CHRIST THE KING!
And the leaders scoffed at Jesus, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” And they put a sign over his head and nailed it to his cross that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Is this anyway to treat a king?
The people were waiting for the Messiah to come, hoping that he would come and rule over them like King David. They were hoping for the Messiah to come and destroy all their enemies, especially the Romans who ruled over them. They were hoping for a kind of military leader who could come and lead them into battle and set up the Kingdom of God forever. It looked as though Jesus had the power to do this, because of all the mighty works and wonders he did. He was popular among the people. They followed him from town to town, listening to his every word, watching for his next miracle. The people mobbed around him when they heard he was coming, especially the day he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. They welcomed him with shouts of joy, crying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” Perhaps this was the Messiah, the king they had been waiting for.
Is this anyway to treat a king?
But the people’s expectations were not fulfilled. In fact, they were crushed. Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah they were looking for or expecting. The disappointment was great as Jesus hung on the cross bleeding and dying. If it wasn’t for the inscription hanging over his head no one would have wondered or questioned if Jesus were truly “The king of the Jews.”
Is this anyway to treat a king?
No, Jesus was not the kind of king the people were expecting. How can he be a king whose throne is a cross and whose crown is made of thorns? Perhaps he is not the kind of king we expect or desire either. Where is the power? Where is the victory? And, yet, that is the claim: Jesus Christ is king and lord over all! What kind of king is Jesus, then? Where does Jesus rule? Who are his followers and where is his kingdom? Answers to these questions on this Christ the King Sunday may be found in our second lesson in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
First of all, Jesus is king over creation. Being in the likeness or image of God, Jesus reveals to us the kind of God that God is. God is a God of love. Out of love God created the world and placed Jesus as lord and ruler over all that God created. Jesus was there with God, the Father, at the time of creation as the Bible says, “All things were created through him and for him.” This is similar to another passage in the Bible, the first verses of the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
What a claim to be made, that all things are created through Christ and are under his lordship. It is no wonder that Jesus makes those with worldly power nervous or feel threatened. In a world of wars and terrorism, of hunger and sickness, of natural disasters and corruption of governments, all these things are under his authority and must one day be reckoned with by Christ the King. Christ knows the problems that are part of the creation, because he was there from the beginning, but more than that, he has entered the world and become one of us. He has lived through all that we live through, overcoming every temptation to sin. As the Bible says, “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” And again, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” As the one through whom all things were made, it is also through him that the creation will be healed and be made new. Jesus is Christ.
Secondly, Jesus is king over the Church. Paul says, “He is the head of the body, the church.” It is through the Church that Jesus communicates his lordship through the Word and Sacraments, the means of grace. It is the Church that continues to do the work of Christ in the world, preaching and teaching and healing, inviting all to become a part of his kingdom on earth through faith. It is the Church, the members of the body of Christ, the fellowship of believers, who bear witness to all of the world that Jesus is king and lord over all things.
When I speak of the Church, I don’t mean a building or an institution, but rather, the people who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. We are the church! It is our task to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection: your sins are forgiven. As the Church, “we have no mission but to serve.” Through our words and deeds, we are servants of Jesus, being his hands and feet in the world, seeking to expand the kingdom of God by bringing others to faith.
This is a wonderful image for what the church is, the Body of Christ. All of us are members of that body and each of us is important to the body. Without one of the members, without each one of you, the body cannot function properly. God has given to each a measure of his grace, providing gifts and talents for the building up of the Church. Each of you, in your own way, can witness, and do witness, that Jesus is King and Lord over all. With Jesus at the head of the body, the Church will never fail or cease to be, until that time when Christ comes again in glory. Paul wrote in Ephesians, “…God has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Jesus is king.
And thirdly, Jesus is king over sin and death. Paul writes, “He is the beginning, the first born from the dead.” There is nothing that has a more powerful grip on us, which rules over us, than sin and death. We are all subject to it’s fearsome grip and there is no escaping from it. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the powers of sin and death have been destroyed. The sin that has separated us from God is no more as we have been reconciled through the blood of Jesus. Our relationship with God is mended and restored. We are no longer strangers in conflict with God, but we have again been claimed by God and we are at peace. The Apostle Paul says, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.” And, “Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing walls of hostility.” And again, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” This is to be our way of life, to live a new life as forgiven sinners. As we live in this new relationship with God, we live in a new relationship with one another. Jesus is Christ.
The mystery and wonder of it all is that it is precisely through the cross that Jesus is king and lord over all things. This is the truth, that the one who is laughed and scorned at is indeed the King. It is through the cross that the powers of this world have been brought again under the lordship of Christ the King.
The problem that faces us is the same problem that faced the people in Jesus’ day. Do you believe this? Does it convince you? Does Jesus’ claim to be King and Lord have authority over you? The interesting thing about this claim is that it isn’t affected by our belief or disbelief. Jesus is Lord and King because of his death and resurrection. There is nothing we can do to change that. Rather, it is something that changes us as we come to faith in him.
While he was dying on the cross, one of the criminals hanging on the cross next to him turned and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Today, Jesus Christ is King. Through his death and resurrection, the powers that rule over us are destroyed and we are set free to live under his rule, today. Today, through our faith he brings us into his kingdom. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen.