Christ the King Sunday

Summary

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church calendar.  This morning is when we think of Jesus as omnipotent King.

What do I have to say about Jesus Christ as King, on this Christ the King Sunday?  What can we know about our King, Jesus Christ today?

Well first of all I need to say that Jesus is unlike any other king, or queen, or any earthly ruler for that matter.  Jesus is different because first of all he’s God, and his rule, his kingdom is not based upon an earthly model, but rather a heavenly one.

The theologian Frederick Buechner wrote in his book “The Faces of Jesus, “Jesus said the Kingdom was coming, a new order of things in which God’s will was to be done on earth as it was done in heaven so that at last people would love their neighbors as them selves and God as their father.”

The reality of the Kingdom of Heaven is so for from any earthly social reality that we continually struggle with how to understand the Kingdom of Heaven.

To help us understand Jesus’ kingdom let me quote again from Buechner.  “It was not by good works that people had to win their way into the Kingdom, but like the Prodigal Son all they had to do was set their faces for home and God would be there to welcome them with open arms before they even had a chance to ask forgiveness for all the years of their prodigality.”

In other words Jesus’ kingdom is one of forgiveness and a return to wholeness through holiness.  Meaning the Holy One makes us whole.  We cannot do this on our own.  The making of holy things or people is only the work of the Holy One, God.

Buechner writes again, “But if good work are not the cause of salvation, they are nonetheless the mark and effect of it.  If the forgiven ones do not become forgiving, the loved ones loving, then they are only deceiving themselves.”

What does Buechner mean, “…only deceiving themselves?”

I am not sure, but I think what he might be saying, is that when Jesus gives us his love and forgiveness we enter into his Kingdom.  We live in the reality of God’s grace filling our lives and our hearts.  In the Kingdom of Heaven we understand that only God can provide all, and so we look to Christ to meet our needs, rather then ourselves.  When we do not grow to live more like Christ, we are then acting as if we can provide for our own needs and so we turn our backs upon Christ, and so we deceive ourselves.

I have a small book of modern proverbs by a Latvian Lutheran pastor and a Latvian artist.  One of their proverbs gives us a hint of the difference between living in the world and living in the kingdom.  It goes like this.

“’How do we return to paradise?’  It was a question people often asked God.

‘Paradise is here already, you just don’t see it,’ God replied.  ‘If you want to know what Adam wanted to know, you will not see paradise.  If you want to know what Christ knew, you will be able to see paradise already here on earth.’”

You see paradise, or the Kingdom of Heaven is not so much a place, as a place of being.  Meaning to be, to live in Jesus is paradise, even while your earthly life continues.  Paradise is life with the King, lived in his presence.

Life with Christ the King is not like life with any other king, for life with Jesus has nothing to do with doing things for Jesus, but rather with doing Jesus’ things for those who need.

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

‘The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

We talk a lot in the church, in political arena, in the community about what it means to be a Christian.  And everyone has their opinion.

We finally made it through this election cycle, in which we heard a lot about what a Christian politician should espouse and what a Christian voter should look for in a candidate.  Many people spoke of morals.  Others pushed one specific issue or another, did any of them get it right?

In the community quite often people assume that churchgoers are trying for some form of sinless perfection and so we get accused of being hypocrites when we don’t measure up to the speakers judgment.  Is morality what Christianity is really about?

And in the church itself, we have such a myriad of definitions and opinions about what it means to be a Christian that I can’t even start to summarize them.

But you know what?  The thing that the Bible talks about the most besides faith in God, is care for and love of those in need.  Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, this is what God wants of his beloved people.  God wants us to live out faith in love toward the needy of the world.

The Latvian authors, Rubenis and Subacs tell a tale that helps us to understand God’s desire.  It reads,  “The disciples asked Jesus, ‘What does it mean to say that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night?  How will you come again?’

‘When I come again, no one will recognize me.  I will come as one of the least of my flock, and I will judge everyone by how they receive me.’”

When we start to view life as time already lived in the Kingdom of Heaven, we start to live differently.  It is not as if Jesus is asking you to accomplish chores so as to avoid judgment, but rather we start looking at the world with the eyes of Jesus, rather than Adam and we live out of love, rather than self-centeredness.

How do you live life, or look at the world?  Do you understand life as a struggle to come out on top?  Or do you understand that Jesus wants us to live out his love with those hitting bottom?

What does it mean to care for those in need?  How can we help the poor, the sick, hungry, the imprisoned (or in that case all who have done wrong!) and the stranger?

Well for starters, I think we need to begin to see them; the poor, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned, the stranger for they are all around us.  We need to open our eyes to those in need around us, and look upon them with the eyes of Jesus.  When we can see others through Jesus’ eyes, we can start to love others with Jesus’ heart.

To love another with the heart of Jesus, means to accept them for who they are.  It means that you do not cast judgment, but rather offer grace.  In our actions and then our words we let them know that God loves them.  Jesus’ heart is large, and forgiving.

When we can love with Jesus’ heart, the kingdom of heaven is present, and we are doing the work of the King.  Christ the King!

Amen.

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