November 24, 2013
Luke 23:33-43
If there was ever a time
to prove who he was, this was it. This
was his chance to show them once and for all that he really was the
Messiah. All he needed to do was to meet
the challenges of the religious leader and the criminal at his side and come
down off of the cross, saving himself from the pain and humiliation of
crucifixion. This was the ultimate and
final temptation. Come down off the
cross. Remove yourself from the
pain. Live out the rest of your life as
your wish.
As we observe the feast of
Christ the King, we are taking part in a newer feast day on the church
calendar, one that was not celebrated until 1925. It was instated as a reaction to the
increasingly nationalistic and secular trends that came about between World War
I and World War II. And the intent of
the day was for the church to claim the rule of Christ, who regardless of kings
and queens, presidents and prime ministers, is truly the one whose reign trumps
all human establishments and political entities.
But we live in an age
where most monarchs are now mostly figureheads.
And we live in a county where we haven’t been subjected to monarchy in a
couple hundred years and for many, the terminology having to do with monarchy
is a real turn off. So what do we do
when the one we called savior is presented to us as king? We speak about Jesus so often as our friend,
as someone who was just like you and me…and we spend so much time trying to
fashion Jesus in our own image to justify how we live day in and day out, we
want Jesus to be just like us…to look like us, drive the same brand of car we
drive, root for the same football team that we root for…that to think of Jesus
as king instead of one of the guys can be difficult. Sure we love the good old hymns like Crown
him with many Crowns, Jesus shall Reign, Rejoice, the Lord is King! And as we
gear up for Advent and Christmas, maybe we will hear the Hallelujah Chorus a
few times, which is always a delight….but this word King is so political. It is divisive, even. I mean, a King has the final say on how
things are, so if the king goes one way and you go the other, you’re are out of
luck.
So how can we talk about a
King who stands both with me and the person who disagrees with me? How do
we deal with a King who would have no problems driving a either GM product or a
Ford Product? What do we do with a King
that will root for both Michigan and Michigan State…or worse Ohio State? Is that even possible? 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 a fully incorporated part of this world, rules a
Kingdom that is not of this world, who stands with us and with those that we
would rather he not stand with.
And the further
complication is - 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?
It turns out that ours is
a very unlikely king. A very unkingly
king in human terms.
Our king only wore the
purple robes of a king once, when he was mocked and beaten…and he only wore one
crown…one made of thorns. And he was only
called king as a form of mockery, in the sign that hung over him as he was
nailed to the cross.
As Jesus hung on the
cross, he didn’t look like a king. He
looked like a criminal. And yet, this man, who was the child of the poor young woman
Mary, who was born in a place that was anything but royal, who had no home to
call his own, who lived among the poor and the outcast…This one we call King,
our King. And our king was an
untraditional 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 very well come
down from the cross and raised up an army to 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
mercy that is found in Jesus’ kingdom.
In the face of an Empire,
who lived by the rule of retaliation and vengeance, Jesus proclaimed mercy,
even in a moment where he was shown none.
Jesus could have called down a curse on those who put him on the cross,
but instead of crying out in anger, Jesus cried out in mercy, asking
forgiveness upon those who crucified him.
And if that wasn’t enough,
in the midst of his suffering, Jesus is asked by one of the criminals to
remember him in the kingdom. Jesus could
very well have ignored this plea in the midst of his agony. But instead he promised the criminal a place
with him in paradise, where there is freedom from the pain they were enduring
in that moment, where there is forgiveness and mercy abundant.
Jesus could have saved
himself. Jesus could have done what the people yelled at him to do and
come down from the cross and proven to them that indeed he was the
Messiah. An earthly king might shout in pain and try to list reasons he
didn’t deserve to be up there. But Jesus doesn’t do that, instead he says
“Father, forgive them.” Instead of coming down from the cross, Jesus died
on that cross. Jesus died an innocent man between two criminals who,
according to one of them were “getting what they deserved for their deeds”
(Lk 23:41). And through Jesus’ blood that was spilt on the cross
that day, God made peace with humanity, says the writer of Colossians.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have been rescued from darkness and
transferred into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1). And in that
kingdom, we have been placed under the rule of the one that Jeremiah spoke of
as the righteous branch that was raised up for David, who reigns as king and
deals wisely and executes justice and righteousness (Jer. 23). For every
time that we speak the words of our confession, we are taking the place of the
second criminal who pleads “Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom.” And Jesus responds “truly I tell you, you will be with me in
paradise.” Jesus could have saved himself and come down from that cross,
but instead he gave up his own life so that we might be saved and so that we
might be with him in paradise.
Our king is not the
traditional king. He didn’t follow the
rules about what kings look like or how kings act, but he wrote new rules.
Rules of mercy and forgiveness and a promise of paradise.
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