Christ the King Sunday - Col 1:11-20, Lk 23:33-43

At the end of the Magician’s Nephew, the first book in C.S. Lewis’ chronicles of Narnia series, the magical land of Narnia is created. The evil Jadis runs away as the children Polly and Digory stand spellbound, listening to beautiful and creat-ive music. As they listen, the sun and stars appear, revealing the lion Aslan, who is singing Narnia into being. With his high playful notes, the flowers appear, and by his music and breath the animals grow, come to life, and talk. Aslan places the carriage driver and his wife as king and queen over Narnia and they bow before Aslan and serve him well.

In Narnia, Aslan lives before Narnia is created, and Narnia is created by Aslan and for Aslan. C.S. Lewis has given us Colossians 1 in story form. Look at Colossians 1:11-20 with me now.

He is the image of the invisible God…the firstborn over all creation…in him all things hold together…he is the head of the body, the church. Listening to Paul’s words, we are as speechless as Polly and Digory watching Aslan. What a perfect passage for Christ the King Sunday.

Through Paul’s words, we see the majesty of Christ. He is the ruler after all. Christ rules over all things. Did you notice the repetition? In him all things were created…all things were created through him and for him…He is before all things…in him all things hold together…in all things he might have supremacy…through him all things were reconciled. There is no doubt that Christ is above us. And if we had any lingering doubts, this passage reminds us that we cannot compare with Christ.

What a necessary reminder. Christ the King Sunday returns year after year, and we are reminded once again that Christ is the ruler of the world and our lives. We try to remember that every day, don’t we? But we hear so many conflicting messages.

We tell our children to choose their vocations, and their high schools and colleges train them to make the choices to run their own lives. We decide who comes into our homes and who impacts our lives. We choose where to invest our time, energy, and money.

Our lives are filled with decisions we have to make. It is easy to wake up in the morning and forget to thank God for bringing the sun up again. It is easy to go to work and school without asking God for the strength to live faithfully. And it is easy to worry about homework, the cars, laundry, and dinner, and to fall into bed exhausted without thanking God for helping us through another day. John Wesley said that most people live as practical atheists, worshipping, praying, and serving God on Sundays and at Bible study, but running our lives as if God did not exist the rest of the time.

It’s easy to get caught up in our tasks, in the lists of chores that never seem to be finished. But Christ the King Sunday is our yearly reminder that God rules our lives; we do not. It is our yearly call to repentance for the days and hours when we have lived as though God does not exist.

For how could we ever compare to Christ? He is the image of the invisible God. We know God because we know Christ, because he lives and walks among us. As Christians, Christ lives in us, and so we become an icon as well, a window through which others can see Christ.

He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, of the rulers and powers. Even all of our scientific advances don’t allow us to create. We can clone cells, but God gives life. We can genetically engineer plants, but God makes them grow. We can elect presidents, but God rules above them all.

And Paul gives us more reasons to celebrate Christ as King. The end of this passage brings us to the resurrection, and finally to the cross. Christ is the firstborn from the dead. He is the first of many, the first of those of us who follow him. Christ is the first to be resurrected, and in that resurrection, he is the victorious conqueror. How did he conquer? He reconciled all things to him, making peace through his blood on the cross. Paul has brought us right to our passage from Luke, the crucifixion.

At first glance, Colossians 1 and Luke 23 seem like an odd combination for Christ the King Sunday. We can understand the Colossians passage. It is majestic. It exalts Christ as the creator, as the one who holds all things together. It recognizes him as the one who has supremacy over all things.

But Colossians draws us to Luke and Luke draws our attention to the cross. In the cross we see a different kind of majesty and a different kind of strength. Perhaps C.S. Lewis can stir our imaginations. In the passage right before the one I read to our children, Lewis writes, “A howl and gibber of dismay went up from the creatures when they first saw the great lion pacing toward them, and for a moment even the Witch herself seemed to be struck with fear. Then she recovered herself and gave a wild, fierce laugh.

“The fool!” she cried. “The fool has come. Bind him fast.”

Lucy and Susan held their breaths waiting for Aslan’s roar and his spring upon his enemies. But it never came. Four hags, grinning and leering, yet also (at first) hanging back and half afraid of what they had to do, had approached him. “Bind him, I say!” repeated the White Witch. The Hags made a dart at him and shrieked with triumph when they found that he made no resistance at all. Then others – evil dwarfs and apes – rushed in to help them, and between them they rolled the huge Lion over on his back and tied all his four paws together, shouting and cheering as if they had done something brave, though, had the Lion chosen, one of those paws could have been the death of them all. But he made no noise, even when the enemies, straining and tugging, pulled the cords so tight that they cut into his flesh. Then they began to drag him toward the Stone Table.

As the king who rules over the rulers of this world, Jesus could have destroyed Pilate and the high priest. Instead, Jesus silently accepts the crucifixion. As the one who created the world, Jesus could have come down from the cross, but he chooses to die there. One word and his captors would have fallen at his feet, but Jesus speaks no words. A different kind of majesty.

The people’s taunts are ironic. “He saved others, he cannot save himself.” “Save yourself and us!” Ironic because he is saving the people by not saving himself. The King of heaven and earth offers himself as a ransom for many, and in dying remains King.

The cross shows us a different type of strength. People without power follow orders. They have no choice in their interactions with others. The King has the power, power to condemn and kill or to pardon and forgive. Jesus reveals this power. He prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Jesus pardons his killers. He reveals his mercy and grace.

Jesus, the King, dies on the cross because we have betrayed God. In the cross, we see the King who would suffer for our sake. We see Jesus, the one who created the world and who is before all things, choose to die. We see the head of the body, the church, give his life for that church. We see the King Jesus reconcile to himself all things, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

It is Christ the King Sunday. Today we see Jesus exalted, magnified above all of creation, and we see Christ submit to death on the cross. Today we are reminded that we exist because we are created by the King, and we remember that our lives are held together only by him. Today we hear the taunts, and recognize that we are saved by the one who chose not to save himself. Today we see our King. Let us remember that we serve Jesus, our King, every day of our lives, in all of our decisions. Let us repent of practical atheism, wherever it may appear in our lives, and allow Jesus to shape us into people who pray and worship God in all of our lives.

As we spend some time in prayer and repentance, ask God to reveal any areas in your life where you have distanced yourself from him. Ask Jesus to reveal himself as the King of your life, and repent of any ways you have ignored him. Then trust him to help you love and serve him. Jesus will not let you down.

Christ the King Sunday - John 18:33-37

John 18:33-37

³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

³⁴ "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

³⁵ "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"

³⁶ Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."

³⁷ "You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

This morning is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday after Pentecost and before Advent. It seems to me that this is a particularly perfect time of year for it. We have been living in the memory of Pentecost in the age of the church, the time when the Spirit has descended and the church goes out into the world. But we have not yet arrived at Advent. We are not yet awaiting the birth of the infant king born in a manger. It also seems like an exceptionally perfect Sunday because it challenges us to see Jesus as King before Advent, in a time when we may not normally see him that way. In my experience, we tend to think of Jesus as quite tame. We picture him as the silent baby of Away in a Manger and the gentle peasant wandering around and speaking to groups of people quietly gathered on the hillside eating lunch. We like to forget that Jesus is our King who can give us orders at any time, who can ask us to die for his glory, and who can call us up for service in his army at a moment’s notice. We like to place Jesus in a box on a shelf and pull him out on Sundays, at meal times, and when we need him. Christ the King Sunday refuses to let us brush Christ aside.

If Christ is our king, then it is wise for us to learn about his kingdom by looking at his life. In our passage from John, Jesus said that he came to testify to the truth. There are many messages claiming to be truth in our lives. Movies teach girls that relationships have fairy tale endings where “happily ever after” is the easy result of meeting Prince Charming. Our fascination with sports teaches our boys that athletic ability is more important than honesty, integrity, intelligence, and compassion. Our advertisements proclaim the image that women must be skinny, flawless, and young. Our music teaches that real men are strong, unemotional, and better than women. The world claims to be bringing us the truth every time we open our eyes, but none of its truths were proclaimed by Christ. Instead, he proclaimed a truth and a kingdom that are not of this world.

Jesus showed us his kingdom, and he brought us, the church, into it. In verse 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” His servants would fight. Servants. People under his authority. His servants were his followers, those who learned from him and obeyed him. Today we, the church, are those servants. As his servants, we learn from the master how to live in his kingdom.

Jesus’ life was constantly engaged with sin and evil in the world. He was reversing the consequences of the Fall by Adam and Eve. He taught that the poor would inherit the kingdom of God, and he traveled with no place to lay his head. He overturned the divisions between Israel and Samaria, Jew and Gentile. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and conquered demons. Throughout his ministry, the battles were for more than earthly possessions and power. From the temptation in the wilderness to the cross, Jesus was engaged in a spiritual war. And as his servants, Jesus has brought us into the battle on his side. We have plenty of demons to fight today, and plenty of the continuing effects of the Fall. This morning, we will look at four contemporary demons and what it might mean to be fighting against them.

