Sermon Christ the King 2010
Sermon Christ the King 11-21-2010
Text: Luke 23:33-43
Is anyone else getting ready for Advent? I’m trying to figure out what I want to put outside for decorations. I had plants outside when it was warm, but since I brought them in it’s been empty feeling. Around town Christmas lights are going up, stores are beginning to play Christmas Music already, before Thanksgiving! Of course, their Christmas sections have been up since what seems like July. It’s just getting close to being that time, the preparation for the preparation of the Advent season has begun.
It’s also Christ the King Sunday today. A liturgical day started between the two world wars as a way to celebrate that it is Christ who rules, not the powers of earth. In the midst of war, we realize that it is only Christ that brings peace. When I think peace at this time of year, I often think of the Christmas day reading from Isaiah. “He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” I think ah, Prince of Peace, this tiny baby that is coming is the Prince of Peace, that fits, babies are really peaceful. Now, some of the parents here are probably thinking, Peaceful! You try waking up at 3 in the morning to a shrieking child and then tell me they are peaceful. And I can agree with you a little bit, watching my friends 8 month old, Ellanora, when she decides that she doesn’t want to be held by Erik, but wants Mommy back. But, mommy won’t be back for a while. That was fun, I think my ear still rings a bit. But, I’m sure you can think of times when they fell asleep in your arms, hand holding your finger, gently sleeping. That is peace.
Last January I was in
And on this Christ the King Sunday while we think of peace, good cheer, calm, and hopefully silent nights, the text that we get is Jesus on the cross. When we think of kings, which is hard as Americans, we think of thrones, and scepters, gold crowns, and plush robes. And we get a ruff hewn cross, a blood stained cloth around his midsection, a spear with sour wine, and a crown of thorns.
How is this man king? Kings come in power, in might, they kill, they aren’t killed themselves. That is what most of the others in our text claim, “If you are king, save yourself!” “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, the chosen one!” “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
And then we get the last criminal, who somewhat gets it. He reprimands the other criminal for asking Jesus, “save yourself, and us.” “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” Then addressing Jesus he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
It is the moments surrounding this that tell us that Jesus is a different kind of king. Jesus brings power not through strength and might, but through forgiveness and weakness. Before any begin to mock him he forgives them, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus forgives before they act. And in doing so, Jesus saves them, but not in the way they are expecting. Jesus does not save himself, like they would expect a king to do. Instead Jesus dies and through that saves. And finally, Jesus does more than simply remember this criminal, this outcast, one thrown aside. This criminal asks only to be remembered, does not ask to be saved, in whatever form that takes. He is accepting of the fate he thinks is before him. He is a cruel man, dying a cruel death, asking only to be remembered in a place he thinks he will not be. And Jesus does more than that. Jesus saves him. And Jesus saves us.
This week in confirmation we were talking about the birth of Jesus as told in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew’s gospel story centers around not the shepherds as Luke, but around the Wise Men. They come bringing their gifts fit for a king, and they bow in homage to the king. But a different kind of king. Not a king enthroned in power, but laying in a manger.
One of the students then gave a wonderfully insightful comment while we were talking about what is means to pay homage to something. I said it is like when you see people kneeling before kings and queens. And she commented is that like when we kneel for communion?
And she is right, even if we do not kneel, we pay homage to our king in communion, we give thanks for what Christ has done for us. We remember that Christ came to us as a child, and that he went to the cross for us, taking all of our sin into himself in doing so. And that is why our king is a different kind of king; a king, not of money and power, but of a manger and a cross; a king, not of armies and tanks, but of love and grace. And it’s even more than that. Our king is a different kind of king, because when we kneel in homage, he kneels down to us in all of our broken states and lifts us up. In communion we are nourished by the blood and body who went to the cross for us.
That is why our king has power, not through armies, thrones, or might, but through forgiveness, grace, and mercy.
That is why we celebrate Christ the King and the seasons of Advent and Christmas, because in our kneeling down in homage, Christ himself pays us homage through his death and resurrection. That is why when we celebrate Thanksgiving we can truly give thanks.
Let us pray,
God of mercy and grace,
As we begin to prepare for your coming to us as a child, we thank you for all that you did as that child, teaching us, healing us, feeding us, and finally dying for us. We know that it is only through you that true peace can come, we ask you to work through us to help to bring that peace. We ask you to comfort the hearts of those who mourn, dry the eyes of those who weep, and hold those who feel alone. In this season that emptiness can feel so much more, we ask you to fill it with your love.
In the name of your Son, our king, we pray,
Amen
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