Christ the King Sunday John 18:33-37 22 November, 2009
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior…and King!
Soren Kierkegaard was a philosopher and theologian that lived in Denmark about 150 years ago.
In one of his books there’s a story about a king who fell in love with a peasant girl.
The king knew that it was impossible for him to marry the girl.
Kings never married peasants.
They always married royalty.
But this king was so powerful that he could marry the girl and get away with it.
But another thought occurred to him.
If he married the peasant girl and stayed king, there would always be something missing in their relationship.
Because he was the king he believed that she might admire and respect him but never really love him.
The gap between them would be too great.
She would always be conscious of the fact that he was royalty and was a mere lowly peasant.
So the king came up with a plan.
He decided that he would resign he kingship and become a lowly peasant himself.
Then he offers his love to her as one lowly peasant to another.
Nice idea. But the king eventually realized that regardless of how noble this might be, it could backfire. He could lose not only his throne, but the girl as well.
She might reject him; especially if she thought him foolish for doing such a reckless thing like give up your throne and all the benefits that go along with being king.
So what should he do?
The king finally decided that he loved the peasant girl so much that he would risk everything to make true love between them possible.
Kierkegaard never told how the story ended.
He never told whether the girl accepted the king’s love or rejected it.
He never told whether they got married and lived happily ever after.
I suspect Kierkegaard had some reasons for not telling how the story ended.
I suspect one reason might be because that’s not the point of the story.
The point of the story is the king’s love for the lowly peasant.
I suspect another reason why Kierkegaard never told how the story ended is because it really has not ended—it’s still going on.
You could say that each of us is in the process of writing his or her own personal ending to that story.
Each one of us is in the process of determining whether we’ll welcome God’s love or reject it.
Each one of us is in the process of determining whether we’ll live happily ever after with God, or walk away from the relationship, thereby rejecting the love being offered.
For you see, it is a true story, whose ending has not yet been written.
It is the true story of God’s love for each and every one of us for as you might have guessed; God is the king in the story and the girl in this story represents each and every one of us gathered here this morning.
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This is the Sunday when we celebrate Christ as King.
Our Gospel reading has Jesus appearing before Pilate, the Roman governor, after having been accused by his enemies of trying to set himself up as king.
In the dialog between Pilate and Jesus, Jesus admits to being a king, but not in the traditional sense of the word, not in the sense that this world understands kings.
I believe it is also helpful to point out that the image of Christ, as king is useful to us as Christians as long as it doesn’t become the only way the think and talk about Jesus.
The Bible gives us many, many images of Jesus.
Some of them even seem to be at odds with one another. Jesus is both the Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and the one who said that he came not to bring peace, but a sword.
And so, when we call Jesus King, we must be careful to understand what that means.
When we talk about Christ as a King, we are not talking about an earthly king who has absolute power over a certain geographical area.
We are using the idea of king to describe something that we don’t really have words for.
Before we explore that question any further, let’s state right up front that Jesus is not a king in the usual sense.
From the little that I know and have experienced of kings Jesus is a different sort of king.
After all, a king is supposed to be distant, wealthy, and powerful.
But it would seem to me that Jesus doesn’t fit that mold, he isn’t that kind of king.
There is a story told of a man living in London during the Second World War.
Every night German planes appeared overhead dropping countless bombs on the city below.
Buildings burst into flames; sirens wailed incessantly, entire blocks were reduced to rubble.
One day this Londoner was sitting in the wreckage of his home.
The walls remained, but the roof was gone.
The man himself was near despair.
His home ruined, his city devastated, his country under attack.
These thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
The man opened the door and was shocked to see a small regal figure.
It was the king, King George VI.
He was touring the war-damaged neighborhood and had stopped at this particular house.
The startled man welcomed the King of England into what was left of his home.
Jesus is a King like that.
He comes, of his own accord, to the ruin that I am, and knocks firmly on the door of my heart.
He comes not once, but often, always knocking on that door.
This king comes to me in the time of crisis, across the devastated landscape.
This king comes to me Sunday after Sunday in the bread and wine, by the grace of God.
Conventional wisdom would lead us to believe that a king must be wealthy, having for his own gold and jewels, castles and palaces, fine horses and elegant clothing.
But this king Jesus that I know to be the prince who has become a pauper.
His birthplace is a stable.
His palace is a hillside.
