Readings
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37
Today is the last Sunday after Pentecost before we transition to the season of Advent. It is a day we commonly call “Christ the King Sunday.” On this day we hear readings that call us to remember Jesus as our King. It is a day when we celebrate his divine royalty and pay homage to him as our ruler.
But you know what? I have always had difficulty with the image of Christ as King. Whether it is the image of him found in the Christus Rex where he is dressed as a priest and wearing a crown. Or the more pointed image of Christus Pantokrator, where we see Jesus enthroned like a Roman emperor holding a scepter and orb. The idea of Jesus as King has always been difficult for me.
Why is that? Well it’s because of the images of kings we have throughout history, and that includes the images of kings we find in the old testament. Kings throughout the human story, even the ones who are more positively remembered, have been autocratic rulers who are more concerned with their own wellbeing than that of their subjects. They are persons of obscene levels of wealth and power. And, even when their power is limited they usually find themselves serving the interests of a wealthy aristocracy and not the average citizen.
History is replete with monarchs who were capricious and/or selfish. Some were filled with unbridled aggression and made war after war regardless of the impact on those they were charged to care for. Their societies were domination systems that created a caste of privileged people and a caste of subjugation where those within it had no hope of anything other than a nasty, brutish, and short life.
No, despite our romantic images, kings and kingship actively participated in and created domination systems that did more harm than good to their fellow human beings.
Jesus himself, in his own earthly lifetime, challenged such systems. While being in some ways subtle and sophisticated so as not to antagonize too early the powers of his generation, he openly challenged any system that sustained itself on the backs of others. His greatest concern was for those on the lowest rungs of society (the poor, the outcast, and the untouchables). But he also cared about anyone who was marginalized or oppressed by the imperial system of Rome, the monarchy of Galilee, or most notably the temple authorities. It is to these people that Jesus proclaimed what he called the “Kingdom of God.”
This idea of the Kingdom of God stood in stark contrast to the models of kingship which existed in his own day. It continues to stand in stark contrast to the systems of dominance and kingship which existed in the middle ages and even into the modern era.
For Jesus, the Kingdom of God was not a metaphor for Heaven. We have interpreted it that way for centuries so as not to upset the apple cart of our comfortable, or not so comfortable, status quo.
No, for Jesus the Kingdom of God was what the world looks like when we live as if God is actually in charge. The Kingdom of God is a commonwealth of peace and justice where the needs of all are met by all. It is the human family living out the steadfast love and faithfulness of God with one another and towards God. It is the full embodiment of the summary of the law. Namely to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind; and to love our neighbor as ourself.
Jesus perpetually proclaimed that this kingdom was “at hand.” He meant by that that it is literally within our grasp at all times. He proved that it is through his own living, which was a complete embodiment of what living with God in charge looks like.
As we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus was so committed to the Kingdom of God that even when he faced the potential of torture and death he would not abandon it. It was his commitment to this commonwealth of peace and justice, which stood in sharp contrast to the way the world normally works, that got him killed.
The principalities and powers of the world in his day could not tolerate the alternative he was offering. Why? Because if we actually live as if God is in charge, then the domination systems we have created for ourselves will collapse. Those in the dominant caste will be brought down and those in the subordinate caste will be raised up. In other words, the Kingdom of God has and always will be a threat to those in power.
We continue to live with some of these dynamics even to this day. While we do not have kings and kingdoms here in America, we do have an economic and political system that allows for unbridled poverty while a relatively small elite control most of the wealth. We worship merit and wealth as indicators of well-earned privilege. And we often equally find fault with the poor and the homeless blaming them for their circumstances.
Most of us work very hard for what we have. We earn it with the sweat of our brows and the skill of our minds. We endure the inequities of our lives wondering what other choice we have.
Christ, even now, stands in our midst calling to us to recognize that the Kingdom of God is nearby. Jesus, then and now, offers us an alternative if we are but willing to imagine and create it. We, like him, have the ability to claim a life in which we accept and embrace that God is in charge of the world we live in. We have an opportunity to move out of the “stuckness” of our circumstances.
Even if our work and our incomes do not change. We can begin to experience the abundance, the joy, and the life that Jesus offers us. We get there by living out the steadfast love and faithfulness of God both for one another and to our Lord.
What does that look like? Well, in one way, it is much like what we are doing now with our ministry to the homeless on Wednesdays. But we don’t limit it to one day a week. We embrace it as a lifestyle. And it is each of us becoming mindful of the ways in which we participate in the domination system of our culture that not only punishes the poor, but keeps us believing that we are in a state of constant scarcity and danger.
The truth of the Kingdom of God is that the nature of creation is one of abundance. It is a world in which we recognize our common humanity in one another. We are being called to participate in that reality and to call others to do so as well. Perhaps this is the kingship of Christ. Namely that we follow him in this path and make our common cause congruent with his.
But be prepared, there will be those in this world who will be threatened and upset by us choosing the Kingdom of God over the systems of our world (and some of them will call themselves Christian). They will not understand us and they will be concerned that we will cause them to lose what little they have. They may successfully stymy or stifle us. They may even threaten us with harm.
But do be afraid. Jesus faced torture and death and even then his message and his life could not be ended. The same is true for us. Regardless of the obstacles we may face the Kingdom of God cannot be stopped. The Kingship of Christ cannot be superseded. And our lives will not end but be transformed.
We are being offered an opportunity to live a different way and to find the blessing of God in the midst of it. The only question left for us is “will we claim it?” Will we do more than celebrate a romantic image of Christ as King, or will we embrace the kingdom he proclaims?
Imagine the world if we did. Imagine the relationships we would have. Imagine the peace, the abundance and the joy that would be in our midst. Imagine how it might transform our families, our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation.
This is the promise of Christ’s kingdom. Let us bow down and usher in his reign.