Martyrs and Kings

Every transition has an end, a middle, and a beginning. The Church Year ends with the feast of Christ the King, the Reign of Christ, a feast instituted by Pope Pius X during the rise of Fascism in Italy in the 1920s. The feast spread to many other church bodies; we celebrate it now as a reminder that God reigns, not us. The Church Year begins anew four Sundays before Christmas Day (whether it occurs on a Sunday or a week day).  

And so as we reach the end of the season that culminates in the feast of Christ the King, we find the story of Jesus about to loop around itself from the end back to the beginning: from the consummation of time to the birth of a baby. "Come thou long expected Jesus" we soon will sing. And he arrives twice! First he comes to us as the infant terrorizing Herod and again as the one before whose throne all will gather. Same person. 

Herod the Great, ruler of Palestine under Roman sponsorship -- who built the great buildings whose ruin Jesus prophesies -- got the message early and he did not like it. That earthbound despot wanted no rivals, especially legitimate ones. Some more recent sovereigns have had similar inclinations.  But God prevails. 

And that is good news that we hear today : Christ forewarned his followers of the difficulties ahead of them and yet reassured them of their ultimate vindication. And so it is when we face hard times, adversity, or mortality: we are not alone. That is why the one who comes is called "Emmanuel" - God with us.

This good news comforts the comfortable and the afflicted, the desperate and the sorrowful and the joyous alike. Since sometimes that can be all of us or any of us this is good news indeed.

That reminder that God reigns came home with force within a decade or two after the feast was first proclaimed. Among those who made it stick in hearts and minds was Kaj Munk, a Danish playwright and pastor, who wrote an impolitic play during the second World War. 

What was the point, and what was the problem, was that he uniquely compared Herod to Hitler. And this did not make the occupying army happy: indeed he was soon a martyr, murdered by the Gestapo, his body found in a ditch the morning after a midnight abduction. 

Call it an arrest or call it an abduction: it was the prelude to murder. He was not the last. Not certainly the last. There have been many martyrs and prophets since his death who have stood in front of evil and proclaimed God’s reign. 

Later in the 20th century it was Janani Luwum, Archbishop in Uganda, who confronted an evil regime with the power of love. He paid with his life. One night he was summoned to the presidential palace, and he stood right in front of his country’s ruler, Idi Amin, and refused to renounce the truth. For that he was shot and killed.

These are among the known martyrs; others are known but to God. But their work continues; their truth persists; and the culmination of this year and all years is still this: God reigns. That means that whatever claims on our allegiance are offered to us, none is as important as the integrity of the faith that God keeps with us. And that we, faltering and failing and forgiven, attempt to keep with God.  

How are we to follow this one who rejected earthly titles but is 'ruler of the kings of earth' and seated at the right hand of God? Challenging questions as we anticipate the arrival of the King of Kings.

 

The book of Daniel and the book of Revelation reveal visions of what God is doing by telling us what they see God doing in the future. In some ways the prophecies of Daniel seem like visionary accounts of what was already happening in his time while revealing what is really going on in the deep currents of time. 

For example, he speaks of four kingdoms that could be the successors to Alexander the Great. 

Indeed it was one of these, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, r. 175 BCE-164 BCE, who was the immediate enemy of Israel at the time of the book’s composition. 

Nevertheless it has implications beyond that moment, for Daniel prophesies not only what is happening, or has happened, or is going to happen, but what it means. What it means is that God reigns; not Pharaoh, not Nebuchadnezzer, not Cyrus, and certainly not Antiochus IV Epiphanes. 

 

What then is the nature of that reign? Jesus refuses the label of comparative kingship, as if he were to be a head of state alongside the clients of Rome or its rival powers. No, his kingdom is not of this world: it is a heavenly kingdom. But what is that to us? What does it mean for us? 

 

It means our loyalty lies beyond the immediate present press of events; our faith is in something transcendent, someone eternal. The Ancient of Days, in fact. The one who is and was and is to come. And in the Son of Man, who is likewise the first and the last, first born of the resurrection and witness of all that is coming to pass, has come to pass, and will come to pass.

 

And we are in their hands, ultimately; the hands of God. 

 

Our God reigns. Where does he reign? Most of all, in the human heart.

