Feast of Christ the King

IN THE NAME OF GOD: CREATOR, PAINBEARER AND SPIRIT OF LIFE AND LOVE

TEXT: GOSPEL OF JOHN 18:33-37

I know the outside of this church isn’t blue and it doesn’t look anything like an old English police call box but I would like to step into “The Doctor’s” shoes for a few minutes and take us on a little journey back through time.

First, to 1925.

A bloke who called himself Pious XI is pope. He is becoming worried about the state of the European nations and a trend amongst his Catholic flock to thumb their collective noses at him and his church. Europe is still reeling in shock from the fallout of WW1. The treaty of Versailles has done nothing to heal wounds but has exacerbated the misfortunes of the German people. They were defeated and are having their noses well and truly rubbed in the mess. This provides the fertile soil needed for Adolf Hitler to sow his seeds of hatred and genocide. Secularism is on the rise (it’s still rising!!) The allied powers are affluent whilst others are suffering deprivation.

Many Catholic Christians are beginning to have grave doubts about the authority of the church; some people even doubting Christ's existence. It is at this time that history sees the beginnings of the rise in Western Europe of dictatorships which will, in not much more than a decade, bring about the bloodiest world war that history has ever seen.

Hitler has just published the first volume of “Mein Kampf”, In 1921 Mussolini was elected to the Italian parliament and the National Fascist party was officially organized.

The rest is history.

So, during a time when respect for Christ and the Church is waning, the Pope hopes to pull things back together by instituting a new feast within the Roman Church. The Feast of Christ the King as will be celebrated in the twenty-first century in both Roman Catholic and many Protestant churches – including Lutheran and Anglican - is instituted by Pius XI in “this year of 1925”.

So the Feast of Christ the King is instituted. Pius hopes the institution of the feast will have helpful effects. He hopes this will show the world that the church has the right to freedom of worship and interference from secular states. He also hopes to turn these mega-maniac dictators around and show them that they should give allegiance to Christ as King. As for the average person, he hopes they will be reminded to allow Christ to reign as King in their lives.

We observe that nothing much has changed! In 2009, especially in Australia, the same distrust of authority exists. The people of Australia are cynical in the extreme of politicians and authority of any sort.

We have heartily embraced individualism and to such a degree that one’s own self is the only authority recognised. The idea of Christ as ruler is rejected in such a strongly individualistic society. This cynicism and sense of rejection often extends to the church. People question the authority of Priests and Bishops (I must say sometimes with good reasons) whilst some even reject "lord" and "king" for Christ because they believe such titles are borrowed from oppressive systems of government.

Some would say that referring to Christ as “King” smacks of antiquated and conservative thinking.

I disagree! I think that "Christ the King Sunday" has a much better ring to it than "Christ our Democratically Elected Leader Sunday."

That’s 1925 with a few reflections pertinent to 2009!

Now let’s go back to the end of the first century of the Common Era.

Jesus was executed some 70 years ago. Paul, arguably the founder of the Christian church, has been dead for about 35 years. The orthodox Jews have thrown the Christian sect out of the synagogues. The fledgling church is on its own – facing the power of the Roman Empire.

The community of John, probably in Ephesus (now Turkey) has developed theology around the question, “Just who was this man Jesus of Nazareth”?

John’s Gospel clearly presents Jesus as God incarnate - he who existed before the worlds were formed. Here is the ‘Cosmic Christ’. It is easy to see then how John presents Jesus as Lord of lords and King of Kings.

The earliest Christians identified Jesus with the predicted Messiah of the Jews. The Jewish word "messiah," and the Greek word "Christ," both mean "anointed one," and came to refer to the expected king who would deliver Israel from the hands of the Romans.
Christians believe that Jesus is this expected Messiah.

But unlike the messiah most Jews expected, Jesus came to free all people, Jew and non-Jew, and he did not come to free them from the Romans, but from sin and death. He came to show them and us a new way to journey further into the mystery that is God.

Thus the king of the Jews, and of the cosmos, does not rule over a kingdom of this world.

Jesus knew the oppressive nature of secular kings, and in contrast to them, he connected his role as king to humble service, and commanded his followers to be servants as well.

In other passages of Scripture, his kingdom is tied to his suffering and death. Christ’s teachings spell out a kingdom of radical love, mercy, peace, and forgiveness.

When we celebrate Christ as King, we are not celebrating an oppressive ruler, but one willing to die for humanity and whose "loving-kindness endures forever."

Christ is the king that gives us true freedom.

Thus we must never forget that Christ radically redefines and transforms the concept of kingship.

Now back to this 21st century!

Many Christians, Catholic and Protestant, celebrate Christ the King Sunday (including Anglicans and Lutherans) in a chaotic and unjust world that seems to scorn any kind of authority.

Can we find in these verses something that relates to the real lives of people alive in our own society today? How does this speak to those who are stressed, lonely, in despair, or in search of some sort of meaning to life?

Many people all around us experience a sense of emptiness and hopelessness. The joy has gone from their lives. Worry over finances, work insecurity and concern for family members who suffer through addictions and mental illnesses take over their lives.

On the other hand we can easily fit into Pilate’s mould – many do!

Affluent and self-satisfied – possessors of great wealth and often considerable power within our own community – we have no time to consider such things as other peoples plight – in other words love - in other words practical Christianity.

Someone commented that you can't talk to Pilate about kings and kingdoms without being heard in terms of borders and armies and power. Jesus says if his was an earthly concept of kingdom, he would have armies like the Romans.

But his is not that sort of kingdom. Jesus’ kingdom is ‘not of this world’. It is for all those who care about truth - Pilate asks, "What's that?”

This is the great paradox of Jesus. This is why many cannot or do not wish to listen to what he has to say. It’s so easy to miss the point! It’s just so simple to listen.

It's easy to see evidence of the temporal world in material greed, in exclusion and falsehood.

As twenty-first-century Christians we face these same struggles.

This may be the ultimate paradox for followers of Christ.

Truth is the Light that brings reconciliation, unity, and life. The kingdom of Truth is witnessed by love, joy, and peace. Caesar's Empire was noted for tyranny, exploitation and death.

Whilst the Church has done things in the name of God that are wrong, and people of all churches have as well, we can rest assured that the King of the Cosmos is just and merciful. The love, justice, and mercy of Christ liberate us from sin and death, and give us the grace to act with love, justice, and mercy ourselves. Thus the reality of Christ as King is neither antiquated nor oppressive, but timeless and liberating.

THE LORD BE WITH YOU!