Proper
29 :: Jeremiah 23: 1–6 / Psalm 46 /Colossians 1: 11-20 / Luke 23: 33–43
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker
on Sunday November 24, 2019.
“OF KINGS AND OF THE KING OF KINGS, CHRIST OUR
LORD”
We’ve come now to the end of the current liturgical
year. Since the adoption of the “new” Prayer Book some forty-odd years ago,
this last Sunday after Pentecost has come to be known as “Christ the King
Sunday”. We Episcopalians share the same focus of this Sunday with other
Christians on this last Sunday of the current year.
The focus of this Sunday allows us to wrap up all
that we’ve been considering throughout the previous year, things that have to
do with the coming of the Christ, Jesus our Lord. We’ve prepared for His coming
among us at Christmastime with the season of Advent. We’ve celebrated the light
of His appearing and the spread among the Gentiles of His light in the season
of Epiphany, and then we’ve garnered together our strength for the arduous
journey of preparation through the season of Lent, getting ready for the Lord’s
rising to new life on Easter Sunday morning. Finally, we’ve applied all that
we’ve experienced and considered in these preceding seasons during the season
after Easter, called Pentecost. Pentecost is a time when we grow the faith
(hence, the liturgical color for the season after Pentecost is green).
Since we’ve characterized this day as “Christ the
King Sunday”, we ought to consider, at least briefly, what calling someone a
king (or queen) might mean. After all, we Americans are proud of our thoroughly
democratic nature as a country. We have no appetite for having a king (or
queen), even if we are quite interested and fascinated with the British royal
family. Though many of us follow the doings of the Brits, we wouldn’t want to
have anything to do with having a royal class or family of our own. It’s said
that there was a move, early in our country’s history, to try to make George
Washington a king. But he said “No” to that idea, very wisely so.
Having a king (or a queen) entails an entirely
different way of being a people, a nation. We’d be wise to consider the
differences with what we’re used to in this country. Then, we might be able to
apply some of these observations to the matter of what it means for us to be
citizens of a different country, a group of people called Christians.
We might begin our consideration of the differences
with the matter of a king’s (or queen’s) power. After all, a king (or queen)
isn’t the head of a democracy, at least not in ancient times. Kings and queens
aren’t elected. They inherit their position and status. In ancient times, there
was an idea that a king (or queen) ruled with an autocratic hand, being – as it
was believed back then – that they ruled because God wanted them to be king or
queen. This concept of royalty goes by the name “Divine Right of Kings”.
In more recent times, the idea that a king or queen
rules because God wants it that way has faded away. Now, in most places, what
has replaced this idea is something that is called a “Constitutional
Democracy”. That is to say, some countries still have kings and queens, but
those royal people are figureheads, for the most part, a person who symbolizes
the entire country. In some cases, the formal name of the nation reflects the
fact that it has a king or queen. One couldn’t have the United Kingdom without
a king or a queen. So, for example, in the United Kingdom of England, Scotland
and Northern Ireland, one uses the Royal Mail. The British Navy is known as the
Royal Navy. These are just two examples. But the actual running of the country
in Constitutional Democracies is left to an elected group, called by various
names: For example, the Parliament in the United Kingdom.
Kings and queens are one with the people they lead.
So, to continue our consideration of how things work in the United Kingdom, we
can say with assurance that Queen Elizabeth II and the entire royal family are
citizens of the U.K. But, even though they are citizens, they are different
from what are known as “commoners”. Royalty makes them different.
We might get the idea that being a king or a queen
or a member of the royal family comes with good things only, and never with any
bad things. But that wouldn’t be the case; for a king or queen often has to
make difficult decisions for the welfare of the people they represent and lead.
And, they might have to make sacrifices for the same reason. Consider, for
example, that Queen Elizabeth II worked driving a truck during World War II.
What might these observations tell us about the way
in which we ought to consider our Lord Jesus Christ as king, or – as we read in
the Book of Revelation – King of kings and Lord of lords?
We might begin by affirming the truth of God’s
appointment of the Lord to lead us. We didn’t choose Him to lead us, He chose
us to be His followers. So, our faith in the Lord isn’t a democracy, something
we can choose to fashion in accordance with our own desires. Instead, we must
rely on the revelation of God’s will in the person of our Lord, as that reality
is reflected in the pages of sacred Scripture.
Our Lord gives us an identity, for we bear the name
Christian, signifying that we are “partisans of Christ” (a wonderful phrase I
heard when I was in seminary).
Our Lord is one of us, born of a human mother, the
Blessed Virgin Mary; but He is unlike us at the same
time, being conceived by the Holy Spirit. This is a truth we affirm each Sunday
as we recite the Nicene Creed.
Our Lord willingly makes the sacrifices that are
necessary for our welfare. That’s the basic meaning of the events of Good
Friday. Our Lord comes and empties Himself in service to us, then rises to new
life again, claiming the victory over death that will be ours when our own
earthly journey is done.
Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for the abundant
gifts you shower upon us, you who are King of kings and Lord of lords.
AMEN.
