Celebrating the counter-cultural blessings of Christ the King...

NOTE: Here are my sermon notes for this coming Sunday, November 22, 2009. They are grounded in the texts for Christ the King Sunday including II Samuel 23, Psalm 133 and John 18: 33-37. Let me invite you to join us for worship if you are in town at 10:30 am. It would be wonderful to see you.

Today is the celebration of Christ the King Sunday – a relatively new feast day in the life of the church – and it is filled with both promise and potential. The promise is that by grace each of us – and all of us – will find ourselves living more and more authentically as Christ for the world. And the potential is that as this happens – as the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ grows within and among us – the world will be healed.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity… It is like a sacred anointing… or even the refreshing morning dew that falls upon Mount Hermon and brings blessings to all of creation. (Psalm 133)

But there is a catch: in order for the promise and potential to become flesh among us, we have to be emptied of expectations about Christ as king. It’s like the old Zen story about the young visitor coming to the master about enlightenment.

As they sat in the study of the sage, the young guest kept talking and talking about his own concerns and wisdom instead of listening. So after a while, the master got up and served tea – and he kept pouring and pouring the visitor’s cup until it was full and overflowing. Unable to bear the mess any longer, the guest protested, “Stop, don’t you see that my cup is already full? It’s just not possible to get anymore in.” To which the sage said, “Ah, just so: and like this cup, you, too, are filled with your own ideas. How can you expect me to give you any insights unless you first are emptied?” (Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict, p. 136)

So let’s playfully but faithfully consider three questions:

• First, what does it mean to use the title “king” for Jesus?
• Second, what kind of king is described in the scriptures?
• And third, what does it mean to follow and serve such a king?

And to get grounded in such an inquiry, I’m going to ask you to pray with me: All loving and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things under the grace of Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords: mercifully grant that we who are so often divided and broken by sin, might be freed and made whole by his gracious presence. For we pray in your power and presence, now and always. Amen.

Let’s start with what we know about kings and queens because, let’s face it, as Americans this isn’t our forte, right? What comes to your mind when you hear these words?

• What royalty do you know about in literature or history?

• What do you recall about the nature of such royalty?

• Do you know anything about the archetypes of the king or queen?

In their research into the sociology of the New Testament, scholars Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, write:

For most U.S. readers of the Bible, the words king and lord are perhaps the most difficult New Testament words to appreciate. Most people today simply have no experience of persons embodying these social roles, much less of the social system that supports such roles. For pre-enlightenment people (before the eighteenth century C.E.), the king was the author and guarantor of the prosperity of his people -- if he followed the rules of justice and obeyed divine commandments. ... [The king's] proper function was to promote fertility about him, both in animals and vegetation. Kings ensured prosperity on land and sea, with abundant fruit and fecund women. Thus, subjects expected peace and prosperity, security and abundance, from their kings. [pp. 364-5]

Do you know the ancient story of the Fisher King or the quest for the Holy Grail? At its core it speaks of the social decay and moral corruption – to say nothing of the fear and physical starvation – of a kingdom when the king is wounded or broken or out of sync with God’s divine justice. And only when the grail – the mythical chalice used by Jesus at the last supper – is found and restored to its rightful place with the king can social harmony and spiritual integrity return.

• Are you with me on this? Do you grasp something of the symbolic and sacred significance of the king or queen?

• The king is at the center of social justice, a healthy earth and spiritual honor within and among all people.

That’s what the Old Testament lesson is emphasizing today: the king is the sacred vessel through which God speaks and acts in creation. The second king of Israel, King David, at the end of his life is explicit in these words from II Samuel: The spirit of the LORD speaks through me and God’s word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land. Is not my house like this with God? For the Lord has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. Will God not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away; for they cannot be picked up with the hand; to touch them one uses an iron bar or the shaft of a spear. And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot. (II Samuel 23: 2-7)

And it is this symbolic role of sacred protector and source of God’s guidance that we give to Jesus on Christ the King Sunday. Jesus is king – Jesus insures prosperity on land and sea – Jesus extends God’s peace, justice and compassion to all of creation. Now I don’t want there to be any ambiguity about this royal designation: to speak of Jesus as king is to remind ourselves that we are not the center of the universe. And in an age of hyper-individualism some people balk at such piety while others reject it outright as oppressive.

• And let’s be honest: there are oppressive kings and queens and dictators and governments – and all too often even the servants of Christ in the church have acted more like secular monarchs than humble men and women bearing the face of Jesus for the world, right?

• Think of the evangelical pastors raking in money hand over fist as they condemn homosexuality only to discover that they are hiring gay prostitutes with church funds. Or what about the priests and pastors who have abused young boys and girls only to be given a pass by church bureaucrats so that they can move on and do it over and over again? And not just in the Roman Church either – in our tradition – and every tradition.

• And let’s not forget those who lock the doors of Christ’s love to those who frighten them while Jesus begs: come unto me all ye who are tired and heavy-laden and I will give ye rest.

It is understandable why many would resist calling Jesus a king given the oppressive and abusive experiences we have known in culture. But that is the challenge of being a part of Christ’s alternative society. You see, to be a part of the Body of Christ is to let Jesus shape our hearts and minds – not the culture – and that is an important distinction. Too often modern people let their spiritual ideas be informed by the culture, when our calling is to let the presence of Christ guide and inform us so that we might shape and influence our culture. Remember how St. Paul put it in Romans 12?

I beg you, sisters and brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies to the Lord as a living sacrifice, a gift that is holy and true, for that is how to worship the Lord. Do not be conformed to the ways of this world – this is, do not be squeezed into the mold of this culture – but rather be transformed by the renewal of your mind – so that you bear the image of God from the inside out. (Romans 12: 1-2)

Just because we have little to no experience with a king – or just because there is evil and oppression in some people of power – does not mean that we can’t learn and benefit from Christ as king. We have to let Jesus shape our understanding of what a sacred king is all about – and that is our second question – what kind of king do the stories in scripture describe?

• Where was this king born? In a palace? No… in a cave with humble Palestinian peasants surrounded by darkness and animals.

• Who bore this king for the world? A princess? Royalty? Someone of power and prestige? No… an unmarried peasant girl with no place to lay her head and a fiancée who wanted to ditch her as quickly and quietly as possible.

• Shall I continue – am I making sense? And when this king grew up, who followed him? The wise and influential or the broken, confused and so-called sinners of the age?

• And what was his abiding message? Love one another as I have loved you – and how did he love his disciples? He served them as an equal and went to his death to show that love is stronger than hatred and forgiveness is more powerful than being right.

This, dear friends, is NOT your typical king: this is the upside down kingdom of Christ where children are often our rabbis, where women are equal to men, where outsiders are welcomed to the feast and where God is discovered in the least of these our sisters and brothers. One writer put it like this: “Jesus' earthly ministry was not one of military might or oppressiveness.”

Rather, it was one of peace, liberation, and above all, service. Jesus turned the whole concept of lordship and primacy on its head saying: You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus takes the ancient notion of king and turns it on it upside down and inside out: he offers the world a new way of living – a way founded on grace within us and compassion among us – so that those who follow him might advance the way of God in our ordinary lives. For that’s what really matters, you know? Not that we hold the right thoughts about Jesus – or say the correct creedal words – or read the right Bible or belong to the one true denomination or church.

No, what matters about following Christ as King is that his grace and truth take up residence in our everyday, busy and complicated lives. That way the Lord becomes flesh within and among us, yes? And our transformed flesh touches and impacts the real people where we live.

Too often our religion ends up being just personal piety – sloppy agape as one of my profs put it – which makes me think of something the poet, Scott Cairns, said. He was visiting the monastery at Mt. Athos in Greece when a young and very enthusiastic evangelical asked one of the old monks if he had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior? “Well,” said the old monastic ignoring the hubris of such a question and responding with a twinkle in his eye, “sure, but mostly I prefer to share him.”

That’s where it matters – like St. Francis said: preach the gospel everywhere you go – use words if you have to. We are about to enter Advent – isn’t that wild – where did the time go?
Advent… and during this season we are asked to practice becoming empty that we might be filled. In fact, as weird as it is to some Protestants, we’re being asked to become like young Mary who let herself become completely empty so that she might bear Christ for the world. There are two models of transformation in Advent: John the Baptist and the young Mary.

• Most of the time in our tradition we listen to the Baptist – and there is a lot to learn from him – but there is wisdom and healing to come from Mary, too.

• So we’re going to take some time with Mary over the next month and learn about being Christ-like through her. What a counter-cultural thing for Protestants, yes? To pray with Mary throughout Advent!

But let me make you a promise: if you are open to her spirit – and if you let go of your opinions and habits and prejudices – something beautiful and even Christ-like can be born within you. You see, Mary isn’t just a fairy tale character or Roman Catholic prayer fetish: she is a model for living in faith and becoming the church of Jesus Christ.

Today we proclaim that Christ is King – and then we learn how to bear him for the world like Mary. This is going to be a fascinating Advent, beloved, so let those who have ears to hear, hear.

credits: 1) www.arabicbible.com/free/free_calligraphy.htm 2) itsallabouthallie.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/time-off-is-a-made-up-phrase/ 3) www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/sse/ho_2001.407.htm 4) http://www.the-neverending-story.com/king.html 5) http://www.janetmckenzie.com/joppage1.html 6) http://www.sermons4kids.com/body-of-christ-colorpg.htm
7) http://www.penitents.org/siscoMark1-40-45.htm