Showing posts with label Christ the King B. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ the King B. Show all posts

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Christ as King, Really?

Christ the King Cycle B Proper 29 November 21, 2021
2 Samuel 23:1-7 Psalm 132:1-13, (14-19)
Revelation 1:4b-8 John 18:33-37

Lectionary Link





Today is the Feast of Christ the King, and many may greet such a presentation of Christ as King, with the same cynical skepticism as Pontius Pilate when Jesus was held in captivity.  "So you are a king?"  said Pilate.  The bleeding sarcasm is obvious like, "Well, most people who are real kings don't stand in chains before me.  I guess you might be a legend king in your own mind.  I hope that such fantasy is working for you."

This feast day invites us to explore our understanding of monarchies and then try to re-appropriate an insightful notion of how Christ can be a king for us today.

There were biblical kings.  God did not want Israel to have kings; they had leaders like Moses, Joshua and the Judges and High Priests.  But the people wanted a king like the other nations and so Samuel complied, but warned the people that a king would usurp resources of the land.   But the people thought, "we need to be good at war to protect ourselves; and we need a king to be good at war among the nations."

So God gave Israel the first two kings at the hand of the last great Judge, Samuel, who poured oil over the heads of Saul and David in an anointing ceremony.  The Hebrew word for such anointing is the word from which Messiah derives.

Israel had perhaps two noteworthy Kings, David and his son Solomon.  Neither were perfect.  David arranged for the murder of a man whose wife he stole, and that woman Bathsheba was the mother of Solomon, who was famous for his wisdom and for building the first Temple.  He was also responsible for sending Israel on a downward trajectory, because in marrying so many wives and having so many concubines, he allowed the gods and goddesses of his wives to have a place in Israel in opposition to the One Lord God.

The kings of Israel did not do well; the kingdom was divided, the kingly lineage died when foreign conquerors carried the people off into exile.

What does an exiled and oppressed and kingless people do?  They dream about the good old days of David.  Their dreams gives birth to a vision of a future king like David who will be one to restore Israel to the greatness like the Davidic times.

It did not happen, and people continued to dream and be inspired to write all kinds of visionary literature about a future great king.

Jesus of Nazareth in his history was not such a person; and so the Gospel of John purposefully shares the skepticism of Pilate, "So, Jesus you're a king?  Really?"

Fast forward to America.  We are the heirs of a government based upon not having kings, since we with enlightened political thinking came to share the view that "absolute power, corrupts absolutely."  We wanted to be rid of the control of the English Monarchy. 

What is one of the differences between the rule of the many and the rule of the few?  The rule of the few or the one can be very efficient and such can be beneficial for all if the one or the few are perfect and omni-competent and caring people, but such perfect people don't exist, so the rule of the few and the one tend toward cruel dictatorships or oligarchies with no respect for diversity.

We see now in our democracy that the rule of the many has revealed the public incompetence of many politicians, many of whom seem to be dominated by very narrow special interest groups.  Some people wish for the rule of the few and the rule by the wealthy.  Some want a theocracy; General Flynn recently said we should have a country with only one religion.

What do many people like to do with the notion of monarchy?  We make them into dream kingdoms and iconic symbols with "Royals" who we want to be good for tourism and nostalgia.

The most prominent kingdom in America is the cinematic kingdoms of Disney.  We make romantic child friendly kingdoms with "child morality plays" of good and evil, but mainly we want to sell lots of stuff and Halloween costumes from such romantic figures of kings, queens, princes and princesses.

When we try to find a place for Christ the King, we are forced to admit that Christ the King is more like a romantic Disney King rather than a warrior king like David, because Christ the King is an inner and spiritual king.

Christ the King does not have the same manifestation as the Jesus of history.  The Jesus Movement spiritualized the notion of the Messiah as being a Risen and Ascended Person of Significance.  What does Risen and Ascended mean in practical terms?  It means that the Risen Christ is available through the Holy Spirit to the inner lives of people in such a way that loyal relationships have occurred.

