Yes to the King

Notes for a sermon preached (without notes) on November 25, 2012  at the Family Service of St. David’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC

Proper 29: Daniel 7:9-10; 13-14, Revelation 1:4-8, and John 18:33-37

What type of stories begins with the words “Once upon a time?”  [Fairy Tales]

And who are some of the main types of characters in fairy tales? [witches, dragons, princesses ....]

I was thinking of princes, princesses, kings and queens! So are they all just fairy tale figures?[no]

Well no, kings and queens, at least not for me. After all I come from a country called the United Kingdom, and I am a proud “subject” of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

And it seems that a king is not just fairy tale figures for the church either, as today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King.

Now some people have a problem with this particular festival and in some church calendars it gets renamed – for example as the “Reign of Christ” - to avoid the use of the word King. There those who find the metaphor of Christ the King inappropriate for churches in the United States of America as the USA is a republic with an elected head of state and was founded in a rebellion against a king. Others have a general problem with what they feel ‘king’ stands for. Historically kings could be tyrants and oppressive; they lived in huge palaces while many of their people lived in poverty, and they used force to defend and expand their kingdoms.

But while there are good reasons to have a problem with the words and the concept of Lord and King, I think one reason for the problem is a misunderstanding of what the terms Lord, King, and Kingdom meant for Christ and mean for us as Christians. I also think it’s partially based on an unwillingness to accept any really absolute authority over us, anything that might impact our individual rights and freedoms.

So how should we understand the idea of Christ the King? In most gospels that word king does not occur until it is used by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, when he questions Jesus after his arrest. Pilate’s questions show that even in Jesus’ day, the nature of his kingship was misunderstood.  Are you the King of the Jews, Pilate asks? At that time there was no such king; Rome had not allowed King Herod’s successors to bear that title. So what Pilate really wants to know is whether Jesus is claiming this political title in opposition to Rome, as a national liberator, and would be worldly ruler.

When Jesus replies we learn that it his kingdom is “not from this world.” Nor will it any way be initiated or defended by force: “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.” In Greek the “followers” are actually quite literally ‘armed attendants’ – it’s the same word used for the temple police: The ones who had just arrested Jesus the night before. So Jesus is not only making clear that his kingdom is different, his followers are too. He neither wants, nor needs an army. Then finally when Pilate again asks him directly: ‘So you are a king?’ We learn one more important aspect about Jesus’ kingship: ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Jesus came not to rule, but to witness to the truth of God’s love. Those who accept this truth are obedient to Jesus Christ as a king, a king of truth.  

I really want to emphasize that we have a choice: we choose whether we want to belong to the truth. We choose to believe and in doing so we choose to accept an absolute higher authority, one we “swear allegiance” to at Baptism, when we become citizens of the kingdom, and every Sunday in the Creed when we reaffirm this choice. The image of a King, albeit one without the usual trappings, is still a good one because Christ is not like a President we elect and potentially change every four years, the choice we make is for life and beyond. The image of King is therefore a reminder that we have accepted a higher authority and that we have agreed to put our King’s values, the truth Christ came into the world to testify to, over those of this world, even over our country, our party, and our individual goals. That’s not easy as all of us, myself included, are much more used to the reverse order, to one in which we put ourselves first. 

So let us say yes to Christ the King, to a King who, while not a fairy tale figure, is not of this world, who is not a tyrant, and whose kingdom does not rely on force. Christ as King stands for the truths of love, justice, mutual service, and forgiveness. And our King, Christ, invites us, to become citizens of his kingdom, and to witness to and live out these same truths.

Amen