I want you to imagine this morning that this is your very first
morning ever in church. Now, as it turns out, for a huge number of
people in the country and in our own community, if they were to come
to church this morning, it would be their first time ever. And as it turns
out, there are also a huge number of people who know absolutely
nothing about the Christian story. So, I want you to imagine that you are
that person, and that this is your very first Sunday in church.
So you’ve gotten your nerve up and you’ve come in from the
parking lot, you’ve been greeted nicely at the door, you’re handed a
bulletin and a blue songbook, and you come into the sanctuary.
Hopefully you don’t try sitting in someone else’s seat . . . but actually, I
think the people of St. Mary’s would let you stay there even if you did.
So, you’re seated and you take a look at the front of the bulletin – Christ
the King Sunday, it proclaims. Christ the King. Well, you know
something about kings, don’t you? You know that Prince William is
getting married and he might be king one day, and maybe that horrible
Camilla will be queen if Charles ever gets the chance to be king! Kings
don’t have that much power anymore, but you do remember from
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history class that they used to have a lot of power, power to do whatever
they wanted, pretty much whenever they wanted to do it. And they were
more than just powerful, they were wealthy – they still are – they were
influential, they wore crowns and fur robes.
So, here you are in church for the first time and you’re wondering
what’s going to come next. In your mind, you imagine what Christ the
King Sunday might sound like as Christians celebrate Christ as their
king – you’re ready . . . but then, what do you get? You get the story of
Jesus’ crucifixion. I’m betting that not many people would expect that.
This is Christ the King? Crucified next to two criminals while everyone
stands around and laughs at you while you’re dying? Sure, lots of
influential leaders have ended up executed, either by mobs or the new
regime, but if you were one of the followers of the old king, the story of
his death was not usually the story that you hung on to as proof of his
kingly power. No, that part of the story is usually the lowest, darkest
point, and when you do tell it, it’s a time for anger or vengeance or
disappointment – not a time to celebrate.
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And actually, even those of us who have been in church countless
Sundays, and know the church calendar pretty darn well, this isn’t what
we expected to hear this morning, for our last Sunday of the church year,
and actually, the last Sunday of a three year cycle of lessons. I am
willing to bet that unless you’re studying the Sunday lectionary on your
own, you did not expect to hear the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. That’s a
story to be told on Good Friday, with the joy of Easter morning just a
few short days away. But here, we won’t get the story of Jesus’
resurrection next week, or even the week after that. We end the year, we
end the cycle, with the heartbreaking story of Christ crucified.
Which makes us look like we’re nuts. Of all the stories in the
world that we could use to prove to people that Christ is King, this
seems like the least likely choice. Even non-church goers could
probably come up with some better options – what about all those
miracle stories that we hear about? Wouldn’t those be better? Turning
water into wine . . . feeding five thousand people from just a few loaves
of bread and some fish that someone happened to have . . . calling a dead
man out of his tomb, four days after he had died, when the stench of
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death was already filling his family’s senses? Or how about when those
kings from the East come and give him gifts – real gifts, stuff that’s
valuable? Those are times when Jesus seems like a king. Or even his
resurrection, for goodness sake – that’s what a king looks like. What is
this story of death and humiliation and mockery doing on Christ the
King Sunday?
So, let’s step back a bit and see if we can figure out it. First, let’s
step back from the surprise of hearing the story of Jesus’ crucifixion
when it’s not even close to Holy Week. And let’s step back from seeing
the story as the crowd, the followers of Jesus, his friends, his relatives –
let’s step back from the awful brutality, and from the heartbreak that
they must have felt that awful, dark day . . . let’s step back and look at
what Jesus is doing. And what is he doing? – he’s dying. He is dying a
painful death. The Romans were experts in many things, and pain and
intimidation were two of their strongest suits. Crucifixion was designed
to be as horrifying as possible, and Rome used it especially against
anyone they had decided was a troublemaker – and the whole point of
crucifixion was to scare other potential troublemakers into behaving. It
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was public, it was slow, and it was painful. And yet, in the midst of his
dying, what do we hear Jesus do? He exercises his kingly power – but he
doesn’t do it by striking down those who have captured him, and he
doesn’t do it by summoning his army, and he doesn’t even call his
followers to avenge him. He pardons. He forgives. As Jesus hangs
dying on the cross, he exercises his kingly power by pardoning, by
forgiving . . . and he doesn’t even restrict it to those you might think
“deserve” it. Who does he forgive first? Those who have crucified him.
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” He
forgives them. And then, when the criminal at his right hand recognizes
him as king of kings and lord of lords and asks merely to be remembered
when Jesus comes into his kingdom – Jesus offers him so much more.
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Of all the ways that Jesus might have shown his kingly power . . .
of all the ways, he forgives. Listen again to how St. Paul describes him
in his letter to the Colossians: “He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were
created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
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rulers or powers. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. In
him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God
was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in
heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” Jesus is a
mighty king, isn’t he? And of all the ways he could have shown his
kingly power on the cross, Jesus chose forgiveness. Jesus gave a gift to
his tormentors, his followers, to criminals, to the world. Jesus gave
them forgiveness, the chance to begin again - he gave them the hope of a
new future when all seemed lost. Because truthfully, all seemed lost,
didn’t it? To his disciples watching from far away, where they couldn’t
hear his words to the crowd or to the criminal – to his disciples, all
seemed lost. And yet, Jesus had redeemed them – all was not lost, it was
not time to give up.
Jesus on the cross, forgiving the world – the message to Jesus’
followers on that day and to us on this day is that it is not the time to
give up. No matter hopeless things might appear to be, no matter how
foolish we might look, now is not the time to give up. There are times in
our lives of faith where we wonder, just what in the world am I doing?
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Does it make any difference? Will the world ever look the way Jesus
wanted it to look? There are lots of people who will tell you that the
church is dead, that it’s no longer necessary, that there’s no reason for
God. And to be sure, there are issues – scandals, crimes committed in
the name of Jesus, discrimination . . . on paper it might look a little bit
hopeless and like it will never work -- but in fact, God has the final say
in the matter. It’s hard to imagine a situation that looked more hopeless
and foolish than Jesus forgiving the world of its sins as he hung dying on
a cross. If the crucifixion of Jesus was not the end of the story, then we
should never, ever picture ourselves or any situation we might find
ourselves in as beyond all hope.
Today is our stewardship ingathering – that day where we will
bring together and bless all those gifts that we have to offer. But the
greatest gift we have to offer is something that we bring to the world
beyond our own four walls – the gift that we have to share with the
world is that no matter how hopeless things appear to be, the resurrected
Christ is just around the corner. And so as Christians, we respond in
hope, in spite of . . . well, in spite of everything. Just like the early
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church responded in hope in spite of the persecution and suffering, we
respond in spite of the decline of Christendom, in spite of the
marginalization of faith, in spite of a world that thinks it has outgrown
its need for God. We respond in hope because God has asked us to give
joyfully and generously of our time, our talents and our treasures. We
respond because Christ is king, we respond because we are Christ’s
body in the world, we respond in hope, forgiven and redeemed by our
almighty king. AMEN
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