Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday November 21, 2021 – The Reign of Christ
Reading #1: Revelation 1:4-8
Reflection – Part 1
Today’s celebration of the Reign of Christ, or Christ the King is a fairly recent addition to the church year. It wasn’t celebrated as a special day by our ancient ancestors in faith, the way that Easter would have been celebrated. Instead, Jesus was recognized as the ruler over our lives each and every day.
Throughout the generations, the church has written many different creeds or statements of faith – “We believe…” Some of the better-known ancient creeds include the Apostles Creed, which some of you may have memorized in your Sunday School years, or the Nicene Creed which is a bit longer and I still stumble over some of the words if I recite it without being able to read it. Back in the late 1960s, a group of United Church of Canada members sat down to try and express the faith that we share in a new creed, and what they came up with ended up becoming what might be the most familiar creed in the United Church of Canada – the one that begins “We are not alone. We live in God’s world. We believe in God, who has created and is creating; who has come in Jesus, the word made flesh, to reconcile and make new; who works in us and others by the Holy Spirit.” We still call this The New Creed, even though it is more than 50 years old!
But the oldest creed of the church, that seems to have been in existence within years of Jesus’s death, is a very simple creed – easy to memorize – just three words – “Jesus is Lord.” A basic statement – one that boils faith down to the essentials – a statement of faith that isn’t saved for the last Sunday before Advent, but one that could be said every day of a person’s life. “Jesus is Lord.”
And, despite its brevity, it is also a very radical statement to make; because if we proclaim that Jesus is Lord, then we are also saying that nothing else can be the Lord over our lives. In the time shortly after Jesus’s death, when the church was first being established, if you were to say that Jesus is Lord, you are also saying that the Emperor isn’t. The pursuit and acquisition of wealth can’t be the Lord over our lives. The worship of celebrity can’t be the Lord over our lives. Worship of the self can’t be the Lord over our lives. If Jesus is Lord, then I’m not.
Like I said, the celebration of Christ the King or the Reign of Christ is a relatively recent addition to the church calendar. In 1925, the pope at the time was worried about the increase in secularism in the world – remember that this was the roaring 20s, just after the end of the Great War and the Spanish Flu. Politically, this was also a time of great instability, with many of the royal houses across Europe crumbling, leaving people searching for anything that would offer stability. And the pope suggested that the Church should offer an alternative to movements like fascism and communism. Instead of secularism or fascism or communism or capitalism being the lord over our lives, Jesus Christ is the lord over our lives. And so this Sunday celebration was established.
And what a great reading from the book of Revelation this is for today. John, the author of this book, is greeting the churches that this book is addressed to – greeting them all with the full power and glory of Christ. Listen to the titles that John gives to Jesus – the faithful witness. The firstborn of the dead. Ruler of the kings of the earth. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who is and who was, and who is to come. The almighty one.
This is who we worship – not just a king, but the king over all other kings. Not just a lord, but the lord over all other lords. I’m ready to break out into the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah now!
But at the same time I am challenged when I think of what a king means. Kings and Emperors and other royal rules tend to like their power. They tend to be willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to that power. Kings in the history of the world have a troubling association with violence and wars. And so if I think about Jesus as a king, then there are some troubling associations that come to mind.
And with that, I’m going to invite ________ to share our second reading with us, which comes from the Good Friday story.
Reading #2: John 18:33-38
Reflection – Part 2
Isn’t this a powerful image? Jesus, who has been arrested and beaten, is standing before Pilate, the governor, the Roman Emperor’s direct representative in that part of the Empire.
By all rights, we should be worshipping Pilate as king. After all, he is the one with all of the power in this situation. He hold the decision about whether Jesus lives or dies in his hands. He is likely dressed in a royal purple robe, and he may have a crown on his head.
And yet today, we celebrate Jesus as our King, as our Lord, as the one who reigns over us. Jesus, from the backwater of Galilee in the insignificant province of Judea, who is bleeding and in chains, who is so very, very vulnerable. Jesus who is about to be crowned with thorns, and enthroned on a cross. This is who we say is our King.
It is a powerful image.
Pilate asks Jesus directly – are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.” Jesus is knows that this is how the world works – kings and kingdoms of this world fight to hold on to power, the do whatever they can, fair or foul, to make sure that their power isn’t taken away. Jesus is right – if he were an earthly king, with a kingdom from this world, not only would his followers be fighting on his behalf, but Jesus himself would be leading them into battle.
But instead, Jesus is here before Pilate, arrested and about to be crucified.
Jesus is turning the whole idea of kings and kingdoms on its head – he’s re-writing the book on what it means to be a king. Being a king no longer means lusting after power. Being a king no longer means ruling by violence. Being a king no longer means a hierarchy with a small number on top being served by the majority below.
Instead, Jesus the King embraces his vulnerability. Jesus the King reigns through radical love rather than through violence, even when that radical love and non-violence resulted in his death. Jesus the King rules over a kingdom where the last and the least of these are seated in the place of honour at the feast. Jesus the King rules over a kingdom where there is a place for everyone at the table, and where everyone is well fed. Jesus the king offers healing to everyone who is broken, and community to everyone who is lonely.
Jesus is the king, not because he overthrows all other kings, but because he overthrows every concept of what a king should be and replaces it with something that is both new and radically different.
And so, to me, the question of the day is how can we celebrate both aspects of Christ the King? How can we celebrate with both trumpets and fanfares and cries of Hallelujah to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; as well as the King of vulnerable love and humble service and radical welcome?
Because I think that it can’t be an either-or here – it has to be a both-and. Jesus the King is both the glorious Alpha and Omega, and the one who lies bleeding before Pilate.
And this is who we proclaim to the world when we say that Jesus is Lord. This is the one who is Lord over our lives, so that we can’t have any other lords or kings before him.
Jesus is Lord. Amen.
“What is Truth?” Christ and Pilate
By Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich Ge
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