Christ the King
(Free Version)- Year A, Proper 29, Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46
Icon: “Christ” by Ivanka Demchuk
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This Sunday is a special day in the church calendar: the last week of the church year. For many in our congregations, it may have been a tough year, and they may be ready for it to be over. For those, it is appropriate to make that declaration this Sunday.
A new church year begins at the season of Advent (which begins next Sunday). It is then followed by the season of Christmas (12 days), the celebration of “God with us;” then Epiphany for awhile, the revelation of God to outsiders; then Lent for four weeks, a season of repentance and spring cleaning for the soul; then Easter, a season of resurrection, then Ascension Sunday and Pentecost, where we see the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Then, the long stretch of what we call “Ordinary Time” which we are just now coming through.
The Feast of Christ the King was first established in the Roman Catholic Church in 1925 and was adopted by Protestant communities who follow the church calendar and observe the lectionary. This means that this feast is a pretty late edition to the church calendar, as most of our feast days were instituted centuries before this.
In 1925, the world was in an interesting place. Mussolini was in the middle of his reign in Italy. A young Adlof Hitler was causing a stir with his recently released Mein Kampf, and the world was experiencing the first stirrings of a “Great Depression.” It is in such a world that the Church declared the need to end the year remembering that Jesus Christ is Lord. There are no “lords” above Him.
The great contemporary theologian, who is also known as the cussing theologian, Stanley Hauerwas, is quoted as saying, “Jesus is Lord and everything else is Bull S***”
All of our passages today speak of Christ’s kingship. To declare that “Christ is King” is to declare that the world is under a different kind of rule and reign than anything else that we have ever seen or experienced. The reign of God looks more like a shepherd boy than a prototypical warrior. It looks like resurrection power: virtue, compassion, humility; not imperial power—domination, oppression, and manipulation.
And where does this kingdom live? Where does the king reside? In the least of these. In the midst of human need.
If we really believe that this is where God lives, it will change the way that we see our lives, the lives of our neighbors and, indeed, the world. Where are the places of greatest need?
Our Old Testament reading (Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24) reflects a time when God’s people were scattered due to the poor leadership of self-absorbed leaders. These leaders wanted what they could get from the people, but did not actually desire the flourishing of all the people. We can’t help today but acknowledge the poor leadership—and the systemic brokenness—of “leadership” today, in government, corporations, and in the church. The latter is the most aggravating because it is many who claim to follow the Good Shepherd who have caused such harm.
The good news is that those who are hurt, scattered, and confused are not left without a Shepherd. We may reflect on those in our lives who, for one reason or another, have found themselves apart from the family of God. Many in our congregations have seen loved ones, friends, those who used to sit next to them in the pew, leave the faith. Too often these dear ones have been hurt by their leaders. There are such things as false shepherds. And, all leaders are flawed shepherds. The good news we hear from the prophet is that where the false or flawed shepherds have failed, the Good Shepherd will gather, nurture, and bind their wounds.
In our Epistle reading (Ephesians 1:15-23), Paul gives thanks for the congregation at Ephesus, praying for them. His pastoral tone reflects a nurturing leader who cares for the flock. He points them to an inheritance—a world put right by the one true judge. Paul reflects on God’s power, which is not a dominating coercive power, but resurrection power, the power that brings to life!
There is no power that is greater than God’s power, but this is not a way of saying that God’s power is a more dominant form of earthly power. No, Paul is describing something altogether different. This is the creating, loving, nurturing power of God which raised Christ from the dead! It is God, who is love, who has all things under his feet.
Jesus’ parable in our gospel reading (Matthew 25:31-46) often disturbs us. The separating of the sheep and goats, the promise that some will inherit the kingdom, while others are led to eternal punishment, can be frightening. Additionally, the connection of this inheritance to good works: real, tangible, acts of kindness towards those in need, is something which many of us (especially those in Protestant traditions)…well, protest!
Such parables are supposed to make us shift, to stand alert, to wake up from the snoozing that often characterizes our lives. Because of this, there are, by definition, no easy explanations. Still, we must remember a few things:
First, judgement is a good thing. We all long for justice, for the world to be made right, and in order for that to happen, judgement—the revealing of things for what they are—is necessary. Therefore, we need a good, true, and loving shepherd to do just that to and for the world.
Second, this parable is not about keeping a moral scorecard. In the story, it is only the goats who keep track of what they have and have not done! Rather than a tally of who has done what for whom, this parable is about living a life open to God’s grace—which will always change us and point us towards the other.
Third, physical things really matter. This means that our physical needs—and our neighbor’s physical needs, matter in the kingdom of God. Showing mercy in the midst of these needs is not an “add-on,” and “extra” or a “good idea.” God lives in the midst of our human need and that is where Christians live as well. Archbishop Rowan Williams writes,
Christians will be found in the neighbourhood of Jesus – but Jesus is found in the neighbourhood of human confusion and suffering, defencelessly alongside those in need. If being baptized is being led to where Jesus is, then being baptized is being led towards the chaos and the neediness of a humanity that has forgotten its own destiny.
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So baptism means being with Jesus ‘in the depths’: the depths of human need, including the depths of our own selves in their need – but also in the depths of God’s love; in the depths where the Spirit is re-creating and refreshing human life as God meant it to be. 1
I hope that my congregation, and all of our congregations, and all of you, hear this today: Christ the King, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep is with you today at the point of your need: your messiness, your weakness, your doubt.
If that is true for those of us, it is also true for co-workers, neighbors, the homeless, the refugee, the prisoner, and those suffering with illness today.
May we be a people shaped by the joy of God’s kingdom, not counting on our own good works, but embodying the abundance of God’s love. May we know this different kind of power, and we know God’s presence at the point of our need. Amen.
Rowan Williams, Being Christian: Baptism, bible, Eucharist, Prayer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 3-5.