November 22, 2009 - Christ the King Sunday

Christ Is Exactly the King We Need
John 18:33-37
Christ the King Sunday – November 22, 2009

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It's the last day of the church year, a little like our very own New Year's Eve. It's our final festival day before we dive into Advent next week, starting all over with the stories of Jesus' life, and death, and resurrection as told, this year, through the eyes of Luke. Christ the King Sunday is a relatively recent holy day – Pope Pius the 11th began it in 1925 as a way to unify people in the face of growing nationalism, to remind the church & its people that their ultimate allegiance is to Jesus, not to any leader or nation of the world. And while it's nice to have a concrete beginning and ending to the church year, I have to admit that Christ the King isn't my favorite festival day.

I think it's the use of the word “king” that does it. We don't really understand what it means to have a king, because what we know about kings is pretty limited to fairy tales and nursery rhymes, or what we have seen of how a monarchy works in jolly old England w/ Queen Elizabeth, waving regally as she passes by. The notion of a king seems antiquated & ancient. Besides, we don't want a king! Every 4th of July, we throw parties and set off firecrackers to celebrate our history as a people who threw off the shackles of the monarchy & replaced it with something better – a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We have 200+ years of pride in the fact, that in America, we elect our leaders! And if they don't do what they said they'd do, if they don't come through for us in the ways we hoped they would, well then, we just vote 'em out of office the next time around! You can't do that with kings. So this notion of Jesus being our king is foreign to us, and not just a little uncomfortable.

Because if Jesus is our king, then we are his subjects. And kings have authority over their subjects. Kings have a responsibility to their subjects, yes, but subjects also have a responsibility to obey & follow their king. And though we easily pray things like “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”, and “thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen,” that doesn't mean that it has quite sunk in that if Jesus is the king over us, he has ultimate and final authority over how we live our lives. If we thought about that, I think we might be a little less inclined to pray these words. There are other images we like better – Jesus as the good shepherd, Jesus as a dear friend, Jesus as the little vulnerable helpless baby born in Bethlehem. That Jesus doesn't feel like much of a threat to our way of life. But Christ as King may be a threat – a threat to our sense of independence, a threat to our belief that our lives are our own to live any way we want...

The gospel story from John, this little snippet of the last hours of Jesus' life, reminds us Jesus was a threat to many. The religious leaders of Jerusalem – the chief priests and the scribes – were threatened by Jesus – by his teachings, by his way of life, by his very being. And so they brought him to Pilate, a Roman ruler, asking for him to condemn Jesus to death, because by law, they themselves couldn't execute him.

Pilate himself doesn't quite to know what to do with Jesus. He can't figure Jesus out. “Are you the King of the Jews?” he asks. And instead of a direct answer, Jesus answers with a question: “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?” “Well, I'm not a Jew, am I?” - I didn't put you here – your own people did, so what did you do, Jesus?

And Jesus, King Jesus, says this: “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

You can almost hear Pilate say, “A-ha!... So you are a king?” Poor Pilate – here he is, trying to figure out what's going on, who Jesus is – what Jesus is – and Jesus just says, “You say that I am a king.” But this is not kingship the way Pilate knows it; this is not kingship that even we in our limited understanding of kings would expect it.

Because in Pilate's world, and even still today in ours, rulers are expected to be in charge. They have political power, they have military might. Rulers stand up for themselves – they don't let themselves be taken advantage of. They guard their position, they hold on to their power, their influence, their might as long as the possibly can.

But Jesus is a different kind of king. It makes me think of a scene from Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. That's the 3rd one, the one w/ Sean Connery as Indy's dad – off on a search for the Holy Grail. And there's a scene when they come to a cave that's filled with goblets. And in order to escape, Indiana Jones & his crew have to pick the right one, the Holy Grail that Christ used at the Last Supper. And the choice is overwhelming. Which to choose, of all of these beautiful chalices – some made of silver, some made of gold, most encrusted with precious jewels of every kind. All ornate, all gorgeous, all worthy vessels for Jesus, the king of kings – and yet the correct one, as I remember is, is a humble wooden cup, a common cup, made out of common things – yet made beautiful by the hands that took it and blessed it, made holy by the blood that would fill it.

Pilate who is so accustomed to kings who lord their position over their subjects, so used to rulers who take advantage of their power to maintain their authority, doesn't know what to make of Jesus. Because he, and we, would expect a king to be enthroned on a throne of gold, of wealth and beauty and status – but Jesus will be enthroned on a splintered cross. Pilate, just like us, would expect a king to have a crown made of precious metals, covered with diamonds and rubies and emeralds, but the crown Jesus will wear is a crown of thorns. We would expect the king to rally his troops to his side to give up their lives to save his in a grand and glorious battle, but instead, Jesus, our king, gives up his own life for us there on the hill of Calvary.

And there Jesus shows us what it is to truly be a king... for he comes to rule in our lives, not to abuse that power, not to manipulate us for his own gain. Jesus comes as king, not to be served, but to serve with a self-giving love. He washes his people with water and forgiveness. He feeds his people with his own body and blood. He fights by our side to set us free from sin and death, and he has won the battle for us! And while we would not choose a king, Jesus has chosen us! He has called us his people, he has made us to be a kingdom, where his love and mercy and peace will reign forever. This king, Jesus, our king, is worthy of dominion & might! To him be the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.