November 26, 2006 Sermon
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Last Pentecost/ Proper 29-B
November 26, 2006 Allan Conkling
This is the final Sunday of the Christian calendar. We call this day Christ the King Sunday. The readings and music for today all exalt Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Christ the triumphant. The Alpha and the Omega. But oh, catch the contrasts in the different readings we have before us! The symbol of his regency is not a family crest or a coat of arms but a cross and crown of thorns. Jesus was born not to royalty but to poverty; his royal mantle was human flesh, which he took on as the Incarnate one of God.
Last week, I said that you can always tell when we are close to Advent because we always read from those strange “apocalyptic” passages in the Bible. Today we get a double dose with Daniel and Revelation. Remember the Greek word “apocalypsis” means to reveal, or uncover. Through the use of code words, numerology, and symbolism, imagery, the faithful would uncover Gods plan for the future. Remember, the book of Daniel was written about 160 BCE, at the time of what was the first full scale persecution of the Jewish people. Under such humiliation, torture, and suffering Jews began to long for a time when the end of the world would surely come; a time when God would send an anointed one, coming on the clouds of heaven. The book of Daniel was a book of hope. Hope that God would come. Hope that God would save the world and make it right.
Revelation, too, was written during a time of persecution. Revelation was a vision of the end times. It was a promise of a new day dawning. Grace and peace would come to the faithful. Anguish and judgment would come to the faithless. But what does that mean for us today?
As Christians living thousands of years after the time, and no longer in the cultural milieu of Daniel and Revelation, we can scarcely understand its full message. For sure, they are not a blue print for the European Union, or fall of the Berlin wall, nor do they predict earthquakes in California, in spite of what the Left Behind series tells you. It has been said that he entire thrust of Revelation can be summarized in two affirmations: the one great truth that Jesus Christ comes from God and returns to God; and the one great Commandment which is that we are to love one another.
Christians believe the messiah did come, although not in the way that was expected. We honor Christ as king not because he overwhelmed the world with power or destruction; rather we are attracted to him because as we look at Christ we see something about ourselves. We see the truth of our human vulnerability, in a God who took our nature upon him. Unlike all other worldly rulers, Jesus was a person who would kneel before his friends and wash their feet. He taught them and healed them. To this day, Christ’s Spirit comes to us, not in opulence or a grand procession, but in the faces of the poor, the outcast, the dispossessed, the infirm, and the marginalized, those who are most different from us. Compassion is the key that opens the gates of the kingdom…for as we do for the least, so we do for God.
Today, as we live life in what we call “the real world”… a world which, even as good as it gets, is filled with brokenness, sin, selfishness, illness and of course, death—the world is hungry to hear the message of a new reality. Christ’s realm is one includes all people, with promises that never fail. A kingdom without oppression, terror, or subjugation. A reign that is not by the “sword,” or armies amassed to defeat another.
The
“subjects” of this new reality—this Kingdom, are called to transform the
world; to pledge allegiance, not to the flag of this or that
country, but to the banner of the Prince of Peace. What's more, when we
pray, “thy kingdom come thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven,” we are saying that that kingdom has begun now. Not
“back then”, or “in the sweet by and by,” but now.
Christians, the world is waiting: “Behold I stand at the
door and knock” he says (Rev. 3:20); and “See I am making all
things new.” (Rev. 21: 5). This is not the “power-image” of a
despot or potentate, but rather, like “a mother cares for her
children....” who did not abandon us to death and the grave. A
servant-leader. A good shepherd. Truly this good news
waiting to be shared! To hail Christ as King means that we believe that
God has a plan and a place for every person. “For
this I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the
truth.”
(Jn. 18:37)
Out there, the holidays have begun in earnest. Next week, with Advent, the Christian year starts all over again. As we prepare ourselves and the church to tell the story of the birth of this very strange King, pray God to open our hearts, and make us worthy subjects. And bring us into that heavenly Kingdom—beginning today.
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Revised: 12/07/06