Christ the King
Proper 29
Church of Our Saviour
November 24, 2013
Title: Citizenship in the Kingdom
Let us pray.
Most holy, Lord God, you gave us your son to show us a vision of what you want for us: a place of peace and harmony; give us the courage to be useful citizens of your kingdom, through our king, Jesus the Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
It’s execution time in Jerusalem. Three criminals were led to the execution site outside the city walls. As part of the Roman Empire, people convicted of treason or insurrection against the state were crucified. Other death penalty crimes were accomplished by beheading. Rome ruled through fear and intimidation. Only the emperor or the emperor’s designee, such as a governor, can order a crucifixion.
Judea and other hot beds in the empire witnessed many crucifixions. It is highly likely that permanent poles were pounded in the rock outside of
Jerusalem. It is compatible with Roman efficiency to mount poles and merely hang the condemned on their cross bars on the pole, completing the act by nailing their feet to the pole. Anyone who heard Jesus talk about crucifixion before that first Good Friday personally knew what he was talking about.
Outside of Jerusalem’s walls was a small hill that looked like a skull cap. In
Aramaic it was called Golgotha, a place of the skull. I think the actual source of the word is from two Aramaic words, Gol Goatha , which means place of execution. Israel is a very rocky place with a thin topsoil. The place is largely limestone. It is into this limestone that the crucifixion poles were sunk.
The site was made level to construct the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The crucifixion rock was left high for the chapel at the execution site. The tomb is nearby and in the church. An accidental excavation 10 years ago uncovered two, 2,000 year old, tombs inside the church walls. The last three stations of the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, are in the church.
The mocking of the crowd inciting Jesus to save himself implies that Jesus is no messiah. They were looking for another King David, an anointed one or
1 The Rev. Craig Kuehn

Christ the King
Proper 29
Church of Our Saviour
November 24, 2013 messiah, to lead an army of independence against the Romans. This seems to be why Pilate condemned Jesus to the cross – for insurrection. Certainly a messiah would command his army to save him from death. Since that didn’t happen, Jesus could be no messiah.
To cement the notion of Roman fear of a military leader, Pilate orders the sign above Jesus’ head to read, “The King of the Jews.” The arrogance of the empire is made known with the soldiers mocking Jesus and dividing the clothing that Jesus will never need again. They know that their might is far greater than that of any Jewish king.
The dialogue of the two other condemned men is unique and only found in
Luke. Of course, we have no idea of what Luke’s source is of this dialogue.
Luke was not there.
One of the men also mocks Jesus and his claim of messiahship. At the same time, it sounds like a last minute plea to escape this excruciating death. Jesus is his last hope, if Jesus really is the messiah.
Then it seems that Jesus’ words and preaching over the last three years become summarized from the lips of the other man. “Who are we to question God?” This sounds like something Job might have said. He accepts his sentence and his fate. However, Jesus did not deserve it. Then in a great moment of insight, the man realizes that Jesus is indeed the messiah. Only this messiah has no need of armies and insurrection. This messiah will restore humanity to God and the man wants to be with Jesus in Jesus’ kingdom not in some cruel Roman Empire.
Theologians can and will debate when Jesus’ kingdom will come. We pray for Jesus’ kingdom to come in the Lord’s Prayer. But Jesus is not saying that this is some future event that is yet to be revealed. He tells the insightful man that today, not tomorrow, not centuries from now, that that man will be with Jesus in Paradise. As a New York City sportscaster was fond of saying,
“The future is now!”
The bonds of space and time broke that day. Different people have different ideas about where Jesus and the insightful man went after they died. Jesus was quite explicit that they went to Paradise.
2 The Rev. Craig Kuehn

Christ the King
Proper 29
Church of Our Saviour
November 24, 2013
We know they didn’t go to California, as lovely a town Paradise is. Paradise is a Greek word, from Persian, that means garden or park. Of course the word garden makes our theological ears perk up. There are two significant gardens in the Bible. The first is the Garden of Eden. The second is the garden where Jesus is arrested. The former is likely what is being alluded to here.
When Jesus described the kingdom of God, he described a utopian place that is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden is the place where
God wanted us. But we didn’t earn God’s trust and we were expelled. Jesus gave a vision of our return to Eden that he called the kingdom of God.
That’s where Jesus and the insightful man went. It is there that Jesus reigns as king.
Bruce Birch says, “That his kingdom is not of this world is proved in what this ruler wants to happen and makes happen that other powerful rulers are not willing or able to do. The ruler of this kingdom does not help himself, but he helps others who need his help (Luke 23:35). Still more: he does not meet evil with evil, but repays evil with good. Indeed, he forgives the people who do not know the evil things they arrange by asking his Father in heaven to forgive them (v. 34).” 1 Birch gives a good summary.
The whole scene is something like a farce. A king hangs from a cross. There is no John Wayne riding to the rescue. Luke knew not Hollywood.
The irony is that the Romans used the cross to send Jesus to his kingdom.
They thought they were denying Jesus his kingdom. Little did they understand, at least not for a few centuries, that the very act of denial was the road to kingship.
Jesus’ throne was not a chair, but a cross.
“Claude Brown, who wrote Manchild in the Promised Land, in an article, said that people under forty in our society have never lived in America where movie language was not liberally laced with obscenities. He said that
1
Busch, E. (2010). Theological Perspective. In D. L. Bartlett & B. B. Taylor (Eds.),
Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C (Vol. 4, pp.
334–336). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
3 The Rev. Craig Kuehn

Christ the King
Proper 29
Church of Our Saviour
November 24, 2013 profanity is rapidly replacing English as the language of the American people. Then he added this. He said, ‘Most people don't know it, but profanity is the language of violence.’
“People say, words can’t hurt you. They can hurt you. Words can dehumanize. That’s why in war the enemy is always described in language that is dehumanizing. You will never hear the military referring to the enemy as ‘brothers and sisters,’ or as ‘children of God.’ They couldn’t kill them if they referred to them that way. You use language that describes the enemy as less than human.
“That is precisely the language that is being used in our cities (and our politics) today. The language that is used in our society today is the language that has been coined in warfare. There are words that dehumanize. There are words that make life cheap and ugly. There are words that hurt people. There are words that profane what is sacred and holy about human life. You use them and they will affect your life, and the life of those around you.
“But there are words that heal. There are words that build. There are words that create. There are words that unite. There are words that can redeem.
There are words that can reconcile you to someone from whom you are estranged. There are words that lead to peace. Who will be the people in this society who speak the words of peace? ‘This day you will be with me in paradise.’” (Mark Trotter)
Text: Luke 23:33–43 (NRSV)
33
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus e
there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[
34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]] f
And they cast lots to divide his clothing.
35
And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying,
“He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah g
of God, his chosen one!”
36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38
There was also an inscription over him, h
“This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding i him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah?
j
Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do e Gk him f Other ancient authorities lack the sentence
Then Jesus … what they are doing g Or the Christ h Other ancient authorities add written in Greek and Latin and Hebrew (that is, Aramaic ) i Or blaspheming
4 The Rev. Craig Kuehn

Christ the King
Proper 29
Church of Our Saviour
November 24, 2013 you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41
And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into k
your kingdom.”
Paradise.” 2
43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in j Or the Christ k Other ancient authorities read in
2 The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version . (1989). (Lk 23:33–43). Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers.
5 The Rev. Craig Kuehn