Pentecost 27 year C 07 Sermon Christ the King
‘Christ the King?’ imagine someone asking...
What crazy people these Christians are...
followers of... this Jesus...
hanging up there on a cross...humiliated... ridiculed...bruised...bleeding... dying... dead...
Christ the King? Why he was powerless to prevent his own execution...his subjects...so few and so weak... there’s no one to fight for him
What sort of insanity... keeps these Christians faithful to Jesus Christ...when they can see with their own eyes he has no power at all. I mean, that’s the point of being a king isn’t it? Power?
Aren’t kings supposed to be in complete control, possess absolute authority, the right to command armies and obedience, the privilege of punishing anyone who won’t comply? Palaces, wealth, vast empire, loyal subjects...
Power! These Christian’s don’t seem to understand power at all. [pause]
In the Christian Worship Calendar... today is Christ the King Sunday...the last Sunday in the Church’s year...a day to celebrate...
the rule and reign of Jesus our Lord...
over all things... in heaven and on earth.
A day to celebrate the victory of God in Jesus... over the powers of darkness...a day to rejoice... in the glory of the kingdom of light... to which we belong.
Are we crazy...to proclaim that... in Jesus the kingdom of God has somehow already come...
though not yet complete...Are we foolish to believe... that in Jesus...the very power of almighty God... is revealed and established... right here in our human dimension.
I don’t think we’re crazy...not if the gospel is anything to go by. I just think our Christian understanding ...
of authority and kingdom and power...is mysteriously and utterly different...from of all those sneering cynics... who watch Jesus die on the Cross... and who laugh at the apparent powerlessness... of Jesus’ followers and friends. [pause]
In his book Parables of the kingdom...
Robert Capon tells us... ‘if scripture has a single subject
at all...it’s the mystery of the kingdom of God...
not someplace else called heaven...not somebody at a distance called God, but this place... right here...
and the Holy One who moves mysteriously... to make all creation true... both to itself and to him.’
And how does God get the job done...the job of reconciling all creation to himself? What does scripture teach us about the way God uses his power...to accomplish his objectives?’
‘If we come to scripture... with a nice respectable notion of an omnipotent God... who has all the controlling and zapping power he needs to do anything he wants any time he wants to...
we immediately have lots of questions don’t we...
like why is God taking so long to complete the project ...
‘why doesn’t God just knock some heads together, put all the baddies under a large flat rock... and get on with the job?’
Instead...when we read the Bible carefully...we see since Noah... that apparently God’s had no interest...
in using direct power... to fix up the world.
What do I mean by direct power... Well that’s something you and I use it everyday don’t we?
It’s mechanical power... it’s like force...this morning at breakfast for example you probably used direct power to lift your cup of tea to your lips to drink...
the cup didn’t have any say in it...you used the power at your disposal to lift it... and we use this kind of power to mow the grass or wash stains out of our clothes.
This kind of direct power is ‘responsible for almost everything that happens in our human dimension of time and space. And one of the advantages of direct power... is that it works! From taking a splinter our of our finger...[pause] to removing our enemy...
with a hand grenade.
But you can already guess that using direct power... has one heck of a disadvantage...
Especially if you believe the purpose life...
is to remain in loving relationship with other people and with God. [pause]
Oh, sure you can drag your children out of the way of a moving car...but just try intervening... in their plans for the summer... when they’re eighteen... especially when their plans mess up your plans.
Let’s say your daughter sneaks out of the house at night without permission. You get angry and try to scare her out of doing it again...yelling and taking away privileges. But she does it again anyway...and again and again and again...
What do you do next...if you’re committed to using direct power...using force? Yell till your voice gives out, take away privileges till there aren’t any more to remove?
With nothing left...you beat her [if you’re stronger than she is]
until you’re exhausted... then you lock her in her room ...[pause]
Well, I hope you can see the logic of why this is fruitless...I hope you can see that very early on in all this... your relationship with your daughter will be destroyed...
unless at some point...you simply refuse... to use the direct power you have at your disposal... and instead of imposing the pain and punishment your daughter deserves... you make yourself vulnerable...
and take onto yourself... all her sneering disrespect her haughty eyes and her pounding fists.
What kind of power is that... for heaven sake...
you might well ask?
Well Christians from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King have said...that kind of power is the opposite to direct power. It’s the difference between right and left handed power.
Just look at your right hand for a moment...make a fist...Right handed power certainly looks forceful and strong and in control...
Now look at your left hand...and hold it out like this in a gesture of welcome or support...left handed power might look weak – it may be difficult to tell the difference between intervention and nonintervention when your using left handed power...
and you certainly can’t guarantee left handed power will stop evildoers at all. Well it could soften their hearts ... but then again it might not. In fact the only thing left handed power does guarantee... [pause]
is that after you’ve been rejected and battered and hung out to dry or to die...
you won’t have closed any doors... from your side of your relationship.
