Sermon for Christ the King Sunday November 22, 2015 Randy Williamson The faith community, the Church, has got to have a message for a world so filled with terrorism, violence and acts of war. The faith community, the Church, has got to have a message for a world so full of fear, cruel-heartedness, hatred and death. And the Church does have a message! Christ is King! This is Christ the King Sunday in the Church throughout the world. This celebration began back in an era of horrendous carnage - World War 1, the War to End All Wars. The Church saw what was happening at the end of that war; nations were still spending most of their resources to arm themselves, ready to send their youth off to be slaughtered in more wars, devaluing human life. The message the faith community proclaims is that we have a greater allegiance, a higher set of values, a higher ruler, who has all of life in his hands. He is the Ruler of Heaven and Earth. Christ is our true king, our true ruler. His is a Kingdom of Truth, of the Way, the Truth, and the Life, as he says. Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday in the Church year. Next Sunday is New Year Day in the Church year, as we start the season of Advent. Let me be the first to wish you a happy new year for next Sunday! Today is the last Sunday of the year, and we look back over the year and notice what we have seen of Jesus: his birth at Bethlehem, his Baptism and Epiphany/showing forth glory as the beloved Son of God, his going to the Cross, his being raised from death on Easter, the fire of Pentecost and gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, and long season of Pentecost when we have seen his ministry, his healings, miracles, teaching. What we see in him is a regalness, a royal power to heal, to bring life from death, to bring Shalom, the peace of God which passes understanding. And so we say, “Christ is our true King” But his rule is so unlike any king, president, or prime minister we have ever known. He is such a different kind of King. That is what we have to pay attention to this Sunday. There is a legend of a saint (St. Martin I think) who was met by a man along a road. The man was dressed in a large purple royal robe, with a golden crown on his head, and a scepter in his hand. He said, “Martin, I am king Jesus, and I have seen your faithfulness to me, and I am here to tell you from now on you will share with me in my royal riches and power and prestige” Martin looked at him and said “I will recognize my king Jesus as he first appeared among us in Galilee and in the Gospels, as a simple, humble teacher, full of love and compassion for all people”. With that there was a shriek and a puff of smoke, and the demon who was tempting him with a false image disappeared. Christ is King, but unlike any lesser rulers we ever know. Walter Brueggeman, a Biblical scholar, says we can hardly understand nor endure the strange combination of majestic sovereignty and loving grace we find in Jesus; the sovereign one who is so shockingly gracious; the gracious one whose love demands so much of us. We see such power and regalness in him. He stills the raging sea, lifts the dead to life, miraculously feeds the hungry. But look how his power is excercised; for healing, comforting, feasting; he is taking care of people, leading them, supporting and serving them. He is being a shepherd. Maybe we should rename this Christ the Shepherd-King Sunday! When he is brought to Pilate in today’s Gospel reading, Pilate asks him. “Are you a king?” You can hear the sarcasm in his question: “Are you kidding me, you a king?” Jesus speaks in riddles; “My Kingdom is not of this world”, (but a world not yet fully come). “My Kingdom is one of Truth”. He is of God’s Truth. With a humble effort we could search scripture and find some central elements of what God’s truth is. Here are three elements found throughout the Bible. One: every human being is created in the image of God and is due the respect and love for such a good creation. A second element of truth: the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; we do not own it, it is God’s creation, and God partners with us to be stewards, caretakers of the earth and its environment. A third element of truth: God partners with us to be caretakers of ... one another. We are called to be the Good Samaritan to each other. Words which appear over and over in scripture are: welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, care for those who are afflicted. His Kingship of God’s Truth is above all else. It is above our ability to control or mold the world in our selfish image or agenda. We do not have him as a resource, he has us. We are not in control of him; he of us. When we say Christ the King, this has nothing to do with our normal political machinations; it has to do with God’s sovereignty and rule in our lives. If we look for gaudy royalty, we find a gentle shepherd who seeks the lost, brings home the strays, and strengthens the week.The important issue now is, will we give our allegiance to him. When we do there is a life-changing reality, the Truth, called the Reign of Christ. Michael Curry in his sermon at his installation as Presiding Bishop picked up this theme. We are the Jesus movement, he said, a people who claim him as king. And when Jesus is king, people do not hurt each other; when Jesus is king, people do not kill each other; when Jesus is king, children do not starve; He turns the world upside down, which means upside right! And so we choose to follow God’s Truth and attempt to live by it, or else all hell breaks loose. And this is what we are seeing now: all hell is breaking loose! Will we give our allegiance to him? That is the underlying theme of John’s gospel. It is like the story of a man who fell off a cliff and grabbed a branch on the way down and held on, dangling in the air. He looked up at the cliff’s edge and called, “Is there anyone up there who can help me?” A voice came and said “It is I the Lord God, and I will take care of you; all you have to do is let go”. After a pause the man called out “Is there anyone else up there?” The serious point of this silly story is, will we let go and trust God to be in charge? This is a world so full of terrorism and hatred, fear and chaos. It is a complex world and there is no simplistic solution to dealing with it. Is there a way to go about living in it? The Church/ faith community says there is a Way and a Truth, and a Life. It is the ruler of heaven and earth. When we let go and let him be our sovereign, there is a new, a life-changing reality, the Reign of Christ. It will bring us Shalom, the peace of God which passes all understanding, through Christ, our Shepherd-King. Amen