"What Kind of King?" - Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 23:33-43
A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – Christ the King Sunday
Texts: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 23:33-43
“What Kind of King?”
If we play the “word association” game, and I say the word, “KING,” I wonder what comes to your mind. . . . Think about that word – “King.”
Is it King Charles, who finally has succeeded the longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth in England? What kind of king will he be? That’s a question . . . and some say it does not matter much what kind of king because the monarchy is losing its influence and importance. Does the word “king” make you think of King David? He is one of the most familiar people – a king - in the Bible. Is it King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard? I never heard of them either – but they are a very famous band about to launch a worldwide tour that has so many people super excited. You can Google it! Maybe the word “KING” indeed brings a mixed bag of responses for each of us. King Charles? Unless we are super interested in the “royals” and all their drama, mostly we may say, “. . . MEH.”
“King” as a political term? Some of you might know that the Declaration of Independence has some very famous lines, . . .but the major portion of that famous document includes long and specific gripes against a certain King – King George – greatly disdained in the colonies in 1776. So, we come from a culture – a democracy - dubious and leery, even weary of people who resemble kings.
Have any of us actually lived under a king, or had a king rule over us?
So, as we think about Christ the King – and Christ the King Sunday - we have some challenges! What kind of king? What does this mean anyway, especially when there are mixed emotions and so many negative ideas about “king.”
Christ the King Sunday was established by Pope Pius XI in the early part of the 20th century – in response to significant and growing threats from secularism and fascism. The pope said this: When (people) recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony." (from J. Duffield, Presbyterian Outlook)
That seems like a nice thought – and very ambitious too. If we just affirm Christ as King, the world will settle down, the anxiety and polarization would go away, no more fascism – imagine that! - and all will be well. . . . or maybe not! There is even a growing number of folks who say we should get rid of this Sunday – Christ the King – because it is such a problematic term.
Our first passage from Jeremiah reminds us also how bad things can get – people frantic and scattered, and power abused. But Jeremiah also points to another reign – God’s reign – where all things are made right, and the shepherd cares for God’s people. We keep looking for and anticipating that! We remember Psalm 23 – “I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff comfort me.” That is how we are meant to live – in God’s reign, under God’s care, all our days.
In the first century, not unlike these days, the term “king” was not so great and clear either. Across lots of history before Jesus and after Jesus too, most “kings” ruled with power, and intimidation. In fact, in 1st-century Palestine, the government, acting on orders from Caesar – who ruled as a king - crucifixion was a common method of execution meant to humiliate the condemned, intimidate the populace, and thereby project imperial power. This was often the way of kings through history: brutality and power, oppression and intimidation.
So, what’s this about Christ the King? Listen to this passage – Luke 23:33f.
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.34Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine,37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
This is often the passage for Christ the King Sunday, because the term “king” – associated with Jesus – comes up several times. But in this passage, our more common associations of the term “king” get quickly confused. This is not a regal moment, like a coronation, or anything close to royal infatuation. This is moment of distress and horror. The plot of Luke’s gospel has carried Jesus to “the place of the Skull,” and only one terrible and terrorizing thing is going to happen – Jesus’ crucifixion. He is about to be killed on a cross, again the most gross, public, and oppressive way to die so that those in power can make a point.
And we have those lines: “he saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God.” The soldiers mock him: “if you are the King of the Jews!” And there was an inscription over him: “King of the Jews!” It is impossible to miss the sarcasm, the irony here. This is not a regal moment. There is no honor or dignity given to Jesus. In fact, it is the opposite.
But this should not really surprise us, or trouble us. Even though Jesus came on the scene to “inaugurate the kingdom of God,” to initiate and bring about “the reign of God,” nothing about Jesus has ever been regal. Indeed, almost everything about Jesus – and his inauguration of God’s kingdom – turns upside down any traditional thinking about a king.
Let me just remind you about so many parts of Luke’s gospel that have led to this place “of the Skull,” even with the inscription above him: “King of the Jews.” In Luke 1, Mary learns that she is pregnant with this holy child, and she sings to the Lord (it is known as Mary’s Magnificat), which is all about the reversal of the normal order for God’s order. Mary sings this: “the Mighty One does great things, . . he scatters the proud, . . and lifts up the lowly. . . he brings down the haughty and powerful, . . and lifts up the downtrodden; . . . he fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty.” We get an early glimpse of what God’s coming reign in Jesus looks like.
