Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 93 ; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
Today is the last Sunday after Pentecost. Believe it or not, next Sunday is the 1st Sunday of Advent, beginning the new church year.
Today is also the Feast of Christ the King, where we celebrate the lordship of Christ. It’s not a very old feast, but I think it’s an important one. Maybe one of the most important feasts of the year. Our Old Testament reading is from Daniel, an apocalyptic vision of the Ancient One taking his throne and being given dominion over Creation. The Psalm is a song of the kingship of God. The second reading is from the Revelation, with God claiming to be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end — a claim which is taken up by the Lamb at the end of the book. And the Gospel today has Jesus claiming his kingship before Pontius Pilate — a very dangerous thing to do in front of the representative of the Emperor.
So what do we do with this “king,” this man who claims to be the Son of God and ruler of all Creation? Do we really think about what it means to say that Christ in King; that Jesus is our Lord?
One problem we have is that saying “Jesus is Lord” runs up against the assumptions we have about the way God operates in this world. We like to say “God is in control.” And while true, it can be a dangerous way to talk, because it’s really easy to use it as an excuse to be passive. To not take action. To sit back and let events take their course. To not BE the People of God. When things get scary, or hard, we can just throw ”God is in control” at it and just…let it go. And when we do that — when we use “God is in control” as a reason to sit back and just let things happen, as an excuse to not get involved, we’re giving the lie to our claim that Jesus is Lord. Because we are God’s primary instrument for action in the world
You see, being the people of God, really living into the idea that Christ IS our King, doesn’t have anything to do with being passive, with just “getting out of the way.” It means actively working to bring this world as close to Christ’s kingdom as we can.
Matthew 25 gives us, I think, the best description of what it means, on a practical level, to claim Christ as our King. Beginning in the 31st verse:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”
Elsewhere, Jesus says,
“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does of the will of my Father in heaven.
We cannot sit back, saying “God is in control,” and let others suffer.
When we see injustice, we must speak out.
When we see the stranger, the people that are perhaps different, the people who are “not like us” are persecuted, or simply don’t feel safe, we must speak out.
When we see the hungry, we must do what we can to feed them. We must visit the sick and the imprisoned.
What we must never ever do is look at the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, the persecuted, and say to ourselves, “God will take care of them.” We must be the God’s hands to these people. God’s love and Christ’s kingship shines through our actions, not our platitudes.
Christ is King. Let us pray that we all have the courage to make this more than just a motto. Let us pray that we all have the courage to live it.
Becoming Dominican 