What Would Your Kingdom Look Like?
A Sermon for the Last Sunday after Pentecost
November 19, 2022
The Rev. Robin Teasley
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23:33-43
.jpg)
On the last Sunday of the Church year we find ourselves at the foot of the cross. This is Christ the King Sunday, but Jesus does not seem to be in a very regal position. This is not where we expect to find a king. In 1925 the Roman Catholic Church declared this day to be a worldwide celebration of the kingship of Christ over every earthly power. At that time people all over the world were suffering from religious persecution at the hand of their governments, and secularism was gaining the upper hand over Christianity.
We might wonder just how effective this declaration has been. Secularism has not gone away and persecution continues around the world, as kings and leaders do not exhibit holy leadership. There is a long history of kingship in scripture. It may be helpful to take a look at that, so here is a Reader’s Digest version.
After the death of Moses, Joshua led the people into the Promised Land. By the time Joshua died an entire generation of people had forgotten about the God of Abraham and what had been done for Israel. The Israelites, existing as a tribal confederacy, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They found themselves in great distress and were attacked constantly by other tribes. Then the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them. Even so, the people and the judges continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Much of this evil is recorded in the book of Judges and it’s a juicy read! The G-rated version for our purposes is that they were misbehaving in every way imaginable and were making offerings to false gods and worshiping idols. The book of Judges ends with this line, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” They had lost sight of God, but God had not lost sight of them.
Around 1,000 BCE, the authority still rested with the judges and also with the priests. Samuel, the long-awaited son of Hannah, grows up to become prophet, priest, and judge. The people of Israel recognized that Samuel spoke with the authority of Yahweh, but that wasn’t enough for them. The other nations surrounding them had kings. You know how it is when the neighbors have something that you don’t? In other words, they did not want to be different, set apart, they wanted to keep up with the neighbors, because being respected by other nations was more desirable to them than being the chosen ones of God, so they demanded a king.
Samuel lamented his displeasure about this in prayer, and the Lord answered Samuel, probably with great exasperation, “Listen to the voice of the people for they have not rejected you; they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you.” And then God gave Samuel words of warning to share with the people, basically saying, “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it!”
Thus began a long line of kings over Israel. There were kings who did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and others who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. The writers of First and Second Kings were intent to show that if Israel had a king, the king must place God above all else to assure the peace and well-being of Israel. All too often there were kings who placed their own interests above the need for justice and mercy for God’s people, doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. There have been leaders of nations ever since, and not all of them put God and the needs of God’s people first.
Fast forward to the Gospel reading for today. The soldiers of the Roman Empire placed the inscription “This is the King of the Jews” over Christ as he hung on the cross. The Romans were being sarcastic, but Christians have understood this to be the turning point of the definition of kingship. Jesus knew the oppressive nature of secular kings, and in contrast to them, he connected his role as king to humble service, and commanded his followers to be servants as well. His teachings spell out a kingdom of justice and judgment that is balanced with forgiveness, peace, and radical love.
Today, we are no less challenged than those who came before us, seeking to live our lives in faithfulness to Christ the King. We are constantly bombarded with secular temptations to put something else before Christ. Individualism, power, and control are only some of the idols and false gods that beg us to transfer our allegiance from God to personal desires. The thing is, we are all leaders in some way; we each have a kingdom for which we are responsible. How we define kingdom is directly related to the way we live our lives, the way we are in relationships, the way we are in community, and in our church.
If you were the king, or the queen, what would your kingdom look like? What kind of ruler would you be if you were the President, the Governor, the town manager, a teacher, a CEO, the priest, the head of a church committee, or the parent? You have a kingdom, make no mistake. All of us are given oversight of a kingdom, that is to say, we are responsible for the way we live our lives. What does your reign look like?
All our human constructs of kingdom are flawed and this complicates things. We say we don’t want politics in the church, but Jesus brings it right on in here, he talks about kingdoms all the time. People are always asking Jesus to define kingdom. What is it like? And he says the kingdom of heaven is like this, and the kingdom of God is like that. So, we have to wrestle with this in the Church, which is its own kind of kingdom, is it not? What is being Christlike and what is being “too political”? It is a fine line, isn’t it?
Beginning next Sunday we are given the gift of Advent in which we are invited to spend some time imagining God’s kingdom in a world that looks like anything but paradise. We can take time to reflect on just how it is that Christ is the King is also the long awaited Savior, and is also the vulnerable infant born to peasant parents when most of the world was losing hope.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the compilers of scripture and the organizers of the Church year and the lectionary show us over and over how we are merely human, and how much God loves us despite our behavior. More importantly though, perhaps it is our continued meditation on the life of Christ that will lead us into becoming rulers, kings, queens, leaders of nations, members of churches, and families who reign in the image of Christ the King, transforming this world, so that we may all be in paradise with God. Today. Now and forever.
Comments
Post a Comment