Yes, first of all in the human heart. But it does not end there: it is more than that.

When Jesus speaks of truth he speaks of what is solid, reliable, real. And it implies there is something to be done. Truth that is God made known in Jesus Christ is actionable knowledge. If you know Jesus, you act upon that knowledge.

And so when you know that truth, you have a way, a life, before you: a truth that will set you free.  Free to center your life on the abundant grace of God, revealed in Jesus Christ in its fullness. 

So as the psalm says there may be a night of sorrow but it will open into a new dawn of joy.

 

That is something people of faith have held onto, from that day to this, when that night looks black.

 

And that is the sunrise into glory that we anticipate on the feast day of Christ the King.

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entrusted with a stewardship

  

May God bless us today as we consider his handiworks, the glory of creation, and the reign of his peace.

Jesus is Lord. Christ is King. Our God reigns. We say it in various ways.

What are we saying? What are we doing? How are we showing – the reign of Christ?

Let’s imagine this church as a big old friendly house, dedicated to holy purpose.

What is it like to arrive here? Can we imagine it – coming here for the first time, perhaps the only time, to hear God’s word, to rest for awhile, to find community – or a little peace.

Walking from the bus stop on the corner, or parking on the grass, gravel, or asphalt of the parking lot, we come in through a low narrow veranda under a big brown roof. In the door we find:

A welcome. We hope. A greeting. A brochure. Perhaps a few people gathered in the doorway, talking together. We get through. Where is the sanctuary? Where do I hang my coat? Where are the restrooms? Where is the nursery? Will there be coffee hour?

This is Christ’s home. It is the house of God. He is welcome here and he is the host.

We see him – in the familiar faces and the strangers. We see him in the sacraments. Perhaps, too, we see him in the candle burning by the altar-side. We see him in the Cross.

Walking in the door of the sanctuary, we are confronted by – a font, a basin on a stand.

It is water – water for baptism, water for renewal of baptism, water for taking a blessing. In the name of Christ, who is our guide, we walk further in.

There are people here, spread about. We look for a place to sit.

About us are other people. Why are they here? Is this their first time too?

Up front there is a table raised on a couple of steps. Over and behind it hangs a symbol of a cross. Behind and to the sides, we see shelves on one hand, and a small cabinet on the other. In front of it and between the table and us there is a railing and a place to kneel.

Music begins. We sing, or search for a hymnal, or a song sheet. Or we stay silent.

Then we are standing. With others we sing a song of praise. 

And we pray. And we hear the word of God. And we confess our sins, receive reconciliation and share the peace of Christ.

Offering of our gifts – money, bread, wine, perhaps a prayer card – we gather for celebration. There is a meal, a symbolic meal, and together with all those who came in the door and past the baptismal font, we share in the community of the saints of God.

In all humility, who are we to do this? Who are we to say we are the people of God? We are sinners! But – we are baptized! We are baptized into the life of Christ, by his grace. And we believe that through his grace we, and all the people of the world, are saved.

The world.

But there is an objection. It comes from Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea.

The world that Pilate serves, that he wields power in, is not the world from which Christ comes. He holds his power from a worldly system that does not even recognize God’s reign.

The world – the ‘cosmos’ – the system – the order of all things and all ages: whose is it?

Whose world is this? Whose church is this? Is it yours? Is it his? Or does it belong to someone else?

Our Lord proclaims:

My kingdom is not from the system of this world. I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. And all those who belonging to the truth hear my voice come unto me.

I am their shepherd. I am their king.

Not you, Pilate. Not Caesar. Not anyone else.

What kind of king is this? One who says he has nothing of his own, but what his father gives him. One who gives all of himself, that we may share in the abundance of his reign.

One who, giving all of himself, asks also of us that we give our all to him, that we, with nothing of our own, as he has nothing of his own, may receive all things through him.

And return them, into his hands, at his feet, in praise.

All that we have is thine, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.

You know who said that first? David. King of Judah. As he dedicated the site of the Temple at the end of his reign. He was king of the Jews – and he knew his Master.

He knew his Maker. He knew his Lord.

Do we know ours?

All that we have, all that we are, possessions, personality, prayer; we receive from God and give to God again. We are entrusted with a stewardship. (1 Corinthians 9:7, ASV)

We belong to God; therefore we should do God’s work.

