 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
November 25, 2007
Who Needs A King?
Today we are observing Christ the King Sunday.
If you're thinking this doesn't seem like a familiar liturgical holiday, it's easy to understand why. Although every last Sunday of the liturgical year is designated as Christ the King Sunday, more often than not, it falls on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and when it does, a service focusing on our beloved American holiday wins out every time. Unlike Christmas or Easter or Pentecost or World Communion Sunday, Christ the King Sunday is not a well-known day in the liturgical calendar.
And really, when you think about it, it's sort of odd that American Christians recognize Christ the King Sunday. We don't do monarchs. When our ancestors left their home countries, many of them did so to get out from under rulers who oppressed them or determined what they could or could not do. They came and carved out a new nation with a government that was “of the people, by the people and for the people.”
Who needs a king? We don't.
Because we have seen what kings are like: rulers who care more for adding to their own coffers than guarding the well-being of the power, who drag their people into war in order to amass more power and wealth for themselves, who live in ivory towers in luxury, unbothered by the hardships faced by their subjects.
With few exceptions, the lives of kings have served as examples of how NOT to rule. Nearly always, the monarch puts his own interests and comforts ahead of those of his subjects.
And yet, in spite of the consistent disappointment that earthly rulers are, the Bible is full of references to God as king and of God's kingdom. And that is exactly the point. The kingdom of God is not like any kingdom we've ever known before. And King Jesus? Well, as the hymn says, “no one works like him” (See #153 He Is King of Kings).
It's difficult to get the image of the earthly kings out of our heads when we think about Christ the King. We sing about crowns and thrones and scepters, and possibly you, like me, have visions of beauty and opulence, grand halls full of angels and music and light.
But when you get right down to it, we are talking about an entirely different kind of kingdom, an entirely different kind of ruler. The point is that it is completely different from anything we have ever experienced.
Our readings this morning describe this kingdom:
Zechariah sings about how his son, John, will prepare the way for the one who will “give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:77-79)
These are extraordinary words in the midst of the Roman occupation of Israel, that “Deliverance comes not by the military defeat of oppressors, but by the forgiveness of sins, by the light that illuminates darkness and death, by walking in the way of peace.” (Texts for Preaching Year C, p. 14)
What kind of king is this? The kind of king the world longs for.
The writer of Colossians says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;” (1:15). Eugene Peterson puts it this way in his translation of that same verse: “We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen.”
Jesus is God revealed. In his life and ministry, in the stories in the Gospels, we see in Jesus glimpses of God's kingdom and how to live in it.
· Jesus associates with those the world considered outcasts and beneath notice—he eats with sinners and tax collectors, talks with women and blesses children.
· He breaks down barriers by lifting up members of reviled ethnic and social groups and using them as examples of how to live—like Samaritans, the woman from Syro-Phoenecia , tax collectors.
· He feeds the hungry and heals the sick.
· He prays to God as “Abba/Father”, God as close to us as a parent is to a child.
· Rather than allying himself with the powerful and influential, his entourage is a band of rag tag, unsophisticated fishermen.
Jesus declared—in his words and his actions—that the kingdom of God is at hand. It was then when he said those words and it is now as we read them and hear them again. We have already seen what this kingdom of God is like, and in Jesus we have been shown how to live in it.
And every once in awhile in human history, we see glimpses of God's kingdom in existence:
· In Le Chambon , a French Huguenot community that saved 5000 Jews during WWII by hiding them in their homes, on their farms, in their school, rather than turning them over to the authorities.
· During the Civil Rights movement, when black and white, Jew and Christian together, stood up against injustice, risking their individual well-being for the good of all.
· In the Simple Way, an intentional Christian community of young adults living together with the poor in a north Philadelphia neighborhood.
· In the volunteers who still stream to New Orleans to help rebuild the city.
We reveal glimpses of this kingdom to the world—
· when we share our resources, our time, our talents, instead of keeping them for ourselves,
· when we reach out across divisions between people instead of creating them or participating in them,
· when we stand up for the protection and well-being of all and not just our own comfort.
The question is not, who needs a king?
The question is , what are we doing in our lives to serve Christ the King of Love and Light and Compassion and Justice?
Because this is a king and kingdom who deserves our allegiance and loyalty.
And we are called to serve this king, to build up this kingdom, by offering all that have and all that we are.
Amen.
| Return to Sermon List |
First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: info@fpccr.org
Copyright © 2003-2007 First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Rapids. All rights reserved.