Sermons Archive
Christ the King Sunday
Peter Carey, Seminarian
November 25, 2006
Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of Pentecost, the final Sunday of the church’s liturgical year. It is a good time to pause before we enter the expectant time of Advent. It is a good time to pause to reflect on kingship.
So, in 21st century practice, I turned to that vast source of wisdom on all things theological and otherwise: the Internet.
Entering “king” on google.com brought up 414,000,000 entries. I wondered in Google had a place for “Christ the King” among these entries…so, I started scrolling down the page…
King Tut, King of Queens, King Kong, King Kamehameha Beach Resort, Don King, King Oliver, King Arthur, Nat King Cole, The King and I, Lost King of the Maya, King Lear, Stephen King, Lion King, Billie Jean King, King James Version, King James…387 entries before I found King David…no Jesus as king after 15 minutes of scrolling…409 Christ the King Seminary…
But I never did find a good entry on Christ the King, at least when I just searched “king.” How could this be? Well, kings get a bad rap these days, and perhaps for good reason…
Kings bring to mind violence used to oppress, lack of democracy, patriarchy, the feudal economy, and Imperialism…not the easiest of qualities to overcome. In this country, we like to believe that we threw off the evils of monarchy and kingship when we declared our independence from Great Britain.
In England, priests still take vows and pledge to the Queen (or King), bishops are appointed by parliament, and bishops are appointed by the Queen (or King)…
In our country, kingship has moved away from political power to other types of power, perhaps actually closer (in certain ways) to the admiration and love that the Hebrews felt toward their kings. In our country the “King” was Elvis, and the King of the Blues is perhaps still B.B. King. Michael Jordan was knows as the king of the hardwood. When we think of king today we may think of Larry King, or Burger King, or perhaps maybe Martin Luther King, Jr.
When I think of kings in the American context, I think of that wonderful movie King Ralph. If you haven’t seen it, it is worth a rental fee. John Goodman plays the ‘everyman’ American who is surprised to learn that he has royal blood. He is called to England after the monarch dies and assumes the throne. With the aid of an advisor played by the esteemed Peter O’Toole King Ralph learns the skills of statecraft, and he surprises many by his depth of nobility. The loud, large working man, Ralph does not fit with the idealized notion of an English monarch. However, in the end, he shows leadership, authority, and generosity that shines through a somewhat unrefined exterior.
Another example of a surprising king is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King. When the king returns a sword is remade, recast with the broken pieces. The heir to the throne, Aragorn, is a mere ranger, a somewhat scraggly, touch, dark mystical figure who does not fulfill many people’s initial thought of what a king might be.
Jesus also is surprising figure as king. Born in a manger, no palace to call home, no army, no retinue, a crown of thorns, a hasty and unjust trial and death upon a cross.
How might we understand Jesus as King? What we have in this incredible interchange between Pilate and Jesus in John’s gospel as a clue to what Jesus kingship might be. If we can set aside our critical selves, and just listen and hear this interchange, we might have a gate opened to us to what Jesus’ kingship may mean for us today.
John 18:33-37 (Verse 33) Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Though he surely had heard of Jesus’ healings, miracles, and great following, Pilate cannot believe that this person in front of him could possibly be the King for whom the Jews were waiting.
(Verse 34) Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
Jesus’ rejoinder back to Pilate is unique to John’s gospel, and is beginning of a clue that this trial may in fact be turning on its head. We see a paradigm shift beginning with his answer. The tables are turning.
(Verse 35) Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Pilate is suspicious of the Jewish leaders, and is also worried about this strange, surprising fugitive sitting before him in the Praetorium.
(Verse 36) Jesus answered, “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.”
Here Jesus makes the dramatic turn and admits that yes, he is a king, but his kingdom is not from this world. If his kingship merely occupied a portion of the world as it is known, Jesus followers would be fighting for his life. While his kingship is fully in the world, it is not of the world. (We can think “ahead” to a few weeks from now when we remember that this king laid in a manger as a vulnerable child. A king in the world, but not of the world.)