(Cf. Ralph S. Cushman, I Have a Stewardship, Abingdon, 1939)

Every one is wholly God’s own by title of creation – so all our labors and all our powers and faculties must be wholly employed in the service of God, and even all the days of our life, that this life being ended we may live with him forever.

(Cf. Jeremy Taylor)

As we leave this temple, this place of salvation proclaimed and blessing received, as we venture out into the world – with its own system, pulling on us, to make us one of its own again – do we remember who our Lord is?

Do we show it? Do we live it? Do we make it real?

As we go back to the car, or the bus stop, or the pathway home, how shall we carry that kingdom within us that is the true kingdom after all? How shall we live our lives, in line at the grocery store? At the traffic light (C’mon, buddy! Get moving!)? At the office? At home? The channel changer – when we surf the system, whose system are we serving?

When we come to the end of our day, when we say goodnight and our prayers, whom have we been serving? What gospel have we proclaimed, what good news have we shared?

Think of it. Count your blessings. Think of the moments you have experienced grace. Or given it – and so received it again. And again, given it away, as blessed gift and offering.

In those small ways, in these days, we have seen God at work … in our world, in our lives, in our hearts.

Make our hearts your home, O Lord. Make our lives bear witness to your Truth. Make our souls show that Christ is king: that our God reigns. That Jesus is Lord. In this world – as in heaven – may his kingdom come. Amen.

The Sunday before Advent:  The Kingship of Christ

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord,

the wills of thy faithful people;

that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,

may of thee be plenteously rewarded;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Eternal Father,

whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven

that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:

Keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit

and in the bond of peace,

and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet,

who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Stir up, O Lord,

the wills of your faithful people;

that plenteously bearing  the fruit of good works

they may by you be plenteously rewarded;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Book of Common Prayer, Church of Ireland, 2004)

Paul Mitchell, pastor of Snoqualmie United Methodist Church, pointed out that the word in the Greek text commonly translated into English as "world" is cosmos - or system.

Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King, Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, Psalm 93 , John 18:33-37, Revelation 1:4b-8, King of the Jews, Are you the king of the Jews?

Christ the King 2009

Who's in charge here? Who's on trial? Who's condemned, and who is triumphant?

In the courtyard of the governor's palace, Peter is warming himself by the fire. You were with him, someone says, you are one of them - I can tell by your accent, you're a Galilean. Will Peter pass the test?

Inside the palace, Pilate is pacing the pavement - and considers what to do with this strange prisoner. A silent one, yet somehow compelling - could he possibly be a threat to the Roman order? Could he turn it over, cause its demise? Will he pass the test? Will Pilate pass the test?

And then, he asks, incredulous or sarcastic - 'You?! Are you the king of the Jews?'

Are you the One? Are you the one who is supposed to be the big threat to me, the one who calls for ultimate allegiance to something other than Rome?

'I came into this world for judgment', Jesus said, 'so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.' (John 9:39) and his witness to the truth, his revelation of truth to all humanity, effects judgment. His Word brings judgment to the World.

'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.' (John 14:6)

He is the embodiment of truth; what he says and does, his words and deeds, testify to the truth.

When Pilate asks, 'Are you the king of the Jews?'

He is asking the real question, but does he realize it, does he realize the consequences?

Does he realize what he is dealing with? Who is facing him?

Jesus asks him, is this question really yours - or were you fed it (by some other group with a larger agenda)? Do you know what you are asking? Or is it just some sort of gambit in a game? Are you being played?

No. Pilate does not realize what he is asking.

'I came into this world for judgment', Jesus said, 'so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.' (John 9:39)

Then Pilate asks another question: "What have you done?"

Jesus answers the first question, after hearing the second:

My kingship is not from this world; I do not derive my authority from its practices, its powers. My kingship is given me from above, not from this world.

Pilate asks again, 'So you are a king?' Pilate is practicing due diligence, an interrogator giving the silent prisoner another chance, before condemning him. Are you?

Then Jesus replies to the second question: you say that I am a king; those are your words.

And finally he lays his cards on the table, exposing the paradoxical, not-of-this-world nature of his authority: for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth.

My testimony brings judgment upon this world. But for everyone who hears my voice - everyone who belongs to me - there is salvation.

For everyone who belongs to the truth belongs to me -- and belongs to the Father who sent me.

The eternal Word has come into the world, the very One through whom it came into being, and yet the world does not recognize Him.

The light has come into the world, and yet everywhere people remain in the darkness, until that light shines upon them, and they turn to it and live. (We are called, to turn to that Light, and live.)

Throughout the encounter of Jesus with Pilate, and Pilate with the truth, the innocence and the kingship of Jesus are revealed:

He is the true judge who tries his adversaries; he is the truth come into the world.

The truth stands before Pilate - and Pilate turns away. He does not listen; and so he ends by serving the world's purposes. He is the means to the end. He who would rule becomes the servant - he is just the hand, the factotum, of a larger purpose.

The world would condemn Jesus, - 'it hates me,' he says, 'because I testify against it that its works are evil' (John 7:7) - but yet its judgment is not final, and its purpose is not ultimately successful. At the moment of his condemnation, he is crowned; in the triumph of the cross Jesus is exalted.

This is paradox - not a king as the world would have him king, but as the one who rules from below - a position of service.

For Christ Jesus,
though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death-
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

These are words Paul wrote down in his letter to the Philippians (2:6-11).

Jesus asks questions of Pilate as if he were the judge, the one on the throne. From the moment Jesus opens his mouth, Pilate is the one on trial. Does Pilate belong to the truth? Will he respond to it? Will he listen? (Do we belong to the truth? Will we listen?)

Truth! What is that??

He casts aside the question, and turns away from the Truth. He does not recognize it -

Indeed, he has asked the wrong question - the question really is, who is truth?

"For Christ is the truth, in such a sense that to be the truth, to be its embodiment in the world, is the only true explanation of what truth is," (Søren Kierkegaard) and its only genuine testimony.

The truth as revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate revelation of the Father in this world, comes to us not as a set of propositions seeking assent, nor as an argument to win us over, but as a person - an invitation to faith, that is, to trust in him.

God through Christ calls us into relationship - a relationship with the ultimate reality, that is revealed through this man, betrayed, accused, beaten, mocked, tried, condemned, and yet triumphant, compassionate, merciful to those who show no mercy, wise to fools, offering freedom even to those who condemn - for here he is before Pilate, supposedly a prisoner in chains and yet he is calling to Pilate to be free - to respond to the truth.

Jesus is the one offering freedom. Who is in charge here, indeed?

Christ is the king of life and love - the one who challenges the destructive powers of this age, offering life and light, love and hope, to all who have faith, all who believe in him.

At last the prophecy of Isaiah, release to the captives, eyesight to the blind, has come true.

The king has come at last - and he has come to set his people free.

The very concept of king, as the world once knew it, may seem obsolete in our world - nobody embodies the sovereignty of our nation or many nations anymore - and so the kingship of Jesus so unlike it we express his compelling authenticity in other terms - and yet God remains, sovereign, one, personal, active. He is active in our lives, calling each of us to him, and calling all of us to follow him.

He is calling us to turn to the Light, the Light of the World; to listen to His voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd; to belong to the Truth; to follow his Way.

The king has come at last - and he has come to set his people free.

When he calls us he is calling us forward to freedom, to live into our ultimate identity. And his call to us, to give of ourselves in his service, is a call to our true home; to receive the gift of Life in his Kingdom; and then, living in that Kingdom, to bear its reality into the World.

* * *

You are the King of Glory, O Christ: you are the everlasting Son of the Father.

We give you our love and offer you our lives.

Come, Lord, and rule in our hearts,
until your kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

Come, Christ our King, and reign over us, as you reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever. Amen.

--David Adam, Traces of Glory (SPCK, 1999) 149.


OFFERTORY
All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. (1 Chronicles 29:14b)

PEACE
Grace to you and peace from God, from him who is, who was, and who is to come. The peace of the Lord be always with you.

--David Adam, Traces of Glory (SPCK, 1999) 148.

BLESSING
To him who sits upon the throne, to the One true and Living God, be praise and glory, for ever and ever, and the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen.

--David Adam, Traces of Glory (SPCK, 1999) 149.


Christ the King 2009
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Sources and Resources

The Gospel According to John (18:33-38a).

New Revised Standard Version Bible, 1989.