A large group of people came into the experience of a spiritual relationship with the most significant and omni-competent person of their lives.  They did not actually see Jesus the person; but the constellation of words which surrounded him could over take and influence lives, and those lives were energized and changed so that they could change the world in external and physical ways.

The Risen Christ came to be named the perfect, omni-competent King.  He was the only one who was good enough to deserve the authority of kingship, because all earthly kings have been failures, in some way.

So while the Risen Christ the King is like the imaginative kings of Disney creations, the Risen Christ inspires such profound interior spiritual relationship, that significant effective changes happen in the hearts of loyal subjects; but not just in their hearts because the loyal followers of Christ make real changes in the external world.

What kind of changes?  The kind of changes which are known as kindness, love, and justice.  Kindness, love, and justice have material and physical reality, meaning that spiritual Christ the King has continued fleshly, incarnational, body language significance.

We pray "thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven," because we believe that the very best of the interior world of love, justice and kindness has to be very external and physical love, justice, and kindness in the specific lives of people.

The validity of Christ as King is only challenged if we make it Disney-like romantic and sentimental piety, and not world changing, people changing, love, justice, and kindness behaviors.

God and Christ are too good for the notion of kingship, because we will not know earthly figures who are omni-competent enough to be worthy of the title and the requirement of what perfect kingship can and should mean.

Christ is idealized kingly person who uses absolute power, not for aggrandizement, but for service and love and kindness.

We need the personification of the right use of absolute power, and so we have Christ the King to inspire our lives to be converted to use the power of our lives, not for self or tribal aggrandizement, but for the effective service of love, kindness and justice.

The understanding of Christ as King, is the way that we rehabilitate and rightly use power and and authority.  And remember if we follow the spiritual Christ the King, we will not live in palaces or pride, but like Jesus we will humbly follow our heavenly parent in the ways of kindness for the people in our world who need it.

In this way, I invite each of us to worship Christ as our king today.  Amen.






Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Sunday School, November 21, 2021 Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King,

 Sunday School, November 21, 2021    Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King,  B proper 29


Theme: Christ as a King

A time for discussing how Jesus is and was a king.
Does our country have a king?
Did we used to have a king?  Yes, when we were an English colony but we did not want to be ruled by a king.  Americans formed a government without a king because of our belief in democracy.
So if we don't believe in having a king, how can we use the notion of a king as a title for Jesus Christ?

King was an important person in the biblical times.  The most famous king of Israel was David.  The very best kings were so good and right for their times that people believed them to be chosen by God to rule their people.  Samuel anointed or poured oil over the head of David to make him king.  This act of pouring oil, meaning that God's Spirit is electing a person to be king, is where the word Messiah comes from.

Jesus Christ or Jesus the Messiah, means that we confess Jesus to be a Special Chosen person of God to rule our lives.  This does not mean that Jesus has to have a throne and an army and be a ruler of a government.  It means that Jesus has become a model of the very best of person who has persuaded us to be the very best that we can be.  Jesus is a king because he has given us a perfect model on how we are to live our lives.  Jesus is a king because God made him stronger than death in his resurrection.

In the discussion at the trial of Jesus, Pontius Pilate mocks the meaning of Jesus being King of the Jews.  This is how the Gospel writer of John's Gospel were trying to show us that Jesus was not a King like the Caesar or like King Herod.  These kings rules by using fear to force people to obey them.  Jesus is a perfect king because Jesus as a king works through God's Spirit to persuade us to be better people.

So what kind of king do you like?  One with great armies and one that forces you to obey?  Or one who shows you how to be the best person you can be and persuades you and encourages you to be the best person you can be?

You and I can choose to make Jesus the King of our lives even though Jesus will not force us to do so.  This is the very best kind of king.


  Today is the end of the longest church season.  What is the longest church season?  Pentecost.  If this week is the end of the Christian year, then that makes next Sunday, New Year’s Day.  And what do we call the first day in the Christian New Year?  The first Sunday of Advent.  So what Christian season comes after the season of Pentecost?  Advent.
  We have a special name for this Sunday, the last Sunday in the season of Pentecost.  It is called the Feast of Christ the King.
  And so today we want to think about how Christ is our King.
  We heard the reading from the Gospel today and we wonder how Christ can be our king.  The reading that we have listened to tells us about how Jesus died.  In fact, he died when the soldiers of the great Roman king, the Caesar put him on a cross.  And they put a sign on the top of the cross that was making fun of Jesus.  The sign said: Jesus, King of the Jews.  How can a person who dies this way be a king?
  Let me show you another cross.  This cross is called the cross of Christ the King.  Do you see that Jesus has on wonderful robes and he is wearing a crown?  This cross is different from the other cross.
  How did Jesus become Christ the King?  He became Christ the King, because he did the strongest thing that could ever be done; he came back to life and he promised that God could give us life after our deaths too.  That is a great thing.  And that is why Christ is our king.
  And since we know that Christ is our king and since we know that God is bigger and stronger than death, do you know what that means?  It means that we can live our lives without fear.  We can live our lives with joy, love and faith, because we know that Christ is our King who has been stronger than death.
  So today, let’s celebrate because Christ is our King.  Christ is stronger than death.  And we can live with joy and faith because Christ is our King.  Amen.



Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist
November 21, 2021: The Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King

Gathering Songs: Hosanna, Hosanna, Majesty, Spirit of the Living God, The King of Glory Comes

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.
And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.
Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! (Renew! # 71)
Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!

Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted oh Lord my God! Glory to the King of kings!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen..

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia
O God, you have made us! Alleluia
O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia
O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia
O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia
O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia
O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the Revelation of St. John the Divine

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 132

For the LORD has chosen Zion; * he has desired her for his habitation: "This shall be my resting-place for ever; * here will I dwell, for I delight in her.
I will surely bless her provisions, * and satisfy her poor with bread.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:
For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!
For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!
For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!
For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!
For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!
For work and for play. Thanks be to God!
For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!
For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!
For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.
Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.
Since God is so great and we are so small,
We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.
We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and
     resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.
We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is
     welcome.
We believe that Christ is kind and fair.
We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.
And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.
For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.
For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.
For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.
For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.
For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Liturgist:         The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
People:            And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering.

Song: Majesty, (Renew # 63)
Majesty, worship His majesty.  Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise. 
Majesty, kingdom authority flow from His throne unto His own;
His anthem raise. 
So, exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. 
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King. 
Majesty, worship His Majesty; Jesus who died,  now glorified, King of all kings.

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”
All become members of a family by birth or adoption.
Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.
A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.
The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.


The Lord be with you
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;
You have made us in your image
And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.
And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph
And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.
Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat
  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  
  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory
 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. Amen.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.
As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.
But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.
Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:        Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Spirit of the Living God, (Renew # 90)

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.  Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.  Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

Spirit of the living God, move among us all; Spirit of the living God, make us one in love: humble, caring, selfless, sharing— Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;
We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.
And His Presence has been known to us.
We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers
    and sisters in Christ.
Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the
     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,
As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: The King of Glory, (Renew # 267)

Refrain: The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. 
            Open the gates before him, lift up your voices.

Who is the king of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages. Refrain

In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness. Refrain

Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another. Refrain

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 
People: Thanks be to God! 




Sunday, November 22, 2015

Translating Christ the King to Those Skeptical of Monarchs

Christ the King Cycle B  Proper 29 November 22, 2015
2 Samuel 23:1-7  Psalm 132:1-13, (14-19)
Revelation 1:4b-8  John 18:33-37