At this time of year, the demon of poverty is one we cannot forget. We are surrounded by opportunities for giving, but such a systematic injustice requires more than a few coins dropped in a bucket or a gift purchased for a poor child. This battle requires faithful stewardship of our resources, living modestly so others can survive. It requires us to go against the American dream of constantly accumulating money and possessions and to follow the disciples in sharing the material blessings we have been given. It means following Jesus’ call to give to our brothers and sisters sacrificially instead of out of our abundance. The church has joined our King in this battle in many different ways – the angel trees in our hallways and last week’s food drive for the soup kitchen - and all of them are necessary. But I want to provide a different example this morning. There is a group of people in Durham who live at the Rutba House in Walltown, a poor and neglected neighborhood. Every evening they sit down at a common table and their door is open to all. People from the neighborhood with little to eat arrive next to the homeless, who are given a bed in addition to the meal. The housemates grow a variety of foods in their backyard, so they can have more to offer their guests. This group of people offers hope, compassion, advice, and love to each person who walks through their door, in addition to basic necessities, and through their ministry they are fighting the against the demon of poverty.

The second demon that I want to look at this morning is racism. In Jesus’ day, there was a large barrier between Jews and Gentiles. They could not share meals because the Jews ate different foods and had to remain ritually pure. They could not touch each other because a Jew could become unclean if he only touched a person who had touched something that was unclean. Jesus tore down these barriers. He stopped to talk with the Samaritan at the well. He ate dinner with tax collectors and sinners. And he gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, showing that caring for a fellow human is more important than remaining ritually pure. For Paul, the church was the one place in Roman society where these barriers were broken down. He tells us that there is no longer Jew or Greek for those who are in Christ Jesus. The racial distinctions were dissolved. Unfortunately we have not learned this lesson very well. Our churches tend to be the most racially segregated part of society. We have White churches and Black churches. Latino, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Greek, and Swiss churches. Instead of breaking down social lines, we have made them worse. Instead of sharing a common table, we can still walk into restaurants where our Black brothers and sisters cannot get service. Instead of loving our neighbors and our brothers and sisters across national boundaries, we ostracize the Hispanics in this country, assuming that all are illegal residents, that none contribute to American society, and that they do not deserve compassion, understanding, and acceptance as fellow Christians. Race is still a big problem in this country, and one of the groups who is fighting this demon is called Ubuntu. They meet once a month and share a table, and they wrestle with racism. They hear each other’s stories, from all sides, and they learn to give compassion to those who are different than themselves. They learn about each others’ traditions, and they celebrate them together. They are engaging in the battle.

The third demon is violence. I don’t have to prove to you that this is a problem. You need only to pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV. The news is of bombings, murders, and attacks. There are wars being fought all over the world, and neighbors are killing each other. But the goal of the church is reconciliation not war. It is to bring people into loving relationship with the Living God and one another. After all, the two greatest commandments are to love God and one another. After all, the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But wrestling this demon is hard. Our justice system serves its purpose, but it obviously does not stop violence. Our military does its job, but even it cannot police the world. The church must find a different way. I think that way is love and forgiveness in truth. There is a pastor I know who lives in South-Central Los Angeles. This is an area with high crime and high poverty, but he is the pastor of a South-Central LA church, so he lives in South-Central LA. Two years ago, his high school aged son and the daughter of a fellow pastor were sitting on his front porch talking when a car pulled up and a young man got out. The new gang initiations require you to shoot someone at close range, so this young man pulled out a gun, walked into the porch and shot the young man and young woman. The lady died, and the young man spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. But these pastors are still in South-Central LA. They know that the violence will only increase if the church leaves the city. Instead they need to do God’s work of bringing the message of peace and forgiveness to these lost teenagers who have found belonging in no where but these gangs. These pastors are using the power of conversion to wrestle the demon of violence.

The last demon is death, and it is also fought with conversion, but also with hope. We read many names on our prayer list each week. Sickness and grief surrounds us, but we do have hope. When we were baptized, we died with Christ, and we were also raised with him. So we have entered into his new life which will never end. For us, death is not the end of the story but only another step in the journey of our relationship with God. It is our hope in the resurrection which defeats the demon of death.

I want to close this morning by reading today’s appointed lesson from Revelation because it is in Christ’s return that his kingship will be realized fully and the battles with these demons will be brought to an end. Christ will reign over all of creation when he comes again in all of his glory, and until that day, we will continue to fight in our king’s army. So hear now the hope of the coming kingdom from Revelation, chapter 1, verses 4-8.

“Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits ^[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

7 "Look, he is coming with the clouds," ^[b]
and "every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him";
and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." ^[c] So shall it be! Amen.

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Our King is coming soon. Amen.