Christ the King + 11.20.22
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Saints Oxnard
(Jeremiah
23:1-6; Canticle
16; Colossians
1:11-20; Luke
23:33-43)
“He’s my friend and he is my
brother, even though he is a king… I love him more than any other, so much more
than everything…” (“As the Deer”, popular praise song).
Today is traditionally known as
Christ the King Sunday, and the last Sunday in ordinary church time, as next
week we plunge into Advent!
Growing up, I had a certain idea
about the monarchy. My mother admonished me to cut my food properly, because I
never knew when I might be invited to take tea with the queen! I think this was
a bit fanciful, but I complied just in case.
And just a couple of months ago, we
saw an outpouring of grief when Queen Elizabeth I died and people lined up for
hours to honor her. For many this was the first time they got close to the
monarch, although many of us British subjects have seen her at a distance from
time to time.
But as many have pointed out, the
monarchy is not without its hang-ups. The British empire exploited the wealth
and resources of the nations it expanded into, and has left some of the countries
with many disfunctions. In the mixed bag way of empires, just as with the Roman
Empire many years before, it improved the social and physical infrastructure in
many places. Power in human hands, even hands that feel anointed by God, can be
twisted easily.
We have seen this in fictional form
recently in Prime’s “Rings of Power” series (2022) that attempts to give some
back story to JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In it,
Halbrand, a human king would seem to be the hope of the human community and
therefore also is encouraged by an elf warrior named Galadriel. But he yearns
for power at all costs, and she realizes that supporting him will take her down
a dark path. At a pivotal moment, she confronts him by a lake and he shows her
in the reflection how powerful they will be together. However, the image is
distorted and she sees that their rule would not be for good but for evil.
This is a very magnified vision but
reflective of our experience with the mixed nature of kingship and human power
in scripture. Time and again in scripture, the people call out to God for a
king but God responds that a king will not necessarily benefit the people. The
examples of the kings in the Hebrew Scriptures are full of ways that even the
best kings can go astray.
And in our modern world the concept of monarchy may seem outdated, not even
relevant to our current world in our US Democracy. But we too have people who
are in power and have to learn how to use that power responsibly.
I found it fascinating to re-learn
this week that Christ the King Sunday was instituted as a church celebration by
Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a response to what was seen as the rise of secularism
in the world. Specifically, Pius XI was combatting the ideologies of
nationalism that were leading to the formation of fascist and communist regimes.[1]
The relevance of this today is vital because the language of Kingship around
Christ has led the Christian nationalist movement to lift Christ up as a King. However,
Christ the King in this context is portrayed in the traditional warrior image.
We make Christ as a King in our popular image to our peril, not bearing in mind
the kind of king Jesus is.
As the old song goes, he’s not that
kind of King! So what kind of King is he?
Looking at Luke, we can see that he is the kind of king that is willing to give
everything up – his clothing, his life, not because he is powerless, but
because he wants to model true servant leadership. He even begs God’s
forgiveness for the people executing him while on the cross.
In addition to being willing to give it all up and self-empty for our sake,
Jesus is also an invitational king- today, “you will be with me in paradise,”
he says to the thief by his side.
His power is global and glorious,
as we hear in Colossians, but it is also hidden from sight. It is not
flamboyant, obvious power, but it permeates everything. He is truly the Alpha
and the Omega. The beginning and the end of all things.
In the Canticle of Zechariah, another
portion of Luke that probably dates much farther back, we hear that Jesus is recognized as “a mighty
savior, born of the house of his servant David. Through his holy prophets he
promised of old, [that] he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of
all who hate us.”
And in Jeremiah we are reminded that
Jesus also lives into the traditional idea of the Shepherd-King - the humble
leader whose main focus is the wellbeing of his flock.
If we are followers of Jesus, we must not form his leadership in our image as
have done so many of his followers, but rather look to where the humble are
leading. Where leaders think of others first and are willing to sacrifice for
the greater good. Where we see invitation and welcome rather than restrictions.
Where we see a care for all under their leadership, for their whole flock.
It is in those leaders, and in
those who follow Jesus’ humbly powerful way, that we must follow. And, knowing
that no human leader is perfect, we must continue to strive to look first to
Jesus. Not just to the cross, as we heard last week, but for his perseverance
through to the resurrection. A light is dawning, if we can simply stay true
long enough to see it! Amen.
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