Christ the King: A Reflection on Power and Mercy

Foreign.

Thank you for engaging with the homily by Pastor Chill Will from

Chapel Hill.

I hope this message encourages you, challenges you and moves you

to go deeper in your faith and enrich how you love God and love

your neighbor in your day to day life.

Just a reminder.

Like the scriptures and Gospels themselves, this homily was

written for a particular community in a particular, particular

context, time in history.

And yet, like our sacred texts, I hope that these words hold

timeless truths about God's unconditional love and grace.

We hope these words speak to you in a meaningful way.

I'm Pastor Will.

We want to welcome you to worship this morning.

Today is Christ the King Sunday.

It is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, believe it or not.

Next Sunday we'll start with Advent.

And here we go.

The Holy Gospel according to Luke, where they came to the place

that is called the Skull.

They crucified Jesus there with criminals, one on his right

and one on his left.

Then Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they do not know

what they are doing.

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

And the people stood by watching.

But the leaders scoffed at him, saying, he saved others.

Let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine

and saying, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.

There was also an inscription over him.

This is the King of the Jews.

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and

saying, are you not the Messiah?

Save yourself and us.

The other rebuked him, saying, do you not fear God, since you are

under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting

what we deserve for our deeds.

But this man has done nothing wrong.

Then Jesus.

Then he said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus replied, truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in

paradise.

The Gospel of the Lord.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

As we share, today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year.

We culminate the whole liturgical year with Christ the King

Sunday.

So let's have a short recap what led us to today.

We've used the acronym ASLEEP before to assist us in remembering

the Seasons of the Church year.

We do it at Confirmation camp and we've done it here in worship.

Asleep is an acronym, the Seasons of the Church Year.

So, pop quiz.

What does the A stand for?

Yeah, yeah, we do that next week.

We are one week away from the start of the new liturgical year

and the season of Advent.

I know that Christmas decorations and Christmas commercials

are already flowing, but next Sunday we get a jump on the rest

of the world by saying Happy New Year.

As we start all over again the cycle and process of waiting and

longing for the Savior of the world.

Not only remembering and celebrating God coming to us in the

Christ the first time 2,000 years ago, but also still standing

in solidarity with the prophets of old as we continue to

long for and look for Christ's return.

Okay, so what does the C stand for?

Pretty easy.

Yeah, if you missed that, you'd go right back to confirmation

class.

The celebration and fulfillment of the prophet's longing

and hope.

The Messiah is born.

Flipping over and reversing expectations of what the Messiah

looks like and his birth reveals to us the kind of Messiah

that this Christ is promised to be.

Okay, maybe a little harder.

What does the E stand for?

Epiphany.

Wow, I just had an epiphany.

This is a season of revelations and aha moments and revealing

what God is up to in Jesus.

We longed for the Messiah.

We witnessed his humble birth.

And now we see Jesus in action.

The spotlight shines on Jesus and we see the kind of work that

he does, the type of sermons and parables he teaches, who he hangs

out with and who he pays attention to.

All the while he turns to us and says, come, follow me.

What does the L stand for?

What length?

There you go.

The 40 day journey of holy too Holy Week in Christ's passion and

suffering and death for the sake of the world.

Okay, what does the second E stand for?

Easter surprise.

Death does not have the final word.

Death will not have the final word on our lives.

Because Christ lives, we will live also.

What will that look like?

When will the resurrection of the new creation take place?

We don't know.

In the meantime, we become the embodied body of the living Christ

in the world, which leads us to the final season.

A C E L E stands for Pentecost.

The third person of the Holy Trinity shows back up like it did

way at the beginning of creation, hovering over the chaotic

waters of our lives.

And the fire of the Holy Spirit ignites and empowers and equips

the church.

You and me and all those who follow Christ to continue what he

did and what he taught and to pay attention to what Jesus paid

attention to and to be his hands and feet in the world.

And they will know that we are Christians by loving the way Jesus

loved Christ.

The King.

Sunday pulls all the seasons of the church year together into

a crescendo of who we believe Jesus to be.

Interestingly, we are at the centennial anniversary of when Christ

the King Sunday was instituted by Pope pius xi in 1925.

Due to the rise of secularism, fascism and governmental overreach

and authoritarianism, Pope Pius instituted a feast day to be

clear that Christ is the Lord of all and that in him alone all

things hold together.

For Christians, we have one king and one king only, Jesus, who

we call the Christ.

Over the years, and especially in the last few decades, we there

have been some who have questioned if the title and label

King is still relevant for this kind of Sunday.

In democratic societies where monarchs no longer wield any kind

of power and authority, why call anyone a king?

Isn't that outdated?

Seems kind of weird.

And yet how would we reframe this particular Sunday and this title

for Jesus?

We wouldn't call it Jesus the President Sunday.

We don't vote for Jesus into any kind of office.

He is already ruler.

There are some who have renamed this Sunday the Reign of

Christ Sunday, leaning into his kinship and kingdom with all

of creation reigning over all creation.