  Preaching on biblical readings requires another level of translation which not everyone is willing to do.  Obviously, we do not read the Bible in public in their original languages of Hebrew and Greek, we read them in English translation.  But more than language translation has to occur when we try to teach and preach from the Bible.  We not only have to bridge the language difference, we have to bridge the incredible differences in the details of ancient cultural practice.  There is a great difference between ancient and modern cultural practices; but what are the universal principles for which we can find correspondences between biblical contexts and our modern situation?  Sometimes ancient religious ideas create irony for modern people who find such ideas to be obsolete, if not downright cruel.
  The notion of king and the form of government known as monarchy is foreign, particularly to us as Americans.  Our very form of government is based upon getting rid of the notion of kings and monarchs.  As Americans, we believe that monarchies are terribly inferior forms of human governance.  Why?  because no one person can be Omni-competent enough to be accorded such a lifetime position of singular power.  Yes, there may be beneficent monarchs but the number of kleptocractic monarchs far out number the good monarchs.  Monarchs usurp a disproportionate amount of the resources of any society or nation.
  So on this feast day of Christ the King, how can we make sense of Christ fulfilling the role of an obsolete political office?  A perfect King seems to us to be an oxymoron; a contradiction.
  People in the time of Jesus did not think much about kings in their lives.  In the history of Israel, we find that for a long time religious leaders such as Moses, Joshua and the Judges were the preferred leaders of Israel.  When the people of Israel came to the land of Canaan, they observed that other nations had kings.  Kings were functional leaders to establish armies and protect their people but for such protection taxes had to be collected and men had to be provided for the armies. The last great Judge Samuel reluctantly anointed Saul as the first king of Israel and this anointing process of making a king was the origin of the notion of the messiah.  Messiah was the receiving of a divine commission for kingly leadership.  Saul failed in his kingship and he was succeeded by David, who became the model for an idealized king.  Israel did not have many good kings; even King David had plenty of faults but since good kings were so few and Israel enjoyed very few years of actual success as a nation, the Davidic kingship created nostalgia for people who had to learn to live under the siege of other world powers.  The legend of David grew into an idealized messiah who could be a divinized human hero leader who could establish deliverance and justice for God's people.
   The notion of the messiah was a rather inexact notion; it was inclusive enough to encompass lots of speculation, and to bring disagreement between those who remain within the practice of Judaism and those who came to know Jesus as the Messiah.
  In the time of Jesus, Caesar was the actual king of the Roman world empire who had surrogate local figures like King Herod to rule on his behalf in Palestine.  One can easily understand how people who lived under occupation for so long dreamed about a great liberator.  And Jesus of Nazareth was not one who came to over throw the rule of the Caesar in Palestine.
  So how can you and I relate to the notion of King and Messiah?  First the notion of King and Messiah are not equivalent.  A messiah is a divinized human person for specific leadership or providential purposes.  Even a figure like Cyrus the Great of Persia was called a messiah because the prophet Isaiah regarded him to be one who providentially allowed for the continuing existence of the Jewish people even though he was a foreign conqueror.
  The Feast of Christ the King is a relatively recent feast.  It was declared by a pope who was wanting to assert the Christian aspiration for the practice of holy justice in the lives of people.  This feast was instituted after the fall of the so-called Christian Tsars and Kings of Russia when atheistic socialism began to sweep Russia because "Christian" Tsars did not practice distributive justice and they were bad enough to bring the Christian belief in God into question.
   We should understand this feast as the feast of Christ the Messiah.  A messiah is different from a king.  Christ as the Messiah can be a very valuable and relevant notion for us today.  Why?  There exists within humanity a universal aspiration for the perfect person and the perfect governmental form for the practice of justice.
  Human perfection and perfect justice always stand before us beckoning us, luring us to surpass ourselves in a future state.  You and I always need to be better.  Human laws and government always needs to get better in approximating the practice of justice.  And this is why the celebration of Christ as the Messiah is valid and relevant to our lives.
  The notion of Christ as the Messiah is still a challenging notion.  It is one thing for us to see the risen Christ in our lives as the model of the perfect person, but what does a perfect society look like?  What kind of biblical model can we find for a perfect society practicing perfect justice?  There is none.
  Jesus told Pilate if his kingdom were of this world then his followers would fight.  For human governance, God relies upon the messianic effect of Christ in the lives of people.  God wants to win people one at  a time and convince each to love one's neighbor as oneself.  To force people to love and practice justice would be a violation of human freedom.  As much as we often wish God would coerce people to be different, the reality of human freedom does not work this way.  God commits the practice of justice to people.  God expects people to be messianic in the way in which they practice justice with each other.  Let us continue to embrace the direction of both personal and social perfectability which is affirmed in our celebration of Christ as the Messiah.  In American language, we continually say that we seek a more perfect union in our practice of justice.
  Today, I confess that I need to be better today than I was yesterday.  Today as a parish, we confess that we need to be better at ministry than we were yesterday.  Today, we confess as citizens that we need to be better in our practice of justice than we have been in our past.  And today as a world community, we confess that we need to be better in the realization of justice in our world than we have yet achieved.  As long as there is the need for personal improvement and improvement in the practice of justice, we will celebrate the feast of Christ the Messiah.  Christ as the Messiah is the one who was given to us by God to set the direction of our calling to perfection as individuals and as those who need to practice social justice in our world.
  Let us always keep the Risen Christ the Messiah before us as a continual calling to our better selves both as individuals and in the more perfect unions of governmental practices toward better justice.  Amen 
 