In the next chapter, which we look forward to in the weeks of Advent and Christmas, the Savior is born in a manger, among the lowly. This is called “good news of great joy for all people.” But it is not a regal coronation. This is the God of the universe entering the world in the weakest, poorest place, among the most lowly. And Jesus’ life will unfold among the peasants, the tax collectors, the widows and sick, the hurting and sad.
As Jesus grows and teaches and embodies the coming reign – the kingdom of heaven, you know this, the “kingdom” God has in mind, coming in Jesus, is one of servanthood. Jesus does not come to rule over. Jesus says, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:26-27). The “reign” he has in mind is one of mercy. “Be merciful, just as God is merciful” Jesus says, in Luke 6:36; and the key action he has in mind, the essence of loving your neighbor, is to “show mercy,” as he shares the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.
We have so often gotten this all wrong. The world seems so often inclined to power, drawn to Kings who rule with authority and might, intimidating and oppressing. Jesus keeps showing us another way. Life is not found in mocking others, or putting others down, or establishing yourself in power. Life is meant to be about servanthood, helping others, doing for others.
I heard a recent interview with the world-famous Bono, leader of the hugely popular band, U2. This is what he said: any fame that anyone gains, any success we achieve, should be used as currency for making the world better. He stressed that adulation for him and his band had to be turned into dedication, to servanthood, to helping others, even working on the major problems of the world. And Bono and his band have certainly been leaders in fighting world hunger, AIDS, the climate crisis and so many other critical issues. We take note: the fame that anyone gains should be currency for making the world better. Sounds like an effort to follow Christ – who is a different kind of king.
Whenever the cross is carried into battle, whether during the Crusades, or into the Capitol on January 6, that is a wrong interpretation of what Jesus comes to inaugurate. Not kingly power, but mercy. Not regal authority, but love and service. Not forcing a way, but changing the world, through love, through peace. Christ’s “kingship” is a perfect reversal of Caesar’s: instead of domination, servanthood; instead of mockery, kindness; instead of cruelty, mercy. This is the way we are called to live.
Then, if we keep looking closely at this passage – where Jesus is mocked at King – we can even see on a deeper level the hidden but radiant portrait of Christ’s reign of mercy, of servanthood, of compassion. His opponents mean to mock him, but they declare the truth – he is the “Messiah,” and he is the King. Even when his tormentors do their worst, what does the Messiah and King of Mercy say: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” All through the gospel of Luke, this same Jesus has preached about, told stories, and showed what forgiveness looks like. And finally, when one of the thieves asks Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Jesus responds with the breathtaking words, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
If in Caesar’s kingdom the gates of imperial privilege swing shut, especially in the horrors of capital punishment on a cross, in Christ’s reign, under Christ the King, mocked or not, the gates of love and forgiveness and hope swing open! Here is a “king” who refuses to use his power to fend off his opponents, much less take vengeance on them — and instead does the opposite, calling on God to forgive them. Not a contemptuous tyrant, Jesus’ “kingdom” is a reign of servanthood and neighborhood, a community of love and mercy, open to all.
(see saltproject.org – reign of Christ Sunday)
There is something else – very important – to note in this passage too. This whole scene unfolds at “the place of the Skull.” Can you imagine a more godforsaken place, where people are crucified, where power seeks to rule with violence, where terror is prominent, and there is no hope. Yet even there, God is present and at work. God is active and making right – bringing forgiveness, goodness, and light - in all the places where God might seem most absent and forgotten. This is the ironic, revolutionary logic of the Gospels. In the very place that seems godforsaken — there, precisely there, God is present and active. Where God’s reign is mocked and Caesar’s reign seems triumphant — there, precisely there, God reigns.
You and I have seen this over and over – in the darkest moments of despair and hurt, in horrible times of grief and sadness, even this week in Charlottesville – another community rocked by senseless gun violence – there, precisely there, God reigns.
Christ is King! Not a King like Caesar – but a King like God – who loves all, is present with all, serves all, works through all things – even evil and death - and there is no where we can go to be separated from God’s love.
You know, we keep on amidst trying times – more shootings in college towns and down the street, more mess in politics, more concern about the climate, continuing wars, and hard times. Yet Christ – who reigns with mercy – is our hope, AND Christ the King also shows us how to live – with mercy and compassion, forgiveness and toward peace.
May it be so. Alleluia. Amen.
Prayer of Commitment: Dear Lord, we continue to live in interesting and challenging times, with worries and doubts, fears and confusion. Keep reminding us, by your Spirit, of your abiding promises all through Scripture, and especially about your promised reign, through Christ our Lord. Amen
Alex Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday worship on November 20, 2022. This is a rough manuscript.