Christ Episcopal Church
November 25, 2012
Christ the King
Normally, on Thanksgiving weekend, we celebrate the beginning of Advent. That seems fitting, as we move from Thanksgiving into preparation for the coming of the Christ Child. We have eaten the Thanksgiving feast, participated in whatever Thanksgiving rituals we might have, which in our family means watching the Arkansas Razorbacks get trounced by Louisiana State, and perhaps we have begun some Christmas shopping. While we do not actually celebrate Christmas here until Christmas Eve, after Thanksgiving, our thoughts turn to preparations for Christmas. This year, however, the calendar falls differently and on this Thanksgiving weekend we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, waiting until next weekend to begin Advent, even if we are going to make Advent Wreaths later this morning.
Not too long ago, one of my colleagues wondered out loud why so many Episcopal Churches are named "Christ Church" and so few, if any, are named "Jesus Church." Here in our own diocese, there are at least 6 churches named Christ Episcopal Church, but there are no churches named "Jesus Episcopal Church." Christ the King Sunday is our patronal feast day, the day we celebrate the person for whom we are named and think about what we are called to do and be as a church that carries that name. Names are important-we put a lot of time and effort into choosing names for our children, and I imagine back many decades ago a lot of thought was put into the name of this church, especially since our name was changed from the Parish of All Souls to Christ Church on Christmas Day in 1841.
The images that come to mind when I think of Christ are images of resurrection, triumph, and exaltation. I see images of the resurrected Christ, the wounds of crucifixion healed, ascended into heaven and with a place of honor at the right hand of God, as the Nicene Creed describes. A church named Christ Church seems destined for success, a place to escape the messiness of day to day life and focus on things spiritual.
On the other hand, images that come to mind when I think of Jesus are a bit more earthy: Jesus making mud out of dirt and spit to heal a blind man. Jesus touching a person with leprosy and making him well. Jesus healing the woman with the flow of blood, or Jesus confronting the establishment or capsizing the tables in the Temple. Jesus is always making trouble and standing with those on the margins of society. This Jesus is certainly not elegant or dignified and for his efforts, he was crucified.
While I think that Jesus would be most unhappy with my distinction between Jesus and Christ, the distinction does force me to think about what it means to have Christ the King Sunday as our patronal feast day. Christ the King sounds quite appropriate. Jesus the King sounds a little....off. The standard image of royalty is, by definition, quite regal....someone with grand clothing and people to serve them, great wealth and considerable power. Certainly that is what the fairy tales would have us believe and that image is also supported through out much of history. At first glance, our readings this morning don’t do a lot to contradict that idea, either. In the reading from 2 Samuel, we hear King David described as "the man whom God exalted, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the favorite of the Strong One of Israel." That sounds fairly exalted to me, especially give some of the very bad decisions David was known to have made. The reading from Revelation describes Jesus as the "faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." In the gospel, Jesus is asked by Pilate "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus does not deny that charge.
Interestingly, the gospel lesson for Christ the King this year is a part of the gospel reading for Good Friday. We mark this glorious feast day with the same reading that we mark the crucifixion of Jesus and here we find Jesus the King. Crucifixion is not a part of the typical image of successful royalty regardless of how many monarchs have met a violent end. In the fairy tales, if not history, monarchs who live with dominion and glory, and people, languages and nations serving them do not die a humiliating, painful, unfair and public death. And, at least in theory, when a monarch dies, there is a peaceful succession of power to the person next in line to inherit the throne. Jesus is obviously a different kind of king and his kingdom is not of this world, even though Jesus lived out that Kingdom here. Later in John’s gospel, when Jesus is crucified, Pilate has an inscription put on the cross that reads "Jesus of Nazareth. The King of the Jews." Jesus’ kingship was found, not in power or wealth, but in his death on the cross. Who is in line to inherit the throne? The writer of Revelation describes that succession of power by saying "To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory forever and ever."
Jesus’ death and resurrection made us to be a kingdom, the Kingdom of God, and to serve that Kingdom as Jesus served. We have only to look at the gospels to see how Jesus the Christ served, and to see what his kingdom looked like. Jesus’ kingdom was messy, not elegant, as he raised up the poor, healed the sick, and fed the hungry, and he worked to bring about a kingdom in which there is no hunger or sickness, and no one lives on the margins. We are the heirs of Jesus’ throne as his death and resurrection empowered us to do and be the very kingdom Jesus proclaimed.
We may be Christ Church, but we understand the exalted Christ to be the very same Jesus who confronts Pilate about the nature of kingship. We are called not only serve, but to remember and to follow the Jesus who confronted power when necessary, who brought healing and wholeness to the broken, who proclaimed a reign of peace and justice. The Kingship of Christ sought no power, wealth, or strength for itself, but spent its life giving power to the powerless, hope to those without hope, strength to the weak, and resources to the poor. Christ the King and the crucified Jesus are one and the same, and in that peculiar kingship we find our joy and our identity as Christ Church.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment