Last Sunday after Pentecost, Cp29, November 20, 2016 Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Ps. 46
Col. 1:11-20 Luke 23:23-33
The Gospels are literature of the early church which gather pieces of Christian information from the root event of Jesus Christ through the time when the last editor did a "final" textual edition of a Gospel. The Gospel is like quilt work piecing together material of the garments of thinking, preaching and reporting and recombining them in a form to serve up the intentions of the writers.
The feast of Christ the King is a relatively late addition to calendar of the church and the lectionary makers decided to instantiate the Christ as King with a portion of the Lucan Passion account.
In using the account of the crucifixion as a reading about Christ the King, we are invited to the sense of irony that the Gospel writer has about the meaning of Christ as King. Irony occurs when many reading audiences have competing relationships to a certain idea based upon the circumstances of their relationship with the subject matter.
What did the Gospel writers believe? They believed that Jesus had a cosmic birth with legendary birth discourses that rivaled the birth discourses of the famous Caesar. If Caesar was the king of the earthly realm; Christ was the one above all angels, principalities and powers in the invisible realm, a realm which though invisible can be found everywhere. It is a realm, a kingdom, into which the Gospel writer has access through the receiving the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel writer is able to rewrite the passion of Jesus from having a post-resurrection "elevated" perspective. Such an elevated perspective accounts for the pronounced understanding of Christ as King while being crucified.
One of the most ironic evidence of Christ the King on the cross is the presentation of his clemency. A king has the power to pardoned. There are two acts of kingly clemency offered from the cross. Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." What an irony, "Guys don't you know you've just about to kill the king of angels? That's really ignorant. But Father forgive them for their ignorance about me." The other act of clemency is seen in the interchange between the repentant thief and Jesus. A king has the permissive power to say, "It's never too late to change the direction of one's life, even one's death bed. Forgiven, not just forgiven but promised to be conveyed to and met in Paradise." Only a king has the power of the clemency, but from the cross? The cross is the ultimate place of weakness of Jesus and yet he is presented as asking for forgiveness of the ignorant and granting clemency to the repentant thief. This is the ironic king of the Gospel writer.
The Gospel writers goes to some detail to show what the Roman soldiers believed about Jesus as King. They saw him as a pathetic pretender to the throne. Those who presented Jesus for trial cried, "We have no king but Caesar." It was very dangerous in Palestine to be regarded as an unsanctioned king. King Herod was a king of the Jews but he served as a loyal surrogate for Caesar. And then there was the dual notion of messiah and king. Many Jews did not regard Jesus to be a messiah or a king, because they expected the king-messiah to be one who would come with the show of force to deliver Israel.
This highlights a further ironic; the disagreement between the followers of Jesus and the Jews who remained in the synagogue regarding the meaning and manifestation of the messiah.
There is plenty of evidence that even followers of Jesus wished he had been more than a wisdom teacher and wonder worker; some had hoped that he would also be exempt from suffering and death.
The reason that the Gospel writer was not a member of the synagogue was that the writer believed in Jesus as the Messiah as one who was anointed or selected by God in a very special way through his life, death, post-resurrection appearances and the ability for an experience of Christ to be accessible to so many new and different people. For the Gospel writer, the outcome and success of the church was proof of the messiahship of Jesus. God did something different with Jesus than the notion of the messiah which prevailed in the synagogue. God did something different with Jesus than being an earthly king like the Caesar.
Jesus was the Messiah because He manifested the divine appointment by being God's unique Son who invited each person to know oneself as a child of God. Jesus was the Messiah because He by God's power reappeared to his disciples after his death. This power of reappearance was proof of his preserved and continuing life. Further, even when the Risen Christ was no longer appearing in apparent visible ways, He became known within the interior lives of people who claimed to have their hearts cleansed by the presence of God, the Holy Spirit. The experience of the early Christians compelled them to confess Jesus as the One totally possessed with God's messianic purpose and so for them, Christ was indeed the King. Jesus as the Messiah was able to make many people feels as thought they were sons and daughters of God. As a king, he was able to usher many into a Royal Family.
How do we appropriate Christ as the messiah today? We accepted that he has ushered us into the family God. We celebrate this in our baptisms. The Chrism of baptism is related to the Christ, the messiah, the anointed one. The anointing with the oil of chrism bespeaks that each of us is to be taken into God purpose within the ministry that we are given in our lives. The chrism of baptism, signifies to us that we can find the charisma, the inner charm to complement any outer ministry or vocation we have in this life. We can be talented people with many gifts, but without the inner grace, the charism of being taken into God's purpose, we can have empty vocations and empty ministry.
Today we confess Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ and the king because we believe that we can find the inner grace to add an inexpressible spice to the ministries and vocations of our life.
Christ is the King of the invisible realm who will not force himself on the lives of people in the visible realm, but He will allow himself to known by anyone who wishes his forgiveness and divine grace.
Today, with joy and with the irony of the Holy Spirit, we confess Christ as our King. Amen.
Last Sunday after Pentecost, Cp29, November 20, 2016 Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Ps. 46
Col. 1:11-20 Luke 23:23-33
Today, on the Feast of Christ the King, we have the rather ironic proclamation of Jesus as King. We have read an account of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The Roman soldier wrote a mock inscription above Jesus on the Cross in three different languages: This is the King of the Jews.
Remember the Gospel is the literary art of spirituality of the early church. The writer knew that in telling the story of Jesus the use of this inscription would be full of ironic meanings. Why? In the context of the actual life of Jesus, Herod was the King of the Jews, but also Caesar was the King of Jews, because Herod was just a "puppet" regional king for the Caesar of Rome. The meanings are further problematized because of nuances to the very meaning of the word "king." The Hebrew scripture uses at least two words for "king." A king was a "malik" or a "mashiach." In the history of Israel the rulers of other nations would normally be called "malik" or king. "Mashiach" meant king in a different sense. Mashiach comes from the act of anointing with oil. This was a rite of designating that God had chosen or set aside someone for a divine purpose.
In the record history of Israel, the age before the kings of Israel was the age of the Judges. We are told that God did not want Israel to have a king; they were guided in leadership by religious figures. But the people of Israel clamored to have kings like their neighbors; kings who could assemble armies and protect them. Samuel warned the people of Israel that kings would be costly; they would take taxes and men for armies. But the people decided they wanted to be like the surrounding nations and have their own king and so Samuel under divine guidance anointed Saul as the first king. Saul then was both a king and a messiah. The king of Israel was supposed to have a dual function; he was to be a king in the secular sense, but also a king in the sense of being committed to God divine purposes. Saul and his family lost their "messiahship," and Samual anointed David to be the messiah and king of Israel. David, who was far from perfect, was regarded to be the kingly ideal and he achieved the divine purpose of unifying Israel and setting the kingdom up for his son Solomon who was anointed and whose most significant achievement was the building of the first Temple.
One can see a degree of flexibility in the term messiah. A messiah could be a king and a king a messiah. A messiah-king could also lose the messiah designation, like Saul did. Priests could also be designated as messiahs in certain roles. Foreign kings like Cyrus and Darius could be designated as messiah in that they preserved the Jewish people in exile and sponsored the rebuilding of the temple.
During the intertestamental period the notion of the messiah was developed to address the expectations of a suffering people to have arise for them a messiah king who could restore the kingdom of Israel to independence and freedom. It was "almost" sacrilegious to call someone a king or messiah of Israel if it did not involve the freedom and independence of Israel.
So Messiah became the designation for a future superhero figure who would be God's obvious choice for a significant political intervention in Israel.
Jesus of Nazareth came into Palestine and even to have it suggested that he was the Messiah was both significant and controversial. Everyone did not agree upon the meaning of the Messiah. Many thought that the messiah should also be a powerful earthly king who would bring judgment and deliverance.
So to say Christ the King, is to suggest that the Messiah should have some significant political sway in the world.
The feast of Christ the King promoted by Pope Pious IX in the 1920's when the papal states in Italy were being taken from papal control. The Pope could no longer be a "earthly political leader." He was soon to limited to control of only the Vatican compound. This was also after the Bolshevik revolution and the increasing rise of completely secular if not atheistic forms of government.
