Sermon: Nov 19, 2022
Reading: Christ the King Luke 23: 33-43
Today is celebrated as Christ the King Sunday, but our gospel reading presents a difficult image of our King with Jesus’ crucifixion. But then again, maybe the image of the crucifixion is exactly where we should be looking for our sovereign King.
The cross is a thing meant for humiliation and shame and is the last place you would think to look for a king. But then a lowly manger is also the last place we would think to look for the Son of God to come into the world. Jesus’ entire life has been a contradiction to what the world expected. Jesus didn’t run around putting on some extravagant show trying to seek his own honor. The only crown he ever wore was one of thorns which was mockingly placed upon his head by Roman soldiers. He had no fancy robes of linen or silk. There was nothing regal about him according to worldly standards. Everything he owned he either wore or carried with him. The group that followed him was from the lowest classes of society. He attracted Samaritans, lepers, demoniacs, tax collectors, fishermen, women of ill repute, the poor, and those who were marginalized. Jesus humbly welcomed all people by offering love while guiding them to a relationship with God.
This is our King. A King who rules over all creation and has absolute authority over our lives. A king that refused to give in to self-serving worldly temptations and chose to obediently follow God by offering love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
The crucifixion scene described by Luke in today’s gospel is exactly where we should look for our King. Because within this story, Jesus demonstrates God’s offer of love and salvation for all. It is offered to those who carried out the crucifixion, to those who stood by and watched, and to those who mocked and tempted Jesus to use his messianic power to save himself.
Jesus ignores the taunts and the temptation to grasp at the worldly understanding of power, and by doing so, he reveals God’s redeeming love. Like our King, we also are to resist worldly things that tempt to draw us away from having Christ reign supreme in our lives. We are to oppose the divisive influences of our world that taunt and call us to give our allegiance to them rather than following the will of God’s love. We are to follow our King by seeking and serving Christ in all people, treating them with love, dignity, and respect.
This is our King, and he is no ordinary King. He rules the world in righteousness and judges all people as equal and deserving of his love. God has put all things under the subjection of his Christ so that God may be all and in all. Glory to Christ the King, who through sacrifice, humility, and love has shown us the way to God and how to live into his kingdom. This is what our King offers to us and all humanity. And it is Jesus’ example of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness we are to live by as we claim Christ as our King.