 





  

Sunday, November 25, 2012

In What Way Is Christ a King at All?


Christ the King Cycle B  Proper 29 November 25, 2012
2 Samuel 23:1-7  Psalm 132:1-13, (14-19)
Revelation 1:4b-8  John 18:33-37

    We enjoy watching children play; we are charmed by their imaginations.  They can be kings and princesses and super-heroes.  But even children know what is imaginary and what is not.  The little boy in his Superman costume knows that when he jumps off the bed to fly; he knows about gravity and so he knows not to be too literal about his flying.  Already the young guy knows that he is switching codes between science and the codes that govern the imagination of his Superhero imitation.  Even though he is child-like he still has learned the hard rules of gravity.  Is a boy in a Superman costume, Superman? Yes, he is as much Superman as the actual Superman, because the actual Superman is an invention of literary imagination. We encounter child-likeness and the brute facts of history on this feast of Christ the King.
  Today on the feast of Christ the King we ponder the question, how is Jesus of Nazareth a king by any actual earthly experience.  Saul, David and Solomon were actual kings of Israel.  They had actual earthly reigns.  There was an incredible long succession of Kings in the Roman Empire, the Caesars.  They sat on thrones, they had standing armies, and they were actual kings.
  But how are we Christians like the young boy who is pretending to be Superman when it comes to our confession of Jesus to be a king, and not just a king but the King of Kings?  This question challenged the writers of the Gospels.  They had to deal with those Jews who decided Jesus was not “their” kind of Messiah, because Jesus in fact was not kingly enough.  He did not have a standing army.  A king with a standing army would not let their leader get crucified upon a cross.
  Today, we have read from the interrogation scene between Pontius Pilate and Jesus.  This scene was being written by people who knew that the Romans were in control.  They knew that Jerusalem was destroyed.   They also knew that to confess another person to be a king in the time of the Caesar was a foolish political act and it was an act that could be interpreted as a rebellious act.  The Christians who wrote John’s Gospel knew that the Romans believed Jesus was dead and that he was not a literal threat to their power.
  Pontius Pilate is presented like the adult who is mocking a child for taking the Superman role too seriously. ‘ Seriously, young man, how are you Superman?  You jump off of the bed, you do not fly; you fall to the floor.”
  “Jesus, are you a king?  How in any way are you the King of Jews?”   “ Well, Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world; if it were my angels would have fought.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
  What we don’t see in this dialogue is Pilate’s cynical reply, “What is truth?”
  For most people what was literally truthful was that a real earthly king has an army and wields incredible power.   That is the kind of king that the Roman citizenry understood.  It is the kind of king that David was and he was the model king for the messiah who the Jews were looking for.  And Jesus was not that kind of king.
  So how do we process the fact that Jesus did not look like a king?  Historically the church did this by saying Jesus does not yet look like a king but he will when he comes again in the future.  Then he will be a literal future king.  This deferred kingdom of Jesus on earth is embedded in the Bible in the apocalyptic literature.  This deferred kingdom is why so many fundamentalists and apocalyptic Christians pray and want the world as we know it to end.  There is less motivation to care for our planet if one is fervently praying for life as we know it to come to an end.  One might question the healthiness of this kind of “kingdom” attitude.  Jesus is not a literal king now in the world, but he soon will be and everyone will be forced to acknowledge it.
  I wonder if many have missed the truth of the kingdom of Jesus that is found in the Gospel of John.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus said that his words were Spirit and those words were life.  Jesus was the same one who was call the Word of God.  And the writer of John said that the Gospel was written so that the reader would know that Jesus is the messiah or God’s anointed king.