So the threatened Pope thought it would be good to have a Feast of Christ the King, as a way of asserting the significance of Christ to the political world.
We know that in America religion and politics can often be problematic. We live with a government that was formed to keep specific religious practices out of government even while protecting everyone personal freedom to worship when and where they want, except if they get pushy about forcing one's particular religious expression upon people who don't want them.
I think that you and I can appropriate the feast of Christ the King through an understanding of our baptism.
The oil of baptism is called Chrism. Chrism comes from the same root word, for Christ, or Christos. Christos is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Mashiach, the anointed.
You and I in our families and in the parish and in our vocation need what I would call both outward position and inward affirmation.
A king or leader can have the official position within society. But a king can be really a failure. He can be a tyrant and an oppressor. He can be feared and secretly hated by his people.
To be a good king, a king needs to have the official position but also the inward charisma of kingship. Through charisma the king wins the respect of people.
You and I in our lives we might have outer signs of positions and ministry. We might have the outward profession of faith. We may have degrees and certificates which announce to the world that we have the authority to do this or that. But if we do not have the inner grace or charisma in what we do, we can be empty holders of positions. We can have valid and official ministry without have effective and graceful ministry.
When we measure the worth of office and charisma, the charisma is more important and it is more validating in its effect. When we look at Jesus of history, we find that he did not have a palace or throne. But he did have a winsome charisma to attract the profound allegiance of a group of followers. When we look at the Risen Christ, we understand that the realm of Christ is not in the trappings of earthly kings; the realm of Christ is with that interior realm of grace and it is a total charismatic grace-filled realm, to which everyone who wishes can have access.
I do not believe that Christ can be understood as an earthly king or leader. Yes, leaders have and claim to rule on behalf of Christ and often for good reason, namely the protection of the rights of Christians, but the natural order of this world may never be completely the kingdom of Christ because the kingdom of Christ cannot be an imposed order. An imposed order would violate the most cherished notion of moral and spiritual worth, namely the freedom to choose Christ as the king and lord of our lives.
When we were baptized we were anointed with Chrism, and so we have become anointed ones, even little messiahs. But before we get inflated complexes, let understand the meaning of our anointing. It means that you and I can be taken up into a higher purpose, a divine purpose as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide the words and deeds of our lives. And while we may attain significant positions, vocations, ministries with official designation, let us seek to have first of all the charisma of our callings. Let us seek to have that inner charm which can help us be winsome through service of others in our practice of love, kindness and justice.
On this feast of Christ the King, let us not think about being a strong church with power to force the conversion of all people; let us seek to have the messianic anointing of our baptism be realized through the charisma, the inner grace of our lives which enables us to win others to the charismatic purposes of Christ through love, kindness and justice.
If each Christian is able to get into the charismatic or graceful purpose of one's life, then we can be heavenly citizens, cosmic citizens while we try to make local living as heavenly as possible for as many people as possible.
This, I believe, is the very best way to celebrate on this day and in our lives, Christ as King. Let us make the Christ the Cosmic King very, very local through grace-filled charismatic living today. Amen.
In the record history of Israel, the age before the kings of Israel was the age of the Judges. We are told that God did not want Israel to have a king; they were guided in leadership by religious figures. But the people of Israel clamored to have kings like their neighbors; kings who could assemble armies and protect them. Samuel warned the people of Israel that kings would be costly; they would take taxes and men for armies. But the people decided they wanted to be like the surrounding nations and have their own king and so Samuel under divine guidance anointed Saul as the first king. Saul then was both a king and a messiah. The king of Israel was supposed to have a dual function; he was to be a king in the secular sense, but also a king in the sense of being committed to God divine purposes. Saul and his family lost their "messiahship," and Samual anointed David to be the messiah and king of Israel. David, who was far from perfect, was regarded to be the kingly ideal and he achieved the divine purpose of unifying Israel and setting the kingdom up for his son Solomon who was anointed and whose most significant achievement was the building of the first Temple.
One can see a degree of flexibility in the term messiah. A messiah could be a king and a king a messiah. A messiah-king could also lose the messiah designation, like Saul did. Priests could also be designated as messiahs in certain roles. Foreign kings like Cyrus and Darius could be designated as messiah in that they preserved the Jewish people in exile and sponsored the rebuilding of the temple.
