https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html
The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King, Proper 29 Year A RCL.
The Great Dictator (1940, Charles Chaplin).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcP_4Nthzzs
St Matthews Tucson, AZ Christ the King Sunday - Last Sunday after Pentecost.
(21:12-28:42)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9a/5b/29/9a5b29d42c88f7ef4eccbd9b633c2698.jpg
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him…” (Matthew 25:31-32a)
In my church and many others the Sunday just before Advent is the Feast of Christ the King.
One thing that happens at my house is that we watch old movies. Once we’re settled down and the movie starts, if we’ve left room on the couch two dogs appear and welcome themselves to sit with us. The other night’s movie was relevant for understanding the feast of Christ the King. It was called, “The Great Dictator", made in 1940. At the end of the movie, a Jewish barber finds himself standing in front of a crowd of people who are waiting for him to speak and he says things they don’t expect. How did he get there? The director, writer, and producer of the movie heard that people were saying, “You know, what? The great dictator of that country over there looks an awful lot like Charlie Chaplin!” And Charlie Chaplin, who was himself the writer, director, and producer of the movie, thought, “I can use that!”
The movie begins with two characters who kind of look a lot like each other – and like Charlie Chaplin. One is the great dictator, who looks a lot like that great dictator you might guess the name of, who does all those things you would expect that fearless leader to do. He yells at his microphone, he makes arbitrary decisions. He causes life or death to happen for innumerable people without much sense of compunction or compassion. Meanwhile there’s a Jewish barber in the ghetto who really has no clue about any of this, except finds himself eventually in a concentration camp. Somehow, through the miracle of Hollywood, he is able to escape. In the course of his escape, he finds himself dressed in the uniform of the army, walking down a road. Meanwhile, nobody has seen the dictator for a while. He seems to have disappeared. Suddenly there’s this guy who looks just like him! — so they grab him, put him in a big car, and take him away. The next thing you know he is standing in front of a bunch of people who are expecting him to continue with the hellfire and the brimstone, the condemnation and the heavy “let’s get them” rhetoric. And instead he says, we need to show some compassion for each other and love each other.
You know, I’ve never seen a king. I’ve thought about it. Forty-two years ago from a distance I saw the Prince of Wales, but somehow I don’t think that is an adequate experience for understanding what a king is. I’m not sure growing up in a country like ours that doesn’t have a king that I really get it, but not every king probably gets it either.
Because if we look at the lessons in the Bible about what a king should be, from Ezekiel to the Gospels, they’re very subversive of that kind of king who’s just an arbitrary tyrant and authority without accountability. What we see is a whole different idea for what a real king is, and probably even if you had an idea for what the king was, this would kind of wreck it. Because the good king is not like that cruel tyrant at all, so the question will come back: “Have I ever seen a king?” What we hear in the prophet Ezekiel is that a king should be like a shepherd. A king should be, yes, in charge, but protecting, looking after the people, as a shepherd who’s doing their job right looks after the sheep – which can be dangerous, boring, self-sacrificing, and difficult, but it gives you a very different idea of leadership from arbitrary authority and crafty cruelty.
If you look at the image of Christ the King, and ask what the feast is about, because if the king is an arbitrary tyrant who has no accountability, who just bosses people around… Do we really think that Christ is like that? Would we want to celebrate that? Uh, uh, no.
In fact, what the feast of Christ the King was implemented for was to say, that’s not what the leader of people really should be doing. That’s not how we should be with each other, that’s not what a real king really is. There’s really only one king, and that’s the one who we’re talking about today. If we look at the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, there is a wonderful image of Christ the King in all his glory, but the image I think that stays with us from the gospel is the king who is not in all his glory, who is a little more prepared than a Jewish barber who’s just been in a concentration camp, but a Jewish barber who’s just been in a concentration camp comes a lot closer to the real king, than the glorious self-aggrandizing dictator, who also look like Charlie Chaplin. In fact, when we see the king – Have we seen the king? – maybe we all have… Have we ever seen someone sick or hungry or naked or thirsty? Have we ever visited someone sick or in prison? Well, then, maybe we have seen a king, after all.
“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
(Matthew 25:37-40)
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