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Christ King Yr B-Pr29 November 25,
2007 Rev. Tom Trutner
The distinguished Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, tells a charming folk
tale that comes from the Hasidic tradition of Judaism:
“There was once a very old rabbi in Poland - 100-150 years ago. He
was in the village of Kotz and was acclaimed far and wide for his wisdom and
learning.
“The Kotzer rebbe [rabbi] once surprised a group of learned men by
asking, ‘Where is the dwelling place of God?’
“‘What a thing to ask!’ they laughed at him. ‘Is not the whole world
full of his glory!’
“But the rebbe said, ‘God
dwells wherever man lets him in.’”
Ponder this story while we talk a little bit about today, which is the last
Sunday of the Church year. This coming week, the new church year begins with
Advent - the season of expectation as we approach the celebration of our Lord’s
birth. The readings for the next few weeks tell of those prophesies of Christ’s
birth, and then in the months ahead we trace his life, death, resurrection, and
final glory. Isn’t it wonderful to be in a denomination such as ours that takes
the rhythm and drama of the church year seriously, for it is this story of
Jesus’ life that we find to be our story, too! His journey is our
journey when we put our faith and trust in God ... in the God ”who made us, who
loves us, and who travels with us” as we say at the end of the service. It is
in the fulness of God that Jesus walks with us during our journey; he is
our companion and guide, our hope and our end.
It is interesting to note, then, that this last Sunday in the Church year
has come to be known as the feast day of “Christ the King.” This seems
reasonable enough inasmuch as our faith tells us that, at the end our of
journey, we will be gathered together at the heavenly banquet table where Christ
will reign. It is surprising, however, to find out that this day was designated
as “Christ the King” Sunday only in 1925.
In that year, Pope Pius XI instituted this Feast Day in order to counteract
what he thought to be the growing menace of secularism and atheism, and also -
interestingly enough but not surprising - the decreas-ing lack of influence that
the Church was having in governmental affairs.
A Roman Catholic encyclopedia explains that it was:
“ a time of recovery from World War I {a war which} under- mined
belief in Western culture. Following this time of disillusion -ment,
totalitarianism rose in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Soviet and its absolute
collectivism robbed the spirit of creativity. Consumerism in the United States
set up new gods for people of freedom to choose. {So} Perhaps the Pope’s
gesture was wiser than we today are able to understand.
“A common complaint is that such a doctrinal feast is hard to relate
to. The idea of Christ as king, we often hear, is too foreign for North
Americans to grasp; after all, we overthrew a monarchical government for
democracy.
“Still, ours is a nation, that does indeed struggle with false gods.
Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini are gone, but their greed, egoism and hunger for
ultimate power are ever with us.We need an annual reminder that there is one
kingdom above all other kingdoms. Christ is king, leader and president of the
kingdom of justice and peace.”
Pius XI was eager to affirm the sovereignty and rule of Christ over
persons, families, human society, the state, and the whole universe.
It is also suggested that he wanted to counter balance the practice of
“Reformation Sunday,” which was often observed, particularly by the Lutheran
Church, on the same day. It was as if to say, “Go ahead and honor Martin Luther,
we’ll honor Christ who is our King.” A bit cheeky in my book, but you never know
about these church prelates! We Episcopalians, being the good people of the
via media (or middle way) , picked up on this idea and have put it
into our calendar for a number of years now. It has been deemed a celebration
that would reassure and fortify Christians, encouraging them to never give up
hope.
But just what do we mean by “King? ”Speaking about Jesus as a “king” can be
a little confusing. We have heard in the Gospel reading that the soldiers mocked
Jesus saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, then save yourself,” and then
they put an inscription above the cross that stated, “King of the Jews.” Pontius
Pilate’s asked the question, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
These observations and questions are almost a parody, “After all,” as
someone wrote, “Jesus wasn’t much of a king by normal standards. No paparazzi
chased him. He never opened a Parliament. He had no retinue. No army. No
jewels. No castle. Not even a sword. When he died, no flags flew at half-mast.
