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"CHRIST
THE KING" November 25, 2001
Text: Luke 23:33-38 The Roman soldiers in charge of the crucifixion made a sign and nailed it to the cross just above the head of Jesus. It was meant to be a cruel joke directed at Jesus and an insult hurled in face of the Jews. The sign read: "This is the King of the Jews." Today, is Christ The King Sunday. This is the day we take that sign and embrace it not as a cruel joke nor as insult but as a declaration of the Truth. This is the King of not only the Jews but of all God's children everywhere on earth -- this Jesus, whose ministry seemed to be a failure that dark and gloomy Friday when he was tortured to death. That day, the day Jesus died, there was more than merely sorrow among those who followed Jesus. There was disillusionment and despair. I can imagine them in their homes that Friday evening, gathered around their Sabbath tables wondering what went wrong. I can almost hear them talking about that sign the soldiers had nailed above Jesus' head. "But we thought it was really going to come true. We thought this Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the King." Today we have gathered in this place to declare to one another and to them, "You were right. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the King." This is what we are celebrating, this Christ The King Sunday. What separates us from those followers of Jesus who in sorrow and despair sat around their Friday evening meal is the reality revealed on Easter. They had to look at the events of that Friday with only the data of those Friday events to guide their understanding. But we look at those Friday events from the perspective of the empty tomb and the experience of the risen Christ. And today we celebrate what they were unable to celebrate: Christ really is the King. And the Christ who is the King is not just the Christ who was raised from the dead but the Christ who was crucified, died and was buried. The truth of the matter is, the resurrection without the crucifixion loses the depth of its meaning and becomes merely another story about a dead man being brought back to life. The cross is central to the Good News that is made known in Jesus. One cannot fully understand the proclamation that Christ is King without taking into account what the crucifixion is all about. When we carefully read the writings of the Apostle Paul, we discover that the crucifixion is central to his understanding of the Gospel. In fact, Paul even declares that for him to preach the Gospel is for him to preach "Christ crucified" -- a message that the very religious folks trip over and the very rational view as ridiculous. [ ] The cross stands at the very heart of the Gospel. The resurrection verifies the message but it is through the cross that the basic Good News is revealed. What is the message? Why is the cross the primary symbol? The cross reveals the love of God at work in the real world we live in, where sin and evil create such havoc and hell. The message of the Gospel is not merely, you can be with God after you die. The message of the Gospel is primarily God is with you here and now, even when your life is at it worst. And what can be worse than for us human beings to torture to death the Word made flesh that came among us as one of us, to crucify the incarnation of God's love? Into the midst of narrow minded, mean spirited religious people, into the midst of people with power more interested in political deals than in pursuing justice, into the midst of zealots and idealists and disciples whose self-centeredness caused them to misunderstand, into the midst of this world, God chose to come among us not merely pretending to be one of us but taking on all that comes with being fully and truly human, God chose to come among us so that we could discover God's love for us and in that love also discover what it is to be a human being. As the Gospel of John puts it, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." But John also reminds us: "He came to his own home, but his own people received him not."[ ] It is the crucifixion that makes the Gospel a relevant message of Good News in the wake of September 11 and in the midst of all the other horrors and tragedies of life. The Christ presented in the Gospel is the King, the true King, not just because he was a man who was raised from the dead, but because he who was raised form the dead was the crucified Son of God who had been tortured to death and buried in a tomb. In the crucifixion is the demonstration as well as the proclamation of the depth and the extent of God's love. The crucifixion is the revelation that even the worst that happens in life does not cause God to give up on us. The cross is central to the Gospel because it stands as the primary expression of God's grace in the midst of human sin and evil. The cross more than any other word or deed proclaims throughout the centuries that God refuses to give up on us human beings. For those who have eyes to see, even in the midst of the horror of September 11, the grace of God was at work. The sin and evil that crashed those airliners into the Twin Towers and into the Pentagon did not and could not list God's grace among the victims. God's grace was there in those passengers who prevented even more death and destruction by fighting with the terrorists and causing a premature crash. The grace of God was there in those firefighters and police officers and EMS people rushing up the stairs at the same time the building occupants were coming down the stairs. The grace of God was there, in all those people such as the elevator maintenance man calling his wife on the cell phone to tell her he was okay and that he was going to help some people get out of the building. The grace of God was there in the unknown and unnumbered selfless acts of compassion and courage as men and women lost their lives trying to save the lives of others. The grace of God was there in the rush of volunteers of all sorts offering what they could, trying to help those in the Pentagon and the Twin Towers. Someone may say: "But those people were not thinking about God and God's grace. Some of them may not have even believed in God. Certainly all of them were not Christians. What do you mean, God's grace was there in what they did?" Perhaps this negative analogy will help. Just as we do not have to have knowledge of the virus that causes the flu in order for the virus to make us sick, we do not have to have knowledge of or belief in the grace of God in order for God's grace to be at work in and through our lives. Aware of it or not, believe it or not, God's grace was there at work in the midst of all the horror and chaos of the Pentagon and Twin Towers attacks last September 11. God grace was at work there in the midst of that hell, just as God's grace has been at work, is at work and will be at work wherever there is life, even when life is at its worst -- just as God's grace was at work in and through the crucifixion of Jesus. It is through the crucifixion that we discover there is nothing, absolutely nothing that can separate us from God's grace. We may deny God, reject grace, spit on the Gospel, mock it, torture it, kill it with cruelty and place it lifeless in some tomb we have dug, but we cannot destroy or defeat the grace of God. God's grace is wherever there is life whether we believe it or not, whether we are aware of it or not, and even when we have done our worst, even in the worst of situations. This is the Good News the crucifixion declares. God does not give up on us humans; nothing can separate us from the love of God -- not even crucifixions. And just so we will know this is the way it is, resurrection happens declaring that although we may crucify God's grace, kill it with cruelty and place it in a tomb, it will not stay dead; it will not be defeated. Resurrection happens. Christ is King not merely because a man who was tortured to death was brought back to life. Christ is King because Jesus, the Son of God, the incarnation of God's grace, willingly accepted and endured the worst we humans have to offer, all for the sake of giving us life. And in doing so, God's grace transformed the crucifixion from being the worst we humans can do into the saving event for the world. The grace of God that was incarnate in Jesus transformed that terrible Friday into the Friday now known as Good. And the power of this same grace of God is also able to transform the worst we can do and the worst we must endure into events and experiences of grace. Today we celebrate Christ as King, not despite the crucifixion but primarily because of the crucifixion. It is in the cross, we discover the extent and depth of God's love. In the cross we discover, that not only is God not defeated by the worst we humans can do but in the cross we see the grace of God at work transforming the world. Christ, not just the risen Christ but the crucified Christ who has risen, is the King. That and all it means, is what we celebrate today. God, enable us to be so aware of the grace you revealed through Jesus being at work in our lives that in great joy we celebrate Christ as our King. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer: Let us thank God for the gifts and blessings we have received. We have come here with a variety of concerns and problems. Let us ask God for guidance and help. God, some of us have had a wonderful week, enjoying family and friends coming together in a celebration of love and thanksgiving. Because of our joy and happiness, we are truly grateful. But, for others of us, this has not been such a wonderful week. Some of us have been made more aware of our loneliness. For others of us, this holiday season has revived deep sorrow related to profound loss. And for others of us, this has not been an easy week because of difficult relationships strained by the pressures of our holiday activities. God, to those of us for whom the last few days have been difficult, give us what we need so that we can deal with whatever is before us. Enable us to move on with our lives aware your comforting grace is providing us strength and power for living. God for both the gifts of good times and for the resources for dealing with tough times, we give you thanks. Help us, O God, in whatever situation we are in to live as Jesus was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father ...."
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