jesus was a Lord, a King, of anything. Judas
simply called him “Teacher.”
If we think about “kings” we probably think about the
parliamentary kings and queens of England and some Scandinavian countries. In the Middle East a “king” is the ruler of
some specific territory, usually for life and frequently the title and the
power are passed on to the eldest son after the death of the king. Some years ago I was curious about the king
of Saudi Arabia. In that land, and
perhaps others as well, everything – everything – simply belongs to the
king. The king may be as generous or as
tight-fisted as he likes, but at the end of the day everything that anyone has
in that land is simply on loan from the king!
The king controls wealth and power, property and has command of armies.
Pilate asked Jesus: “So you are a king?” He must have had at least a small smile
curling the end of his lip as he said that.
Jesus had totally alienated the leaders of the Temple and the Jewish
community. His ministry threatened to
destroy both their peace of mind and their power. He mocked them as hypocrites. They remained frightened of him, so they had
him arrested and turned him over to Pilate as a political traitor to Rome.
They told Pilate that they
acknowledged only one king of this land:
Caesar. This Jesus claimed to be
a king himself and that was treason against Caesar. So Pilate, as Caesar’s governing
representative in that part of the world, tried to determine whether or not
Jesus was really a traitor to Rome. And
when Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world, Pilate had no
idea what he was talking about.
Christ’s victory is on the cross, and
Paul said: “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block … and foolishness[I
Cor. 18:23]” to the world. Jesus’ claim to kingship was strange then and
remains so even now. Those of us who
worship a “king” who never reigned, who was never powerful, who never brought
opposing powers to their knees, and who died a dreadful death, crucified on a
cross as a common criminal, necessarily have to embrace a different idea of
“kingship,” for the
question becomes not one of earthly territory but rather who is ultimately in charge of your actions, your life, your
soul.
At some point we all have to make a decision about who or
what is our king? Family loyalty?
Professional success? Money? Personal satisfaction? Politics? Nationalism? Pleasure?
Jesus’ proclamation as “king” of
a kingdom that is not of this world, lets us know that faith in Christ does not
necessarily guarantee success in these worldly endeavors.
Like anyone who holds power at
the whim or will of some higher authority, Pilate was a wary politician. He
didn’t particularly like the people who were threatening Jesus. He weighed his options. He personally had too much at risk to take an
unpopular stand that might incite the locals to some sort of demonstration or
even violence. Any large public disorder
would anger his bosses. We all know what it is like sometimes to keep the peace
so that we can keep our job. Pilate decided
to go along in order to get along.
You may have read about the end
of “Christendom.” That doesn’t refer to
the end of the reign of Christ. It
refers to the diminished influence of a cultural and political power that was
mistakenly tagged as the influence of Christianity. Like Pilate, if we choose to support Christ
as our king, there is less and less cultural support for our decision than
there might have been 50 years ago.
Nonetheless, as Christians we still must make a choice every day.
Whether you are four, or twenty-four, or eighty-four, or one hundred and four:
the same decision confronts all of us every day.
Who do we say is our king? Do we support Jesus? Do we follow Jesus? Do we oppose Jesus? Do we deny Jesus? Do we try to serve two masters? Do we
sarcastically ask Jesus: “So you are a king?”
Do we enthrone Jesus as “king” of
a kingdom that is both “now” and still “not yet”? Or do we enthrone a host of
other “kings” in our lives?
Do you ever doubt the power of
Jesus’ love? Leave the comfort of your
palace and go up to Golgotha. There is a
man in the middle of two thieves dying on a cross under the sign installed by
Pilate himself. Some have called this sign the first Christian sermon. It reads:
“Jesus, King of the Jews.”
But like Pilate and then those
two thieves on the other crosses, you can be in the very presence of Jesus, the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and have no idea who he is.
Will you follow this king, or
will you ignore him? What is it that
determines your choice?
My oldest step-son Joshua joined
us for Thanksgiving. He is in the Air
Force, and he is about to leave to spend a year in South Korea. South Korea is a democratic republic these
days, but for centuries it was ruled by a monarchy. In the old days of the
imperial monarchy, the king was polygamous. It was said that he had one queen
but many wives!
Perhaps our faith is like
that. On Sunday morning we come and
spend an hour calling Christ our King, but we are seduced by lesser stand-ins
for the rest of the week. Perhaps we
even allow them to sit on the throne of Christ the King.
What is keeping you from
enthroning Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords? What is keeping you from him
and only him? Do you call him “teacher,”
or do you call him “Lord”?
Paul
said Christ crucified was a stumbling-block and foolishness to the world, and
then he added: “but to
those who are the called … Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human
wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. [I Cor. 18:24-25]”
Rejoice! Christ is our
King!
Amen.
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