During the intertestamental period the notion of the messiah was developed to address the expectations of a suffering people to have arise for them a messiah king who could restore the kingdom of Israel to independence and freedom. It was "almost" sacrilegious to call someone a king or messiah of Israel if it did not involve the freedom and independence of Israel.
So Messiah became the designation for a future superhero figure who would be God's obvious choice for a significant political intervention in Israel.
Jesus of Nazareth came into Palestine and even to have it suggested that he was the Messiah was both significant and controversial. Everyone did not agree upon the meaning of the Messiah. Many thought that the messiah should also be a powerful earthly king who would bring judgment and deliverance.
So to say Christ the King, is to suggest that the Messiah should have some significant political sway in the world.
The feast of Christ the King promoted by Pope Pious IX in the 1920's when the papal states in Italy were being taken from papal control. The Pope could no longer be a "earthly political leader." He was soon to limited to control of only the Vatican compound. This was also after the Bolshevik revolution and the increasing rise of completely secular if not atheistic forms of government.
So the threatened Pope thought it would be good to have a Feast of Christ the King, as a way of asserting the significance of Christ to the political world.
We know that in America religion and politics can often be problematic. We live with a government that was formed to keep specific religious practices out of government even while protecting everyone personal freedom to worship when and where they want, except if they get pushy about forcing one's particular religious expression upon people who don't want them.
I think that you and I can appropriate the feast of Christ the King through an understanding of our baptism.
The oil of baptism is called Chrism. Chrism comes from the same root word, for Christ, or Christos. Christos is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Mashiach, the anointed.
You and I in our families and in the parish and in our vocation need what I would call both outward position and inward affirmation.
A king or leader can have the official position within society. But a king can be really a failure. He can be a tyrant and an oppressor. He can be feared and secretly hated by his people.
To be a good king, a king needs to have the official position but also the inward charisma of kingship. Through charisma the king wins the respect of people.
You and I in our lives we might have outer signs of positions and ministry. We might have the outward profession of faith. We may have degrees and certificates which announce to the world that we have the authority to do this or that. But if we do not have the inner grace or charisma in what we do, we can be empty holders of positions. We can have valid and official ministry without have effective and graceful ministry.
When we measure the worth of office and charisma, the charisma is more important and it is more validating in its effect. When we look at Jesus of history, we find that he did not have a palace or throne. But he did have a winsome charisma to attract the profound allegiance of a group of followers. When we look at the Risen Christ, we understand that the realm of Christ is not in the trappings of earthly kings; the realm of Christ is with that interior realm of grace and it is a total charismatic grace-filled realm, to which everyone who wishes can have access.
I do not believe that Christ can be understood as an earthly king or leader. Yes, leaders have and claim to rule on behalf of Christ and often for good reason, namely the protection of the rights of Christians, but the natural order of this world may never be completely the kingdom of Christ because the kingdom of Christ cannot be an imposed order. An imposed order would violate the most cherished notion of moral and spiritual worth, namely the freedom to choose Christ as the king and lord of our lives.
When we were baptized we were anointed with Chrism, and so we have become anointed ones, even little messiahs. But before we get inflated complexes, let understand the meaning of our anointing. It means that you and I can be taken up into a higher purpose, a divine purpose as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide the words and deeds of our lives. And while we may attain significant positions, vocations, ministries with official designation, let us seek to have first of all the charisma of our callings. Let us seek to have that inner charm which can help us be winsome through service of others in our practice of love, kindness and justice.
On this feast of Christ the King, let us not think about being a strong church with power to force the conversion of all people; let us seek to have the messianic anointing of our baptism be realized through the charisma, the inner grace of our lives which enables us to win others to the charismatic purposes of Christ through love, kindness and justice.
If each Christian is able to get into the charismatic or graceful purpose of one's life, then we can be heavenly citizens, cosmic citizens while we try to make local living as heavenly as possible for as many people as possible.
This, I believe, is the very best way to celebrate on this day and in our lives, Christ as King. Let us make the Christ the Cosmic King very, very local through grace-filled charismatic living today. Amen.