(Verse 37) Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Jesus answers Pilate’s question with what seems to be an evasive answer. To Pilate, who does not really hear or understand Jesus, the answer seems to be an evasion. But the truth is that Jesus is the gift from God who has entered the world and is fully incarnate in the world, but is not of this world. Jesus is the king long hoped for, but shatters the worldly picture of what a king is. Jesus will not be tethered to any faction of his day, and will not be limited to narrow understandings of God. In putting Jesus on trial it is soon apparent that the ones on trial are the Jewish authorities who feel their fragile political alliance with Rome crumbling. The ones on trial include Pilate who begins this interchange as the judge, and becomes the judged by the end. He does not hear the truth; he does not hear Jesus’ voice.
Jesus invites us to stand with him as he is put on trial. The kingdoms of this world critique and question him and try to force him into a very small box. But Jesus submits only to his Abba, his father. Especially in John’s gospel he is clear about who he is, though not everyone around him can hear and see what is right in front of them. In the midst of a world that has injustice, violence, poverty, conflict between factions political and religious, Jesus does not just carve out a kingdom that can be compared to the kingdoms of this world. Jesus’ kingdom calls into question every assertion of kingship in the world. Jesus’ kingdom places God at the center and welcomes us to live in God’s loving embrace.
Thus the believer standing where Jesus’ stands is not someone who can only be ‘at home’ in a specific bit of this worldly territory. He or she has become a person at home everywhere and nowhere…We are not – it seems – permitted to be a home in the sense that we can feel ultimately satisfied with where and what we are, longing to hold on to it and unwilling to respond to challenges; we are not to settle down in our place and our time because we feel comfortable. There are always questions to be asked by us and of us. That said, however, what is asked of us is a commitment to be here and now – our questioning can never be an attempt to deny or escape the present moment. (1)
The present moment can be a very difficult place to be. We have known heartache, pain, depression, suffering and loneliness. We also know that in the present moment is where God is with us. Jesus does not occupy a kingdom that is far away on the landscape of the world, or far away on the landscape of time. Jesus is with us, and is for us. We are called to live, for Jesus has come so that (in John 10:10) “we might have life, and have it abundantly!” The present moment is the moment in which we live the abundant life. As the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist, Tich Nhat Hanh stated in his wonderful book by the same name, “Present moment, beautiful moment.” (2)
So what does this mean for us, living today on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, as we begin to look forward to the remembrance of Christ’s surprising birth in Bethlehem? What does this mean for us as we live in a rapid, busy time surrounded by the practices of work holism and worldly success and so many earthly kingdoms? As the recently deceased biblical scholar, theologian and Episcopal leader, Verna Dozier stated: we are called to follow Jesus, not just worship him. (3) We are called to follow Jesus, to follow his kingdom, in the world, but not of the world.
As Jesus’ appears before Pilate we are also put on trial; we are asked to stand with him, and empowers us to take time to recognize the present moment, to recognize that moment in its pain and in its joy. When we take time to recognize the present moment we see that the world is in dire need. For some people, being aware of the present moment may cause them to reach out to someone that we know is struggling, yet we have not had the courage to ask for help. For some, this may mean seeing the rising ocean levels and the evidence of Global warming and responding by beginning to practice better stewardship of the earth. For others, seeing the increase in violence and animosity in our communities might bring about a call to reach out across class, race and ethnic lines. For others, being aware of the present moment, where we stand with Jesus may cause a change in heart when we encounter a panhandler, and may cause us to reflect on the ways that our resources might be put in greater service to those in need. For all of us, living abundant lives will mean that we need to carve out time to stand with Jesus and to embrace the kingdom that he has opened for us.
Jesus came into this world as a surprising figure, which we will remember in the coming weeks of Advent. Jesus also set out a kingdom that was, and is surprising.
A kingdom in the world, but not of the world.
A kingdom in which we are invited to stand with Jesus in that difficult place, in the present moment making a witness to the kingdoms of this world.
A kingdom that invites us to live abundantly in the present moment,
A kingdom where we encounter God, and one another, in joy.
Footnotes:
- Williams, Rowan Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles our Judgement (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids: 2000), 84.
- Nhat Hanh, Thich Present Moment, Beautiful Moment (Parallax, San Francisco)
- Dozier, Verna The Dream of God