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St Andrew's Church, Taunton

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Sunday 25 November 2007

Christ the King

A sermon preached on Sunday 25 November 2007

by Katharine Smith, Reader at St. Andrew's Church

Each of us has our own Feast day, our birthday; the day when we celebrate being alive; or an anniversary, an engagement, a wedding;  occasions when we celebrate relationships.

Cards, flowers, gifts, perhaps a special meal or a ‘phone call  tell us that our friends are glad to know us and that we make a difference to their lives just by being who we are.

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King.  We celebrate Christ, risen, ascended and glorified.  We bring out our royal red vestments and altar frontal.

We sing hymns of praise and celebration:

Rejoice, the Lord is King;

Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour.

We use words like royalty, might, majesty, dominion and power and we give thanks to God for the difference Jesus, Christ the King, makes to our lives.

And then suddenly we’re hearing very different words, words that tell the story of crucifixion and death. words usually heard in Passiontide or on Good Friday.

The contrast between the splendour and majesty of Christ the King  and the agonised, dying body of Jesus of Nazareth is somehow all the more shocking and terrible when we hold them so closely to each other.

Let’s look at the two pictures in our minds:

Here are no fine robes                

but a naked and scarred body. 

There are no crown jewels

only vicious thorns. 

No rings of power,

just the nails which fix him to a wooden cross, no golden throne.  

There are no courtiers or servants around him –  just two criminals sharing his fate and an assorted crowd of soldiers and ghoulish spectators who taunt and mock him at this gruesome public execution.

And what’s truly awful about this mockery is that they taunt him with the truth. 

He is the Messiah of God, the chosen one;  he is the King of the Jews and, had he chosen to do so,  he could have saved himself from death. 

But he chose to be true to himself.  He chose to take the road that led to this nightmare of horror with words of truth being thrown at him in mockery and cruelty.

But one of the criminals, even in these hideous circumstances, catches some tiny glimpse of the majesty and authority of Jesus. 

Perhaps he heard what Jesus said earlier:  “Father, they don’t know what they’re doing, forgive them.” 

That criminal (terrorist?) knows he can’t now go back in time to put right the things he has done (and we’ve all been there)         or the harm he has caused.  It’s too late to change what’s past (and we’ve all been there too) and there’s no chance of a reprieve from the death penalty.

Could he be in a more desperate state?

But somehow he grasps at the tiny seed of hope which says that Jesus can do something for him.      He  utters words which perhaps echo in our hearts: “Jesus, when you are King, when you are enthroned in your kingdom please remember me”

And we hear another voice, the voice of authority coming from the defeat of the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise”.

After the voices of mockery and hate.  we hear the voice of faith and compassion and we know we are getting a glimpse of the sort of kingship that could transform our lives, that can meet our deepest inner needs: the needs we sometimes daren’t even face ourselves and which certainly aren’t met by the rulers of this world.

Here is a King who is prepared to suffer alongside us, who doesn’t hold himself aloof from ordinary folk.  Here is a King who experiences betrayal, savage injustice, brutal cruelty and utter humiliation and yet maintains his dignity and integrity.

This is a King who brings love, forgiveness and healing into the most terrible situations imaginable where there seems only to be despair and death.    

This is a King who, through his wisdom, love, compassion and mercy has the power to transform our lives.

This is a King who is also Emmanuel, God with us.  Next week we will begin again to tell the Advent story and the story of Jesus coming into the world as a baby.  The birth of Emmanuel, God with us.

We will again start looking forward to Jesus returning as Christ the King. 

As we journey through the year that follows, hearing again the stories of Jesus’ birth and life, his ministry and teaching, his death and resurrection we too will be travelling on our own journeys. 

We too will go through wilderness times of doubt and anxiety.  We may enter the Gethsamene of anguish and despair   We will have mountain top experiences  of excitement and good news.  We will plod along through the everyday life of ordinary times. 

And throughout the journey, alongside us through it all will be Christ the King who is also Jesus, our Emmanuel    God with us.

As our friend and brother he may not be able to save us from suffering but he can and does walk alongside us  with compassionate understanding so that we are never entirely alone.

Jesus is Christ the King, and we see in him our human selves living in this world and our spiritual selves, living in this world  but centred on the kingdom of God; the kingdom  where we are always remembered and loved.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

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