Year A Proper 29, the Feast of Christ the King

23 Nov. 2008

Today is the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday after Pentecost, and the last Sunday of the church year—and it is truly an honor and privilege to be here with you all today!! This is a relatively new feast as those things go, instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. It emphasizes the idea that the kingdom of Christ embraces all of mankind, that Christ is King of all. It was instituted to serve as a reminder that individuals as well as rulers and princes are to give honor and obedience to Jesus Christ, the King of kings.

This day and age in our country we don’t have a good grasp of what kingship is, of what it means to be ruled over by a sovereign. We live in a democracy, of the people, by the people and for the people. And even in England with Queen Elizabeth, she is more of a figurehead. A king, or queen, is a head of state, the ruler of a kingdom or territory. And like anything else, there are good and bad rulers. They can be very benevolent or quite dictatorial or even evil. In any case, most of us really don’t know what it means to live under the rule of a king, do we? But perhaps we should. . . .

The Bible talks a lot about kings, and even more about the Kingdom of God. In fact, God created the world to be in perfect relationship to him, the sovereign Lord, the King. The first kingdom was in Eden, where Adam and Eve were God’s people, living under God’s rule.

The problem came when Adam and Eve wanted to be kings too. Reminds me of Campus Crusade’s “Four Spiritual Laws” which asks, who is sitting on the throne in your life? Who is king? Adam and Eve wanted to be kings, and things went downhill from there. But from earliest times of salvation history, as early as Abraham, God spoke about kings. In establishing his covenant with Abraham, God said, “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.” (Gen 17:6).

Years and generations passed, and the Hebrews ended up in Egypt, subject to a harsh king. And God delivered them, and led them and guided them. He was their king, their ruler and their guide. He led their armies and provided for their needs—water and manna. But they rebelled . . . and wanted a king like the other nations. They wanted a king to govern them, to go before them and fight their battles. The Sovereign Lord God, King of the Universe was not enough. NO, they wanted to be like the nations. And after dire warnings about the results, God gave them kings. The first king, Saul, was not a particularly good king, and the second was King David, the shepherd King. David, a man after God’s own heart, made his share of mistakes, especially within his family. David’s son Solomon was the next king, and while he is remembered for his wisdom, he was an ambitious and even harsh ruler, requiring many of his subjects to work for his building programs. And so it went, good kings and bad kings. Even the best fell far short of the glory of God’s Kingdom. But in a sense the good kings, the good kingdoms reveal and point towards God’s kingdom. The good kings are types or foreshadows of God’s kingship.

In Salvation History, the prophets next speak to God’s kingdom. The Nation of Israel is divided, and the Israelites are exiled, and returned, and still God’s promised kingdom doesn’t materialize. But the prophets begin to speak of a new nation, a kingdom perhaps, where the hearts of the people are changed, and a new spirit is given, so that the law is fulfilled with and in them. There will be a new David, a Son of the King who will reign as God’s shepherd king over his people. Ezekiel speaks to this in our Old Testament reading, the shepherd king. But centuries pass before this king and kingdom finally materialize—in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the true Adam, the one without sin. He is the promised seed of Abraham and the true and faithful Israel. And he is the Son of David-evidenced in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke. As the new king of David’s line, Jesus embodies and represents the people. And the kingdom is where Jesus now reigns, in the hearts of his people, and he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. This is where we go by faith in his gospel. We turn to Jesus, who is seated at God’s right hand.

The location of the kingdom is in Jesus himself-and Jesus is the messiah king, the promised one who will reign and rule forever. And we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus declared that “the kingdom of God is at hand;” and yet, when we look around us at a troubled and broken world, we certainly don’t see the kingdom of God. When and where is this promised kingdom?

Jesus did in fact inaugurate the kingdom. Through his death and resurrection he accomplished the perfect work for our salvation and redemption. The gospel which is embodied in Christ gives us the promised glory—already. But as Christians all that we have and all that we are we possess by faith, faith in Jesus and his promises. We live in an in-between time. All the work has been done, it has been accomplished, but we live between faith and sight, between the already and the not yet.

And we believe that Christ will come again. Don’t we say that every Sunday? Isn’t that the hope of Advent? Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. “For the believer, the second coming of Christ will be the manifestation of his glory and of the glory of his kingdom, a glory which we already grasp by faith. For the unbeliever the second coming will be a manifestation of judgment;”[1] as today’s gospel tells us. “Jesus said, "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.”[2] He will come as king and judge, and, as Paul noted in our Epistle, “Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. . . . When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.”[3] And he shall reign forever and ever.

When he established the feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius said this:

If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.[35] If all these truths are presented to the faithful for their consideration, they will prove a powerful incentive to perfection. It is Our fervent desire, Venerable Brethren, that those who are without the fold may seek after and accept the sweet yoke of Christ, and that we, who by the mercy of God are of the household of the faith, may bear that yoke, not as a burden but with joy, with love, with devotion; that having lived our lives in accordance with the laws of God's kingdom, we may receive full measure of good fruit, and counted by Christ good and faithful servants, we may be rendered partakers of eternal bliss and glory with him in his heavenly kingdom.[4]

Amen.
[1] Goldsworthy, Graeme. The Gospel and Kingdom p. 120.
[2] Matthew 25:31ff
[3] 1 Cor. 15:24ff
[4] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas_en.html