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Luke 23:33-43
November 21, 2010
For any theologian worth their salt, simply uttering the phrase DzChrist the Kingdz opens up
a huge box of questions. Among them: How does this king rule? Who are his subjects?
It only makes sense to turn to todayǯs gospel text in search of answers to our questions,
unfortunately, weǯre presented with some pretty dumbfounding details. We hear of Jesus,
bloody and beaten, hanging on a cross along with a couple of small-time criminals. Below
him, a crowd rudely mocks him and his supposed Dzpowerdz; above him a sign that reads
DzKing of the Jewsdz silently mocks along with the crowd. As my friend Russell Rathbun
This Sunday, we hold these two paradoxical realities in tension: on the one hand we see
the incarnate Son of God hanging from the cross and on the other we boldly call him
King. But what are we actually saying when we proclaim Christ King?
Today, the last Sunday after Pentecost, marks the final week in the liturgical year, the
calendar by which the Church keeps its time. Next Sunday we celebrate the beginning of
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a new church year by entering into Advent. Christ the King was officially inserted into the
liturgical calendar by Pope Pius XI in 1925. While the world was in the throws of
enormous political, social, economic, and cultural change Ȃ 1925 falls between World
Wars I and II Ȃ Pius proclaimed the Kingship of Christ over and above human
institutions.
In the papal encyclical instituting the Feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI wrote, DzIt has
long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of ǮKing,ǯ because of
the high degree of perfection whereby he excels all creatures. So he is said to reign Ǯin the
hearts of menǯ.dz2 Pius is addressing a common issue in churches both ancient and
contemporary Ȃ we find it easy to say Christ is king of our hearts, but is that enough?
With that little flick of the theological wand, saying Christ is merely king of our hearts, do
we inadvertently domesticate Christ? Pius continues, DzBut if we ponder this matter more
deeply, we cannot but see that the title and the power of King belongs to Christ as man in
Let us heed his advice and Dzponder this matter more deeply.dz
Before being called to Faith Lutheran, I served as a youth director at another church, and,
as I do here, I taught the Confirmation class. Every week, the students were presented
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with what we called the DzBig Ideadz. The Big Idea was an easily remembered sentence or
two that summed up what we would be learning that evening. On this particular night,
the Big Idea was this: "Jesus turns things upside down: The have-nots become the haves,
and peace and justice reign." Now, we could have left it at that, but throughout the course
of the year, the students had developed a game, wherein they would take the weekǯs Big
Idea and try to distill it down to only two words. Shortly after we had all read the Big Idea
out loud together, one of the students blurted out, DzJesus flips!dz Donǯt ever let anyone tell
So now weǯre beginning to shine a bit of light on one of our initial questions: how does
I want you for a moment to envision the worldǯs conceptions of wealth, power, and
success. Think of all the empires throughout the ages, big and small, that have built
themselves upon fidelity to these conceptions, the men and women who have devoted
their lives to them. The revolutionary thing about Jesus, as these Confirmation students
pointed out, is that ! Kingship, ! way of ruling, turns our conceptions of wealth,
Today we call this Dzgood newsdz. For Jesusǯ original followers, however, it was anything but
good news. His death at the hands of the empire, although alluded to frequently by Jesus
himself, was neither expected nor applauded. They wanted a king. They wanted a
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powerful, worldly king. Theologian Jürgen Moltmann puts it this way: DzThis hope that the
Messiah would restore a free kingdom of David and do away with Roman rule came to
disappointment for all the people who had left everything, acknowledged him, and
followed him.dz3
Their disappointment Ȃ our disappointment Ȃ is not ultimately with Jesus; it is with the
salvation. Jesusǯ rule is offensive in its weakness. But that, we believe, is precisely the
point.
Yet it is not enough to simply say Christ rules in weakness. We must also ask: King of
whom? When we say, DzChrist is King!dz what parties are we implicating? In todayǯs epistle
reading from Colossians chapter 1, we read, Dz...through [Christ], God was pleased to
the blood of his cross... He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might
come to have first place in everything.dz He is king of you and I, and he is king of all.
Where the world praises human institutions, we praise Christ. Where the world exalts
political leaders, we exalt Christ. Where the world worships wealth and status, we fall on
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If Jesusǯ rule is offensive in its weakness, then it follows that our obedience to him as loyal
subjects is offensive to the world. The world would rather we Dzgenuflect to the machine,dz4
as poet R.S. Thomas puts it, than to genuflect to a crucified God. Whereas the machine
profitably preys on our less-than-desirable human traits like selfishness, Christ whispers a
call to self-denial. Perhaps this is why Jesus thought it important to remind his followers,
DzBlessed are those who are persecuted for righteousnessǯ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.dz
Which leads us to question, finally, DzWhere is the kingdom and what is it like?dz To help
us understand this question, Iǯd like to read a poem by the man I just mentioned, Welsh
poet and Anglican priest R.S. Thomas. The poem is titled DzThe Kingdomdz:
With this King, in this kingdom, there are indeed Dzquite different things going ondz. When
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statement about the way things are and the way things should be. We look toward the
dying, deflated man on the cross of todayǯs gospel reading and say DzHallelujah! Christ is
King!dz
Christ King, and heǯs calling you and I into the world to proclaim it. If he is only Dzking
of our heartsdz, as Pius said, then how on earth shall the kingdom ever come as it is in
heaven? After all, the ELCA tagline is not DzGodǯs Work, Our Hearts,dz itǯs DzGodǯs Work,
Our
.dz People who know me well know of my unashamed love for Dietrich
Bonhoeffer Ȃ heck, I named my cat after him! Bonhoeffer once wrote, DzThe hour in which
the church prays for the kingdom today... binds the church... to faithfulness to the Earth,
to misery, to hunger, to death." Pius was right: This is no metaphorical king. This king is
God-in-the-flesh, the Mighty One who dined with sinners, welcomed outcasts, healed the
sick, fed the hungry, and was ultimately killed for doing so.
So as we look toward Advent, how might we, members and friends of Faith Lutheran
Church, proclaim Christ as King? How might we witness to the world that the kingdom
we serve has quite different things going on? What actions might we take? What
conversations might we have with friends and family members? What ministries might
we serve within and without the church? My sense is that we heed Thomasǯ advice. Let us
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purge ourselves, leaving only our need and our faith, and let us look to the cross and the
Amen.
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