  And what is the Gospel?  They are the words and Spirit of Christ.  They are an army of metaphors and they fight such an interior battle that they persuade people to know the good news of how Jesus is kingly in our lives.  By the sheer number of people who have made the interior assent of the will in knowing Jesus as kingly in their lives, one could easily make the case that Jesus is the most kingly figure in all of human history.  The army of metaphors has brought the truth of Jesus to many people in more valid ways than what has come by the swords of earthly kings.  In fact, the Gospel coming to people by an earthly sword seems to be a violation of Jesus as the prince of peace.
  What is the truth that is being hinted at in the Gospel of John?  Poor Pilate is just a teaching tool for the Gospel writer.  He represents both the literalists and those who have such a limited understanding of the fullness of truth.  Literal Pilate is the one who knows that Jesus is not an earthly king.  Was there any other way to be a king other than with an army?  Pilate is the cynic who is treating Jesus in the same way that a myth busting adult would like to tell a child that Santa is not real and neither are all of those Disney characters in the Disney kingdom.
   The writer of John’s Gospel was saying that truth is about understanding word; how you use word and how it uses you.  There is a child-like way of imagination that opens us to the meaning of Jesus and his kingdom.  The cynic will try to pour cold water on that and say that isn’t true because it isn’t brute historical fact or scientific fact.  But truth isn’t just about fact; it is about the total way in which we live.  We live with different discursive practices when we do science or when we appreciate art or music or when we make love or when we play or observe play such as an athletic contest.  We have the discourses of dreams and hopes and wonder and imagination and the uncanny and the Sublime.  They are not all the same but they interweave in our lives to represent the fullness of Truth.  Pilate was cynical about the truth of Jesus because his own notion of truth was so literal.  As people of faith we need to drop literalism as the only way to appropriate Jesus as a king and as a savior.   The departure of people from communities of faith today has to do with the narrow practice of truth in many Christian communities.  Such narrow constrictions of truth go hand in hand with an obsessive need to control.
  Modern cynics can see religious people as childish people in Superman costumes ready to jump off the building and assume that they are going to fly and the cynic says, “Not me…that’s just childish and a little crazy.”
  The Gospel more than anything is the “spirit of words.”  It is about an army of metaphors taking over our lives and reorganizing our lives towards the values of love espoused by Jesus.  Indeed Jesus is a king of hearts; he entrances and inspires the imagination.  He motivates us and is available as an experience of life-changing grace that is so unique and serendipitous to our life experience, it cannot be replicated.  Other people have graceful experiences but not my graceful experience.  The Gospel of John has Jesus speak to the truth of the different graceful experiences of life and how they come to words in the stories of the people who have these experiences.
  And trust me, people have graceful experiences but often will not tell them because the cynical Pilate is out there to crush them with the boot of cynicism the truth value of graceful experiences.
  The kingliness of Jesus has to do with how Christ becomes the visionary directing person in our lives to organize us toward love and justice in speech and deed.  And so let us today not be cynical or too literally limiting of the ways in which God and Jesus have, are and will get through to us.
  Let the angelic army of peaceful and loving metaphors enter us and rearrange our interior lives and let us know that Christ is our king and we live in his kingdom.  Amen.

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