Reign of Christ Sunday

John 18:33-37 The Kingdom of Christ

I have never preached a Reign of Christ of Christ the King Sunday sermon before. I have always chosen to preach more of a Thanksgiving-based sermon during this week. Since we celebrated Thanksgiving on the 13^th together, I decided this was a great opportunity to break new ground and talk about the one we are more thankful for than anyone else who has ever walked this earth, Jesus Christ.

The longer I am a Christian, the more I learn something. Everyone thinks of Christ differently. There are those who adhere to strong orthodoxy and those who have come to take a more familial or friendly perception of him. Those who adhere to Augustinian theology and those who lean more toward Pelagian theology. The question I want you to think about is: Who and what is Christ to you personally? How do you relate to him? How do you talk to him? Is it formal or casual? Do you talk to him as if he is in a position of high authority or more along the lines of he’s your best friend?

I will never forget when I told my first confirmation class that Jesus didn’t actually look like the 1948 Warner Sallman painting on the wall. All around the world, different cultures envision and paint Jesus in a way that speaks to them. When I mentioned black Jesus, they all grabbed their cell phones and just had to see. Just as Jesus is whatever kind of king the people needed so too does his physical description change across cultures to what they need. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus just doesn’t speak to people who have been oppressed by colonialism, patriarchy, and white-male dominance their whole lives. Whatever kind of Christ you are looking for, you can find him.

What I want to make perfectly clear is that none of these visions of Christ are wrong. View Christ as you feel drawn to Christ. Whatever color you need his skin to be, whatever personality you need him to have, whatever approach you need him to have in dealing with you and your own personal, let’s just say weirdness.

Christ is God. All-powerful, all-knowing, forever being. Christ can be anything, do anything, solve anything, embrace everyone as they are, where they are.

I have been working hard on ordination paperwork the past couple months. I take my writing seriously. If I am going to write a document about why I believe what I believe it is going to be so riddled with citations you’re going to wonder what my thoughts are. Why? Because I’m a therapist, an academic, and I am a pastor who practices what they preach.

I believe that we as humans beings do not spend nearly enough time thinking about how or why we think what we think. We don’t spend nearly enough time understanding and analyzing why we believe what we believe. Since I didn’t grow up in the church I have no recollection of the way “things have always been” and as such every belief I have I have had to arrive at because of the way I read the Bible and the way I think. I come from a unique perspective of being able to analyze my own faith as it contains at least far less outside influence than most people I know.

On this Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday, what kind of king was Christ? What is the reign of Christ like?

Let’s take a look at what a king is supposed to do. Thank you 1 Samuel 8:10-18  for telling us what a human king does.

¹⁰ So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots, ¹² and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 

¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. ¹⁵ He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 

¹⁶ He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And on that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.”

When I read this passage from Samuel about what an earthly king will do, I struggle with wondering why on earth do the Israelites want that?!? Why is it so important that a people who have so faithfully traced their origins and claim as God’s chosen want a creature that walks this earth to rule them than the God above who has protected them and walked them through so much?

Thank God we do not get what we ask for. NO matter what your viewpoint of Jesus Christ is, I hope Samuel’s description isn’t it. We think paying taxes is bad in our country. Imagine if you had to give your children to the government to be enslaved and you only got to keep 30% of your wages and earnings instead of giving them.

So, if Christ wasn’t that kind of king, what kind of king is he?

God sent us an earthly king, but not the kind we asked for. Everyone say thank you. But if we don’t want what Samuel said a king would be, then what do we want?

How many of you have from time to time wished you could talk to Jesus Christ in person as an actual human being or at least wanted a hug and for him to pat you on the head and tell you it was all going to be alright?

Christ as a person goes beyond what we could ever imagine a human being ever being. All-powerful for one, that would be terrifying in a human being. Just look at all the war and violence even human beings with limited power have gotten up to.

But in terms of power, Christ uses power in a way we don’t really see here on earth. He uses it to love. He reigns with goodness, wisdom, and truth. That word scares me a bit. Do you really want to know the truth about yourself? I’m not sure I do.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

The truth comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ. All those who belong to the truth, listen and he is their king. All those who wish to deny the truth will seek a king of this earth. To steal their sons and daughters, crops and cattle, they will cry out in anger and frustration for they will be given the king they wanted not the one they need. Will they learn to rejoice in their disappointment?

What truth do you need Jesus to testify to? Careful, you might not like his answer. Are you willing to accept the truth of Jesus, no matter what the consequences might be?

What kind of ruler do you need Jesus to be to follow him? To guide every aspect of your life? To commune with regularly, confide in and not just listen to his advice but also to heed it? We celebrate Reign of Christ, Christ the King, Sunday because Christ is our Lord, our Savior, and our King. Ruler of all that is on earth as it is in heaven. But what kind of king is he to you?

When we say the Lord’s prayer, there is a line in it “Your kingdom come.” This is a political statement and terminology aimed against the Roman empire’s oppressive domination. “Your will be done. One earth as it is in heaven.” This is a call for a different kind of ruler, a different kind of authority, a different reign. What kind of king do you need Jesus to be for you to be a loyal subject willing to lay down your life to protect your king?

When you’re done with that question, it’s time to take on a harder one. Now that you are loyal to your king, are you willing to serve all of his subjects? All those who view and treat him differently than you do?

I would be slacking in my preaching if I didn’t finish with this admonition. Love God and your neighbor as yourself. Can you love those who feel oppressed by Jesus as he appears in the form behind me in stained glass? Can you love those who cannot view God as a man because they were abused and beaten down by their own fathers on this earth? Can you love those who speak to Jesus so casually you feel its disrespectful? Can you love those who dress in suits and ties for worship on Sunday? Can you love those who wear tank tops and flip flops to worship? Can you love a king who loves all these and you?

If Jesus loves them and they are willing to accept him as their Lord and master, so should you.

May, the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace