Sermon–Christ the King, Year C
Luke 23:33-43
Zion Lutheran Church, Beausejour, Manitoba
Today’s gospel is all about challenging expectations and holding on to a bigger picture. In that sense, it’s a particularly appropriate reading for the end of the year. As we flip our calendars from October to November, and pretty soon to December, has anyone else found themselves reflecting on all those intentions and goals set at the beginning of the year and wondering what it means that you haven’t met them? The scale still doesn’t quite say what you wish it did. Numbers in attendance still aren’t quite what you hoped they would be. The balance sheet still doesn’t quite read the way you hoped it would. Here at the end of the year, how do you feel about the way the year has gone?
I imagine that for those who had been following Jesus for a few years, the days and weeks leading up to the scene we read about today were particularly difficult. The time for their hopes and dreams about what Jesus would do for them seemed to be running out. The pressure around him from those in authority was rising, as well as the risk for those who were known to associate with him. His teachings were getting increasingly abstract and disturbing as he talked about the future in ways that were hard to understand.
And then Jesus is arrested and the community is immediately caught up in the incredible disruption of crisis and anxiety as the systems of government and authority do their part in trying to restore order and neutralize resistance. It doesn’t matter how many times I read through the events of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion—I can almost feel the fear, anger, confusion and disappointment in this story.
Fear. Anger. Confusion. Disappointment. Anyone else resonate with those words this year?
That’s not the way it was supposed to be, Jesus! You were supposed to be the Messiah…the promised one who would get things back to the way they were before the world changed. You were supposed to save us from those forces that are seeking to tear us apart and wear us down! You were supposed to stop bad things from happening and give us a guarantee that the religious traditions and rituals that have meant so much to us for so long will be preserved and will be equally valued by the next generation!
But that’s not what Jesus does…at least not in the way most people were expecting. In our liturgical tradition, today is the end of the liturgical calendar. Next week we begin the year again with the first Sunday of Advent. But before we get to the hope, joy, love and peace of Advent, we pause on what we call “Christ the King Sunday.” With the complicated imagery associated with the language around ‘king,’ this Sunday is also called the “Reign of Christ” Sunday, or the phrase I found this week that I kind of like is the “Realm of Christ” Sunday. This is the day where we are faced with this key story in our faith narrative about Jesus on the cross. Let me say this again: on the Sunday where we are invited to celebrate and anticipate the reign of Christ, the text we are given to read is the story of Jesus on the cross. In the event we haven’t been paying much attention to what Jesus has been saying about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven throughout the season of Pentecost, and in the event that we’ve missed the many ways Jesus has been challenging our perceptions of power and authority through his teachings and miracles, today’s theme is hard to ignore: on Christ the King Sunday, we remember the day that Jesus was crucified.
Talk about challenging our expectations.
I did a children’s sermon on Christ the King Sunday a few years ago where I invited the congregation to think with me about the many ways Jesus was considered an “upside down king.” Let me give you a sample of how that went. We expect baby kings to be introduced to the world through…social media, the news, and maybe the newspaper. Jesus was introduced to the world through…angels, a star, and a frumpy group of shepherds: THAT’S UPSIDE DOWN! (that’s your part). We expect kings to encounter their people from throne rooms, from carriages or limousines, or from the balcony of a palace. Jesus encountered people by walking along the dirt roads, eating with ‘sinners and tax collectors,’ chatting with women and children: THAT’S UPSIDE DOWN! We expect kings to be buried in large cathedrals surrounded by ornate ceremony and respect. Jesus was crucified like a criminal and buried in an unmarked tomb. THAT’S UPSIDE DOWN!
On Christ the King Sunday, we remember that Jesus was an ‘upside down’ kind of king, who challenged the expectations those in his context had of how God was ‘supposed’ to act and show up in the world.
Friends, this is good news for us. Because when we find ourselves in seasons where the world is changed by a pandemic, the attendance and engagement in our worshipping community diminishes, and our energy and capacity for the work before us seems insufficient, it is good to know that in Jesus we encounter a God who kneels down in the mud with those who are suffering, who sits with those who are outsiders and outcasts, who doesn’t save himself from suffering but enters into it so that, like the second thief on the cross, we can experience paradise.
If you are staying after worship today, we will be spending some time talking a bit about our hopes and expectations for this congregation. In a time of transition, these conversations about identity, purpose, vision and values are a way for us to name our hopes and expectations of each other and of those we might call to guide and lead us. So today, when we are reminded to reflect on how Jesus challenged the common expectations around authority, power, and salvation, we, are given a different kind of mirror to hold our own expectations up against. When we think of ‘success’, do we think of large numbers and full offering plates? Or can we think of success in different ways—in the relationships we treasure, the many ways we care for one another, the generosity we share with those around us, the opportunity to witness to the love of God in our community? When we think about our ideal future, do we get stuck on previous expressions of church that no longer serve the reality of today?
One of the reasons I think Jesus was able to literally hang in there through the suffering of the cross is because he was firmly grounded in a different, broader, more expansive picture. His disciples and the crowds around him could often only see the immediate stressors of things like acceptance and popularity. But Jesus was constantly pointing to something deeper and more profound…something that began before him and that he was convinced would continue beyond him. Jesus was constantly referring to a source of power and authority that didn’t need to be ‘the majority’ or ‘the strongest’ in the room…but with care, grace and kindness impacted the world through forgiveness, peaceful presence, and wisdom. In the intensity of the criticism and scorn that he experienced on the cross—when those around him were asking him to prove himself by saving himself and removing the pain of suffering—Jesus held on to a bigger picture of paradise that was true and real in spite of pain and suffering.
I think that’s the gift of this Sunday for us today. It can be so easy for us to seek the solutions that will guarantee the quickest way out of whatever is uncomfortable or challenging. We could probably make a list of all the ways we in some way cry out to Jesus to ‘save us’ from what is hurting us. But that’s not how Jesus works. In the realm of Christ, those who are perceived as outsiders are brought in. Those who are perceived as powerless are empowered. Those who are perceived as ‘untouchable’ from disease or condemnation are restored to health and wholeness.
So what does that mean for us as we continue envisioning our hopes and dreams for this congregation? How might we shift our expectations to align with the vision that Jesus gives us of community, relationships, service and response to the needs of others? I don’t know what the answer is to these questions. But I do know that it is most often when we feel overwhelmed, ill-equipped and unqualified that God does God’s best work…and that gives me hope.
Today we sit…much like we have been sitting all year…in this messy space between grief and hope…between loss and expectation. We read this story of Jesus on the cross, but we know that the story doesn’t end there. Next week we will change the paraments, bring out the Advent wreath and the candles, and share again the story of God showing God’s love for the world by choosing a young single teenager to bear the incarnation of God’s word and love. We will sing songs that remind us to light one candle and watch for the Messiah. Because however hopeless or despairing we may feel about the story today…Christ the King Sunday reminds us that the story doesn’t stop with the death and destruction of the cross. The reign of God…the realm of God…is not hindered by death, grief and loss. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Whether this past year met your expectations, exceeded your expectations, or challenged your expectations, my prayer is that as we once again tell the story of God’s love for the world made known through the birth of Jesus, that we are given the strength and hope we need for each day. Happy New Year!