No funeral cortege stretched three miles from a palace to a cathedral. He didn’t
cause a national shortage of white roses, lilies or tulips that might have been
flung at the hearse as it went by. He had no royal guards in crimson to carry
his lifeless body, and no giant TV screens were set up in Jerusalem’s parks so
that all the royal mourners could watch the proceedings. And, to be sure, there
was no adaptation of ‘Candle in the Wind’ or ‘Good-bye, Israel’s Rose’ heard
over the loudspeakers as he was carried to the cemetery.”
This rather sardonic commentary stands in bizarre contrast to what we know
the crucifixion/execution of Jesus to have been like, taking place on a garbage
dump outside Jerusalem after a phony trial, a few soldiers gambling to claim the
only piece of clothing Jesus had. “In terms of what the world thinks of
kingship,” according to the aforementioned writer, “Jesus would make a perfect
cover for the National Lampoon magazine.”
No, Jesus made it perfectly clear that his “kingship was not of this
world.” This puzzled Pilate - as it did a lot of Jesus’ followers who were
expecting a very powerful royal figure to liberate the Jews - violently if
necessary - from the Roman oppression. But Jesus said, in effect, “My domain is
not your domain. My way is not your way. My way inverts your way.
My way, at every turn, challenges your way. My way is the way ‘of my Father who
is in heaven.’”
And clearly his kingship is not what some people have made of it in the
recent past. Bruce Barton wrote a best selling, nonfiction book in the 1920s
suggesting that Jesus was the founder of modern business, since he “picked
twelve humble men and created an organization that won the world.” And just a
few years ago, Laurie Beth Jones entitled her book “Jesus CEO: Using
Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership.”
And in this
unenlightening treatise, we get such chapter headings as ‘He Guarded his
Energy,’ ‘He Did the Difficult Things,’ ‘He was a Turnaround Specialist,’ ‘He
Clearly Defined Their Work-related Benefits,’ and ‘He Knew that Nobody Wins
Until We All Do.”
I’m sorry, folks, but this is hogwash. It is an atrocious distortion and
application of Jesus’ teachings and ministry. It is a slap in the face of God to
expect that our ways and our aspirations and our impulses should be “baptized”
by God simply because we call upon the name of Jesus. We cannot expect God to
help our team to win or our business to get better just because we call
upon the name of Jesus. It is a travesty to think our country is always right or
should always be victorious just because we call ourselves Christians and we
pray to Jesus. That is not making Jesus king or lord of our hearts and minds; it
is making him a patsy to our desires.
No, Jesus sought a Kingship - I like the word “sovereignty” better - Jesus
sought to be sovereign in a different way, a very different way. He
sought to be the sovereign of our hearts and minds, individually, and indeed,
sovereign over the heart and mind of the church. His was a sovereignty of
compassion, of kindness, of justice, of forgiveness, of acceptance and inclusion
for all God’s children......ALL of God’s children.
And the question is this: Is he sovereign in our hearts? I know he isn’t in
mine. I would like him to be, but I am on the journey of conversion just like
you. I have a long way to go, but I pray that each day I may take a step in the
right direction - the direction of loving kindness and hope, justice and peace,
and I pray that my heart might be emboldened by Christ’s presence to be more
courageous in the pursuit of fairness for all - whether that be economic,
social, racial, religious or whatever.
I pray that each day we all might be more open to God’s empowering
presence. But on this journey I know we all stumble and I know we have to reach
for each others’ hands - all of us stumblers - and together we can lift each
other up and continue on this journey of conversion, of transformation.
And that’s why the story of the Kotzer rabbi is so meaningful on this day
of the celebration of Christ the King. For God will be sovereign in our lives
when we let him be, when we let him in. Not just on Sundays and not just in the
so-called religious areas of our lives - but everywhere and all the time. We are
all on this journey together, and personally, I am so thankful that I have you
as my companions. Alone it is so very difficult, but together we can make it, by
the grace of God.
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