Now you might say...that’s not exercising power.
But when we turn our eyes on the Cross of Christ ...
we see... that left handed power is power... so much power...that it’s the only thing in the world...
that evil can’t touch. [pause]
Jesus died forgiving.
Robert Capon puts it this way ‘with the dead body of Jesus...God wedged open the door between himself and the world and said. ‘there, just try to make me take that back!’ [pause]
At the beginning of his ministry...Jesus was tempted in the wilderness...tempted to use direct intervening power... to accomplish his mission and establish the kingdom of God on earth.
His disciples hoped he would use force...direct right-handed power... to overthrow the Roman’s and restore David’s holy city... to the Jews.
But even at the start of work as a rabbi...Jesus warns his followers to keep quiet about his use of right handed direct power... When he fed the five thousand... There’s no hocus pocus... no long prayers... no holy exhortations...no dazzling sweeps of the cape...Jesus simply asks ‘How much food have you got?’...
And...Jesus just breaks up the loaves and fishes and passes them around. Jesus doesn’t want his followers to make a fuss about right handed power...he seems to realise the world isn’t going to be saved by miracles...
a crowd fed here, a storm calmed there, a woman healed simply by touching him...
Rather the world’s going to be saved... by a deeper and more powerful left handed mystery...
at the centre of which would lie Jesus’ own death.
What saves the world...what saves us... is Jesus...
and the way we lay hold of that salvation...
is through faith. And faith simply means...
trusting Jesus...saying yes to him rather than no ...turning our faces and our faithfulness toward him...
rather than toward Caesar or the religious authorities... or any other power and principality in existence today... and if... as it was in first century Jewish culture...if the title of king... is the highest rank we can think of ...then yes...we can say Jesus is king of our hearts...Lord of our lives...
prince of our peace.
as Paul wrote to the Colosians
‘being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. so you may have
great endurance and patience,
joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who’s qualified you to share... in the inheritance of the saints
in the kingdom of light.
For he’s rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins....
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood,
shed on the cross.’
When we take up our cross and follow him...we commit ourselves to his left handed power... understanding that in that way he was the Way...the Truth and the Light...understanding the way we need to live... for our relationships and our planet to survive.
There is no shame in proclaiming him King of our Hearts.
‘Christ the King?’ imagine someone asking...
What crazy people these Christians are...
followers of... this Jesus...
hanging up there on a cross...humiliated... ridiculed...bruised...bleeding... dying... dead...
Christ the King? Why he was powerless to prevent his own execution...his subjects...so few and so weak... there’s no one to fight for him
What sort of insanity... keeps these Christians faithful to Jesus Christ...when they can see with their own eyes he has no power at all. I mean, that’s the point of being a king isn’t it? Power?
Aren’t kings supposed to be in complete control, possess absolute authority, the right to command armies and obedience, the privilege of punishing anyone who won’t comply? Palaces, wealth, vast empire, loyal subjects...
Power! These Christian’s don’t seem to understand power at all. [pause]
In the Christian Worship Calendar... today is Christ the King Sunday...the last Sunday in the Church’s year...a day to celebrate...
the rule and reign of Jesus our Lord...
over all things... in heaven and on earth.
A day to celebrate the victory of God in Jesus... over the powers of darkness...a day to rejoice... in the glory of the kingdom of light... to which we belong.
Are we crazy...to proclaim that... in Jesus the kingdom of God has somehow already come...
though not yet complete...Are we foolish to believe... that in Jesus...the very power of almighty God... is revealed and established... right here in our human dimension.
I don’t think we’re crazy...not if the gospel is anything to go by. I just think our Christian understanding ...
of authority and kingdom and power...is mysteriously and utterly different...from of all those sneering cynics... who watch Jesus die on the Cross... and who laugh at the apparent powerlessness... of Jesus’ followers and friends. [pause]
In his book Parables of the kingdom...
Robert Capon tells us... ‘if scripture has a single subject
at all...it’s the mystery of the kingdom of God...
not someplace else called heaven...not somebody at a distance called God, but this place... right here...
and the Holy One who moves mysteriously... to make all creation true... both to itself and to him.’
And how does God get the job done...the job of reconciling all creation to himself? What does scripture teach us about the way God uses his power...to accomplish his objectives?’
‘If we come to scripture... with a nice respectable notion of an omnipotent God... who has all the controlling and zapping power he needs to do anything he wants any time he wants to...
we immediately have lots of questions don’t we...
like why is God taking so long to complete the project ...
‘why doesn’t God just knock some heads together, put all the baddies under a large flat rock... and get on with the job?’
