Proper 29 - Last Sunday after Pentecost: Jeremiah 23: 1 – 6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1: 11 – 20; Luke 23: 35 – 43
A sermon by: The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, November 25th, 2007
During my seminary days, I once had a theology professor who would begin each and every class with this phrase, “Class, it’s a pleasure to do theology today.”
As we come now to the end of this liturgical year, standing as we are at the end of a year-long journey with Christ, as we have awaited His birth during Advent, celebrated His incarnation in His birth at Christmas, carefully noted the spreading of His divine light into the world during the Epiphany season, prepared for His passion and death during Lent, and stood with awe at the open and empty tomb at Easter, we then began applying the His teachings to our lives once the Holy Spirit had come upon us at Pentecost, as we made our way through the season that follows Pentecost.
So now, we are at the place where we can reflect on the meaning of Jesus Christ’s coming among us. It’s appropriate on this Christ the King Sunday that we engage in the “pleasure of doing theology”, as we have walked with Christ during the Church Year, which will soon give way to a new Church Year.
Let’s do some theological reflection on Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Before we begin, we should offer some basic definitions that are before us this Christ the King Sunday:
- Christ: God’s anointed one. The title comes from the Greek word for “anointed”. (“Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word meaning the same thing.) It denotes Jesus Christ’s unique person and purpose, given by God the Father, to be the Savior of the world.
- King: A sovereign or monarch; who holds by life tenure the chief authority over a country and people.[1]
- Lord: a person who has authority, power or control over others; God; Jesus Christ, the Savior.[2]
So we begin with the thread of human history as it is woven into God’s plan, beginning with our reading from Jeremiah….Writing in the sixth century before Christ, Jeremiah laments the shepherds of God’s people who have led the Chosen People astray. Soon, Jeremiah would live through the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and the subsequent deportation of much of the population eastward to Babylon.
But Jeremiah is able to look beyond the depressing circumstances of his own day to foretell the time when God would raise up a successor to David, a righteous branch who shall reign as king and deal wisely. God will gather His people together in this time of renewal, Jeremiah predicts.
After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, His followers began to understand that these events were the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, as people everywhere were gathered together into God’s fold, a “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”[3]
Similarly, in Jesus’ suffering and death, they were able to see that was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant (chapters 52 and 53).
And so, by this understanding, it’s clear that Jesus is King not of the nation of Israel, a military conqueror like King David who would drive out the hated Romans and re-establish the “glory days” of ancient Israel. (As a side note, it’s important to remember that this understanding of the coming of the Messiah – as an earthly king - was one of the main reasons so many Jews resisted Jesus’ ministry and message. It was most likely one of the bases for Pilate’s decision to crucify Jesus – remember the sign that was erected over Jesus’ head on the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”.[4])
But the cross is the part of the human thread that doesn’t make sense….indeed, St. Paul acknowledges the difficulty….Writing in I Corinthians 1: 23, he says, “But we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles….” If we might unpack Paul’s statement a little, we can understand the Jews’ resistance to the importance of the cross, for in Deuteronomy 21: 23 we read, “Anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse”. Likewise, the Greco-Roman world honored leaders who were mighty conquerors, not victims of a criminal’s death…..No wonder the Jewish leaders scoffed at Jesus on the cross, as Luke reports.
The cross is the door through which we may understand Jesus Christ’s true nature, His eternal kingship. For the cross is the way to the resurrection: Good Friday leads us directly to Easter morning.
Death, the ultimate enemy, has been conquered forever. On the other side of Easter, we can clearly see Jesus Christ not only as a human being – Jesus - born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, but as the eternal Son of God, “True God from true God” (as the Nicene Creed puts it). And it is to this “cosmic” Christ, the Christ that embodies all the glory of God, that St. Paul refers. Writing to the Colossians, he says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.”
Theologians would refer to St. Paul’s portrayal as high Christology. That is, Paul is describing Jesus Christ’s divine nature. (Low Christology refers to Jesus Christ’s human nature.)
Eventually, the Church would come to understand that, in Jesus Christ, His humanity and His divinity were united, without diminishing either nature.[5]
Even the name by which we know Our Lord refers to His human – Jesus – and divine – Christ – natures.
Returning now to the idea of Christ the King…What reflections might we consider as we wrap up this old liturgical year, about to pass into history? Our thoughts might include:
- Jesus Christ’s enduring Kingdom: If Jesus had been an earthly king, a successor to King David as an earthly ruler, then we might read about his dominion and rule in history books (perhaps the Jewish historian, Josephus[6], might have written about his military exploits, and about the rule that he established). But almost certainly, such an earthly rule would be a matter of history, not of the current age. However, Jesus Christ’s kingdom – which He repeatedly said is “not of this world”- is an enduring one, and the victory that ensured its creation – the cross of Calvary, and the victories – over addictions, sin and death – that ensure its eternal nature, are permanent expansions of the Lord Jesus Christ’s rule and dominion over all.
- The distinct nature of Jesus Christ’s kingship: Our Lord Jesus Christ comes as servant of all, even as He is Lord of all….He came to immerse Himself fully in our human experience, even to the point of a humiliating death on the cross. God takes the initiative by reaching out to us, and this is the distinctive mark of the Christian faith: that God cared enough to send the very best – Himself – to save us from our own sinful predicament.
- Our humanity is forever changed by Christ’s Incarnation: The eternal life we have as a guarantee by the merits of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection are ours to claim and possess now. A foretaste of the heavenly life we will enjoy in God’s presence in the world to come is also ours here and now, the “already-and-not-yet” reality of God’s kingdom.
Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”.[7]
AMEN.
[1] This meaning adapted from Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary.
[2] Ibid
[3] Revelation 7: 9 (NRSV)
[4] All four Gospel writers – including Luke, read today – record the title that Pilate set up over the cross.
[5] The Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) articulated the orthodox Christian understanding of Jesus Christ’s human and divine natures. Please see the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, p. 864 for the statement which this council produced.
[6] Josephus lived from c. 37 – 100 AD.
[7] Revelation 19: 16