Michael D. Coogan, ed., The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) NT 177-178.

David Adam, Traces of Glory (SPCK, 1999) 149-151.

Leonard Beechy, “Living The Word: Reflections on the lectionary”, The Christian Century, November 17, 2009, Vol. 126, No. 23, 20.

Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (xiii-xxi), The Anchor Bible, Volume 29a (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970) 843-872. “Indeed he is the embodiment of truth.” (854)

Richard A. Burridge, John, The People’s Bible Commentary (Abingdon, OX, UK: The Bible Reading Fellowship, 1998, 2008) 214-215.

Fred B. Craddock et al., Preaching Through the Christian Year, Year B, (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1993) Karoline M. Lewis, “Christ the King”, 474-481.

Scott M. Lewis, The Gospel According to John and the Johannine Letters, New Collegeville Bible Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005) 90-92.

David B. Lott, ed., New Proclamation, Year B, 2009, Easter to Christ the King (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008) “Christ the King”, 281-289.

Lesslie Newbigin, The Light Has Come (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1982) 245-246.

Herbert O’Driscoll, The Word Today, Year B, Volume 3, (Toronto, ON: Anglican Book Centre, 2001) 158-162.

Scott Gambrill Sinclair, The Past from God’s Perspective (North Richland Hills, TX: BIBAL Press, 2004) 316-319.

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"Are you a king?"

Notes for a sermon on the Feast of Christ the King 2006 (John 18 33-37)

Pilate said to 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." (18:37b)

The end of the story is the beginning of the story.

The Gospel of John is full of irony. Even as they mock Jesus, the soldiers truly
crown him. At the moment of his defeat, came his victory. He is the real king of
the only real kingdom, the reign of God, of justice and peace.

Pilate asked, "Are you a king?"
Jesus answered, "I came to bear witness to the truth."
Pilate responded, "What is truth?"

The truth is that you see before you, the king of the only real kingdom, the
first man of that kingdom.

Accepting freely death on the cross, the death of a common criminal - or one
more troublesome enemy of Rome - Jesus bore witness to the truth of God's
kingdom - whose foundation is goodness and justice and truth. This is the
kingdom of Shalom, God's peace.

Jesus Christ is:
1. the faithful witness,
2. the first-born of the dead, and
3. the ruler of the kings of earth.

(Revelation 1.5a)

The end of the story is the beginning of the story -

As we come to the end of the Christian year, and anticipate Advent, we celebrate
the feast-day of Christ the King. We see him as the one seated at the right hand
of the Father, to whom will be given - is given - all glory and dominion and
power, in a scene beyond dreams.

But how did he get there? How did it begin?

It begins with a child: helpless, poor, and defenseless. God sent his Son to the
world as a Baby. And in this Innocent already was the King. So tender, meek, and
mild, yet such a threat to the powers that be, that Herod the Great tried to
stop God's kingdom from breaking in on him, that he had the male children under
two years old killed - the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.

A Baby - God came to us first not on clouds of glory, but simply, humbly, and
humanly; in something so ordinary and yet extraordinary as a Child in a manger.

He comes to us, every Sunday, in ordinary things - bread and wine, oil and
water.

On Thanksgiving we gave thanks for the bread and wine,
Remembering at the same time,
That other bread and other wine,
That at other times,
Becomes other than bread and
Other than wine,
And yet still remains - to all appearances -
Bread and wine.

And so he sustains us through
Ordinary things in
Ordinary times,
That our lives may become
Extraordinary,
Through the common everyday witness
Of our lives
to the Truth.

The end of the story is just the beginning of the story.

In Jesus' free acceptance of death lay his victory,
And the seed sown then
Became his vindication,
as the first-born of the Resurrection.

Because he accepted the ultimate consequence of life spent bearing witness to the Truth,
He ushered in the Kingdom of God that he thereby proclaimed:

The only real kingdom, the reign of God, in justice, mercy and peace,
That he took part in from the beginning of life
- that Baby again -
And when he passed over into the larger life of God,
He took a step that he was prepared to take,
- in fear and trembling, perhaps sick to death -
in the knowledge that what awaited him
he had already experienced
in his own person:

the Kingdom of God.


Sunday, November 26, 2006 St Timothy's, Gridley, Calif. JRL+