Instead...when we read the Bible carefully...we see since Noah... that apparently God’s had no interest...
in using direct power... to fix up the world.
What do I mean by direct power... Well that’s something you and I use it everyday don’t we?
It’s mechanical power... it’s like force...this morning at breakfast for example you probably used direct power to lift your cup of tea to your lips to drink...
the cup didn’t have any say in it...you used the power at your disposal to lift it... and we use this kind of power to mow the grass or wash stains out of our clothes.
This kind of direct power is ‘responsible for almost everything that happens in our human dimension of time and space. And one of the advantages of direct power... is that it works! From taking a splinter our of our finger...[pause] to removing our enemy...
with a hand grenade.
But you can already guess that using direct power... has one heck of a disadvantage...
Especially if you believe the purpose life...
is to remain in loving relationship with other people and with God. [pause]
Oh, sure you can drag your children out of the way of a moving car...but just try intervening... in their plans for the summer... when they’re eighteen... especially when their plans mess up your plans.
Let’s say your daughter sneaks out of the house at night without permission. You get angry and try to scare her out of doing it again...yelling and taking away privileges. But she does it again anyway...and again and again and again...
What do you do next...if you’re committed to using direct power...using force? Yell till your voice gives out, take away privileges till there aren’t any more to remove?
With nothing left...you beat her [if you’re stronger than she is]
until you’re exhausted... then you lock her in her room ...[pause]
Well, I hope you can see the logic of why this is fruitless...I hope you can see that very early on in all this... your relationship with your daughter will be destroyed...
unless at some point...you simply refuse... to use the direct power you have at your disposal... and instead of imposing the pain and punishment your daughter deserves... you make yourself vulnerable...
and take onto yourself... all her sneering disrespect her haughty eyes and her pounding fists.
What kind of power is that... for heaven sake...
you might well ask?
Well Christians from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King have said...that kind of power is the opposite to direct power. It’s the difference between right and left handed power.
Just look at your right hand for a moment...make a fist...Right handed power certainly looks forceful and strong and in control...
Now look at your left hand...and hold it out like this in a gesture of welcome or support...left handed power might look weak – it may be difficult to tell the difference between intervention and nonintervention when your using left handed power...
and you certainly can’t guarantee left handed power will stop evildoers at all. Well it could soften their hearts ... but then again it might not. In fact the only thing left handed power does guarantee... [pause]
is that after you’ve been rejected and battered and hung out to dry or to die...
you won’t have closed any doors... from your side of your relationship.
Now you might say...that’s not exercising power.
But when we turn our eyes on the Cross of Christ ...
we see... that left handed power is power... so much power...that it’s the only thing in the world...
that evil can’t touch. [pause]
Jesus died forgiving.
Robert Capon puts it this way ‘with the dead body of Jesus...God wedged open the door between himself and the world and said. ‘there, just try to make me take that back!’ [pause]
At the beginning of his ministry...Jesus was tempted in the wilderness...tempted to use direct intervening power... to accomplish his mission and establish the kingdom of God on earth.
His disciples hoped he would use force...direct right-handed power... to overthrow the Roman’s and restore David’s holy city... to the Jews.
But even at the start of work as a rabbi...Jesus warns his followers to keep quiet about his use of right handed direct power... When he fed the five thousand... There’s no hocus pocus... no long prayers... no holy exhortations...no dazzling sweeps of the cape...Jesus simply asks ‘How much food have you got?’...
And...Jesus just breaks up the loaves and fishes and passes them around. Jesus doesn’t want his followers to make a fuss about right handed power...he seems to realise the world isn’t going to be saved by miracles...
a crowd fed here, a storm calmed there, a woman healed simply by touching him...
Rather the world’s going to be saved... by a deeper and more powerful left handed mystery...
at the centre of which would lie Jesus’ own death.
What saves the world...what saves us... is Jesus...
and the way we lay hold of that salvation...
is through faith. And faith simply means...
trusting Jesus...saying yes to him rather than no ...turning our faces and our faithfulness toward him...
rather than toward Caesar or the religious authorities... or any other power and principality in existence today... and if... as it was in first century Jewish culture...if the title of king... is the highest rank we can think of ...then yes...we can say Jesus is king of our hearts...Lord of our lives...
prince of our peace.
as Paul wrote to the Colosians
‘being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. so you may have
great endurance and patience,
joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who’s qualified you to share... in the inheritance of the saints
in the kingdom of light.
For he’s rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins....
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood,
shed on the cross.’
When we take up our cross and follow him...we commit ourselves to his left handed power... understanding that in that way he was the Way...the Truth and the Light...understanding the way we need to live... for our relationships and our planet to survive.
There is no shame in proclaiming him King of our Hearts.