If I am to catch a glimpse of him today, then I must look in the right places; among the poor, the disinherited, the powerless, those people we would prefer to keep to the sidelines, out of sight – out of mind.
It is there that the king will be found.
He is there today, as he was two thousand years ago.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, the second chapter Paul reminds them and us that Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself and took the form of a human.
In other words, royalty stooped.
Jesus, who is God, becomes an ordinary, humble human being.
Therefore when I consider Jesus to be my king I have to confess that my greatest fear is not that I will insult him, reject him, blaspheme him to his face, but that I will simply overlook him—for no longer in his uniform a robe, sandals, long hair.
Now he appears as a weary woman raising her kids in a beat up trailer on the edge of town not far from here.
He appears as an old man dying slowly and alone, having burned too many bridges over the years.
He comes to me as someone who does not look like me, or act like me.
He comes to me as someone who is simply different, as someone who I don’t understand.
In each of these disguises King Jesus appears to me.
He’s a prince who became a pauper.
We find another example of what kind of King we might have in Jesus in a legend of King Christian X of Denmark. According to the legend, when Hitler’s forces occupied Denmark during World War II, the order came that all Jews were to be identify themselves by wearing armband with yellow stars of David.
King Christian said that one Danish person was exactly the same as the next one.
So the king donned the first Star of David, and let it be known that he expected every loyal Dane would do the same.
The next day in Copenhagen, almost the entire population ware armbands showing the Star of David.
The Danes saved 90% of their Jewish population.
The Danish people knew their king loved them and that he would identify with them o to the extent of putting his own life on the line by wearing the Jewish star.
Jesus was that kind of king.
Conventional wisdom would tell us that a king must be powerful.
He must sit secure upon his throne and wield his scepter well, and remain confidant in who he is.
But Jesus is a king of a different kind.
He lays aside the stunning mantle of his omnipotence, and drains the cup of human experience, human limitations, and even down to the dregs of our suffering, sorrow, and dearth.
There’s no calamity I have known or can ever experience which remains unknown to him.
All my dark rooms are places he has walked before.
Is this the kind of king I want?
A king who knows my inner most secrets?
A king who knows my hopes, fears, prejudices, my deepest regrets and shame?
Am I willing to be that vulnerable?
And yet when it comes to being vulnerable, Jesus is the king of vulnerability when he places his life in the hands of others.
In other words, he behaves like no king we have ever know.
And it leads us to the moment of truth and the crux of today’s message this morning…is Jesus king in your life?
You don't have to hold up your hand and give the answer in front of everyone, but I would like for you to think about the question ~~ Is Jesus king in your life?
Then let me ask another question ~~
If Jesus were king in your life, what difference would that make?
What would be different in your daily life if Jesus were truly your king?
What difference would it make for your family?
Think about that for a moment.
What difference would it make if Jesus were king in your life?
Today is Christ the King Sunday.
It is a day when the children of God are reminded that their king is not like other kings or rulers.
The kings and rulers of this world rule over their subjects with fear and terror.
In contrast Christ’s rule is based on love.
In this world kings demand that their subjects be under their feet.
But Christ our king washes the feet of his disciples.
The difference between Jesus’ rule and the rule of earthly kings is as different as day and night.
In this world kings and queens and rulers live and die by the rule “might makes right.”
Christ our king lived and died and lives again by a different and much more difficult rule.
His rule says “blessed are the poor” and “the meek shall inherit the earth” and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
In this world rulers crush the poor and slaughter the innocent just as Herod slaughtered the children of Bethlehem.
Our Lord gave up his life to redeem the outcast, the sinner, and the forgotten.
Is Christ your King?
Jesus stands before you today just as he stood before Pilate long ago, and the question is the very same one.
Are you, Jesus, the King of the Jews?
More importantly, are you my King too?
As with Pilate we must provide our own answer to the question, for though he is the King, he refuses to be our King against our will.
But he also refuses to go away and leave the question unanswered.
Each of us at one time or another will answer the question for ourselves.
It you haven’t done so, please give your answer today” “Yes, Jesus. You are my King.
Come into my heart; guide my mind, fill my imagination, control my will, so that I may be wholly yours.
Use me, as you will, always to your glory and the welfare of your people.
And do it beginning right now. Amen.
Pastor Stephen Blenkush
Zion Lutheran
Milaca, MN
www.ZionMilaca.org(Sermon Archive)
