“Truth is…”

Christ the King

November 25, 2012

John 18:33-37

 

One of the most iconic scenes from the film “‘The Wizard of Oz” is the one where the Cowardly Lion contemplates what it would be like if he were the King of the forest.  One would think that by virtue of being a Lion, he would already be the King of the forest, but for the Cowardly Lion this is not the case…so he muses -   

If I were King of the Forest, Not queen, not duke, not prince.
My regal robes of the forest, would be satin, not cotton, not chintz.
I'd command each thing, be it fish or fowl.
With a woof and a woof and a royal growl - woof.
As I'd click my heel, all the trees would kneel.
And the mountains bow and the bulls kowtow.
And the sparrow would take wing - If I - If I - were King!
Each rabbit would show respect to me. The chipmunks genuflect to me.
Though my tail would lash, I would show compash
For every underling!
If I - If I - were King!

Truth is that the cowardly Lion’s lack of courage kept him from attaining that position of king of the forest…until he realized what true courage really was.  But it didn’t keep the cowardly lion from dreaming about it.  So, what about you?

If you could be King for a day, what would you do with that power?  What clothes would you wear?  What food would you eat? How would you get around town? Where would you live?  Would you have a staff?  How would you spend your time?

I’m sure we all have our various dream scenarios for an event such as this.  If I were King for a day, I would be king of an island in the Caribbean. My house would be an ocean front bungalow.  And I would begin my one day by awaking to the sounds of the ocean, then enjoying a breakfast of fresh pineapple from my garden, followed by a stroll in the sand down to a spa where I would spend the day relaxing. And I would end the day by fixing a magnificent dinner of surf and turf for friends and family in my beautiful kitchen.  But the truth is it’s only a dream…and I’m good with that.  I’m good with having a 2 bedroom kingdom to rule over…or rather, that our dog, Abba, rules over. 

And I’m sure that the life of a real king or queen isn’t all spa days and fancy meals…although we sure like to think that it is.  That’s how we have depicted kings and queens over the years.  Exquisite dress, decadent dinner parties, getting to do whatever you wish because, in the words of Mel Brooks in History of the World, Part I, “It’s good to be the King.”  But the truth is there are still legal and diplomatic matters to tend to.  And though in many countries the title of King comes more as a figure head than an actual political position, there is still quite a bit of power and fame there. 

So what do we do when we are presented with a king that doesn’t fit that stereotypical image of royalty?  What happens when the king that we are looking at would stick out like a sore thumb when placed among the likes of Caesar, The Queen of England, or the King of Jordan? 

I wonder if sometimes we don’t know what to do with Christ the King.  We spend so much time talking about Jesus as our friend, Jesus being just like you and me…trying to make Jesus fit into our image of what we think Jesus would be like to justify how we live day to day, because that’s what Jesus would do…that to think of Jesus as King can get difficult.  Sure we love the good old hymns like All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, Rejoice, the Lord is King!  Jesus Shall Reign, and the Hallelujah chorus is always a highlight of the Christmas season…but the word King is so political, almost to the point of having a negative connotation for us in the US with our pride in the democratic system. 

How can we talk about a King who stands both with me and the person who disagrees with me?  What do we do with a King that will root for both KU and Missouri? Is that even possible for a King to be a-political? And so we stand mystified about how to proceed with this one that we call Christ the King…this King Jesus, who though he became fully incorporated part of this world, rules a Kingdom that is not of this world, who stands with me and with those that I’d rather he not stand with. 

But the real complication comes in the fact that our Christ the King, the one that we proclaim as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is a very unkingly King.  As he stands in front of Pilate, we see a man in peasant clothes, a man who was the child of the poor young woman Mary, a man who was born in a place that was anything but royal, who had no home to call his own, a man now standing in front of this Roman authority, dressed to the nines in royal fashion.   This one we call King, our King, was a very non-traditional king.  He was a homeless king, he was a servant king, he was a king who threw out the rule book on what a king looks like and acts like, who a king eats with, who a king talks to, and how a king claims victory over his enemies. 

The truth is that our king is unlike any other king known in history.  Our king is a king who broke all the human rules on what it means to be a king and came up with a list of new list of rules that for us can seem dissonant…and at times even unsettling.  A set of compassionate, loving rules, that set King Jesus apart from the rest of the rulers of his time or any time before or since. 

Our king is a king who shows us the truth about who we are and then shows us a way of living better with one another.  Our king is a king who could have raised up an army to defend him and vanquish his enemies for his own fame and power…but instead he chose a different path, gave up his power, and laid down his life so that both his enemies and his followers could know the truth, the truth that our king has power over life and death and that through his own death, King Jesus gave us a victory that can never be taken away from us.

It is not included in our text this morning…but in John 18:38, Pilate asks Jesus “What is truth?”  The truth is that in this moment, Pilate was standing in the presence of the Truth.  The Truth is found not in a royal palace, or a presidential mansion, but lying in a manger…holy and pure and innocent…the Word of God made flesh. The Truth is found conversing with Samaritan women at the well, standing guard over an adulterous woman about to be stoned, eating with the sinners and the tax collectors, welcoming children into its midst, living in the midst of poverty, and raising up those who society would put down and cast out.  These are not places that a stereotypical King would go, and yet it is where our King is found time and time again.  This is the truth that we find in Christ the King, and when Pilate tried to silence the Truth by putting it to death, we saw the ultimate victory that our King won, not for himself, but for us.

There are no satin robes for our king, and his crown was one made of thorns, and yet we celebrate and serve a benevolent King, one who sides with the poor and the outcast, one who brings freedom our of slavery, one who brings life out of death.  And that is the Truth. Amen.