And yet a hundred years later, this feast day is still relevant

today, isn't it?

With the rise of secularism and fascism and governmental overreach

and authoritarianism, questioning who has the ultimate

say and where our allegiance lie is just as relevant today as

it was a hundred years ago.

During the no Kings March last month, thousands upon thousands went

to the streets to let their voice be heard about what they think

about the rise of authoritarianism.

Looking over the crowds and seeing all get different kinds of

signs that were raised and created.

I saw one particular sign that didn't have any words, it just had

a drawing of a crown and it was crossed out, but instead of an

X it really looked like a Christian cross.

Don't know if it's their intention or not, but I definitely

saw a cross right there on their sign.

Our Gospel story from Luke seems like it should be situated

in the season of Lent and Holy Week, and it usually is.

And yet here on Christ the King Sunday.

Wow, I just had an epiphany.

It reveals to us the kind of king and Lord Jesus is the cross

and Christ's passion and suffering and execution gives us

an alternative vision of power.

What power looks like this king who wears a crown of thorns

undermines how the world sees power and authority.

When I was reading back over this Gospel text this past week from

Luke, I was just moved by how mean and brutal this text is revealing

to us to Me, human nature in our human condition.

Not only did they crucify Jesus and the convicted criminals,

but I see how they played games with Jesus's last piece of

property, his clothes.

They scoffed at him, they mocked him.

They were not only torturing him, literally suffocating him on

the cross, but they piled on with sour wine and calling him a

king.

And yet Jesus turns and says, father, forgive them, for they know

not what they are doing.

All those moments that led up to this point in Advent and Christmas

and Epiphany and Lent and Easter and Pentecost, where we see

Jesus undermining what the world thinks of when it comes to

to power and authority by flipping over the tables of what

mercy and love looks like.

Here is Jesus in his moment, last moments, breathing his last

breath.

Father, forgive them.

They know not what they are doing.

The scene on the cross gives shape to what Christ's reign really

looks like in humility and sacrifice, lifting up a kind of power

that is rooted by a death, extending mercy to those around him

and to those who are hanging with him.

For Luke, the focus of this crucifixion is of course them mocking

him and playing games with his clothes and calling him a king.

But I love how Luke turns the conversation and we get to listen

in to this conversation between Jesus and those hanging with

him.

One criminal derides him, but I also think it's a deep cry for

help, save yourself, but also us.

Also us.

The other literally has a come to Jesus moment.

And his plea has become a beloved prayer and song that has

endured for millennia.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And don't miss Jesus's response.

He doesn't ask for a magical prayer or for any completed spiritual

to do list, or even asking him to swear allegiance to any creed

or denomination.

Rather, he says, today, not far off in the future, today you

will be with me in paradise.

You see, the cross of Christ isn't a sign of weakness or giving

up, nor passive complacency, but rather a resistance to empire

that wants to keep building crosses.

It's a sign of God's solidarity with those who the crosses

are built for our calling as Christ followers.

As we've learned across these seasons for a whole year, it's hard

to capture Jesus in just one Sunday.

But over the course of the whole year, what we have learned

and what we have wrestled with and what we've discerned with walking

together as a community, our calling is to again reflect and discern

and question where our allegiancies lie as we witness and

remember who Jesus is and how he loved.

The Crucified One is calling us to discern the difference between

cross bearers and cross builders.

This go around as we wrap up another liturgical year and head

full steam into another holiday season and another liturgical

year.

As I look at the world and the communities around us this time I'm

captivated by two words from this scene from Luke.

Remember and today.

Each week, we gather around a table and we remember his body broken

and his blood poured for you and for me.

Then we are called to become what we consume, the Body of Christ.

Not far off in the future or way down the road, but today.

Now.

The seasons will come and go.

Empires will rise and fall.

Those claiming to be king will come and go.

And yet, each and every day, each and every season, we remember

the Body of Christ given for you, the blood of Christ shed for

you.

Thousands of years the Church has done this.

And so today, in the midst of a world that's still wrestling with

what it means to be king or what power looks like, or what love

looks like, may we remember who Jesus is, how he loved.

Today, may we stand in solidarity with each other.

Let Christ lead us into what it means to follow him, to love how

he loved.

If Jesus is king, he's the weirdest and most countercultural,

intuitive and counterculture king in the world has ever witnessed

and seen.

And yet we will continue to walk together and learn what it means

to follow Jesus.

Together we will remember him, follow him as he calls us to follow

him today in the days ahead.

And so God, the nuisance of the Pharaoh Christ, the threat to

Herod, Jesus, the confuser of Caesar, the Crucified One who lives

empire upside down, is the one who will never forget you, remembers

you at this table, who leads you to follow in his footsteps today.

Amen.

Thank you for listening.

If there is anything that stood out for you, or if you have

a question or.

Or you just want to have a conversation, you are always free

to reach out and contact us.

And remember you are not alone and.

That you are loved with a love stronger than death.

Sam.