Sermon – Christ the King

Nov 22, 2009 - Year B - The Year of Mark

“Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” the wise men asked.

That question alerted Herod to the presence of a rival king in his midst. Herod's reaction was swift and brutal: he had his soldiers go into the city of Bethlehem, and kill all male children under the age of two.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked Jesus mockingly.

The very idea of the Jews having a king in any meaningful sense must have seemed ridiculous to Pilate. Furthermore, Jesus must have looked far from kingly as he stood before Pilate.

Jesus had been arrested in Gethsemane; all his disciples had abandoned him; he had defended himself before a Jewish court, and declared guilty; and he had been spit upon and slapped, and had been beaten up by Roman soldiers. However, there was also a serious side to Pilate’s question. A king of the Jews would have represented a challenge to Pilate’s authority and (more importantly) to his masters in Rome - Caesar himself. The Roman Empire responded to such challenges just as ruthlessly as Herod had. Although Pilate mocked Jesus the king, inside of Pilate, there must have been a chill of fear as well.

In reply to Pilate’s question, Jesus denied that he was a king in any way that would make sense to the Roman governor. “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.”

The confrontation with Pilate was rich with irony. Pilate appeared to be powerful but was really powerless; Jesus appeared to be powerless but was really powerful. John had already told his readers that part of Jesus’ mission was to “cast out” the ruler of this world who has no power over Jesus. Paradoxically, Jesus brought down the “ruler of this world” by submitting to his power; his death brought about the destruction of the powers that nailed him to the cross.

Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil. In time, the Christian church would also defeat the Roman Empire when the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity and made it the dominant faith of the Empire.

Pilate and Herod were not the only ones who misunderstood the nature of Jesus’ kingship. Even the disciples failed to understand it. James and John wanted to sit beside Jesus in his kingdom. To “sit” was to occupy a position of power, and to sit beside the king was to share in his power. However, Jesus told them that they completely misunderstood the nature of his kingship and kingdom: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”

The kingdom over which Jesus reigns still defies our understanding. He rules over a kingdom with no borders to defend, no soldiers to defend it, and no weapons for the soldiers to use other than God‘s Word and the Sacraments. It is a kingdom that inverts our values. The one who serves is the one who rules.

We still ask the questions that the wise men and Pilate asked: “Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” and “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Knowingly or not, Pilate answered his own question; the Gospel of John tells us that “Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. It read: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.’” Pilate who did not believe Jesus was a king in any meaningful sense, in fact declared Jesus’ royalty to the world when he placed that sign on the cross.

The cross is Jesus’ royal throne. That is the wonder of Christ the King Sunday. It celebrates a king who is completely different from Herod or any dictator who has ever existed. He is the suffering servant. He is King of kings because he claims the brokenness of this world. He claims our sins, our pain, and our weakness. Jesus reigns from the cross, and that means he reigns over the crosses that come into our lives as well.

Like the wise men, most of our lives are on a pilgrimage seeking what will bring happiness and meaning to our lives. We are on a pilgrimage, and without realizing it, we, too, are seeking the king. Unlike them, we cannot bring our gifts to a manger in Bethlehem. However, the gifts we bring are also precious. We bring our sins, our pain, and our weakness. We offer these to Christ the King, and he is able to transform them into something that brings life to us, and others who enter our lives.

As it says in Matthew 25:“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food.’"

With our sins healed by the cross of Christ the King, we go into the world to bring that healing to someone else. We go out to feed the world with the blessing that only Christ the King can give as he comes to our crosses showing us the power and truth of a real king whose kingdom has no boarders, but is found within the foundations of our lives. Amen.