Christ the King Sunday
November 23, 2014
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46
Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is also the last Sunday of the Christian
year. You see, we don’t keep time the
same way society does. Our year doesn’t
begin January 1st, it begins with the first Sunday of Advent, which
is next Sunday. Our timekeeping begins
with the anticipation of Christ’s birth at Christmas and it ends with this
Sunday, Christ the King Sunday, when we celebrate Christ’s reign as King. However, to those of us who live in the 21st
century, what exactly does that mean? We
live in a time when there are only 26 ruling kings and queens in the entire
world, and of those, only 11 actually rule as the sovereign monarch of their
country.[1] I don’t think we understand the term “King”
or “Queen” the way it used to be understood.
For most of us, it’s just an abstract idea, or it refers to someone
who’s simply a figurehead, like Queen Elizabeth II of England. It used to be that when a new monarch
inherited the throne, the question on the people’s minds was “What kind of King
or Queen will this person be?” Will they
be lenient and merciful? Or will they be
harsh and prone to killing people who disobey them? Will the land prosper under their rule or
will they be greedy so that their people starve? What will life under their rule be like? Today’s Scripture readings give us a few
clues to what life is like under Christ’s rule.
First, in the Ezekiel passage, God says no fewer than 15
times some variation of “I will take
care of my sheep”: I will search for my flock and seek them out, I will
rescue them, I will gather and lead them, I will bring them back, I will feed
them, I will bind up the wounded, I will strengthen, and I will tend my sheep. And that’s just in 11 verses. God will rescue his flock from all the places
where they have scattered to. God will
search for each sheep who has gone missing and seek them out, like the story
Jesus tells of the shepherd who left the 99 sheep in the farmyard to go find
the one lost sheep.[2] And God promises to feed them in good
pastures, not on junk food and leftovers in the dumpster, but on highlands and
in riverbeds, and on green pastures. God
wants the best for us. Not leftover, not
discards, not things that taste good but have no substance and are empty
calories, but a good, rich, healthy diet of things that are good for the body
and the soul. God will not only go
looking for you when you’re lost, but also bandage those who are hurt, heal
those who are sick, and strengthen the weak.
God takes care of you, in all these ways and more, if you will accept
his help. Because, you know, it’s kind
of hard for a doctor to take care of you if you never go see her, or for a
shepherd to take care of a sheep from a distance. God can only do so much when you hold him at
arm’s length. He’s not a dictator, he
does not force his will on you. You have
to accept it.
One of the ways God takes care of you is through each of
us here. We help God in his work of
tending and feeding and searching and healing.
We do this through inviting folks to church, through Streets of Hope and
Thanksgiving baskets, through sometimes simply sitting and listening to folks, through
caring for one another. When you turn
down someone’s offer to help, you deny them an opportunity to serve
Christ. Let me repeat that. When you turn down someone’s offer to help,
you deny them an opportunity to serve Christ.
You don’t let them help God in his work of tending the sheep. It may be a matter of pride to you to say,
no, I don’t need help, I can do it myself how I’ve always done it. But, your refusal means that someone doesn’t
get serve. It is more blessed to give
than to receive, but for someone to give, someone else has to receive. And each one of us is in need of receiving
some kind of care. Whether a phone call
or a visit, or an arm to help stand up and walk, this Christian journey doesn’t
get done alone; we help each other along the way. We serve each other, and in so doing, we
serve Christ. That’s what kind of King
Christ is, the kind that wants his people to care for and love one another,
just as he loves us, without reservation.
One of the other features of Christ’s kingship that comes
out through our readings this morning is about Christ being judge. In
Ezekiel, God says he will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. In our Matthew reading, Jesus says he will
judge between the sheep and the goats.
Historically, a King has also been a judge, and sat in judgment on cases
that were brought before him. For
example, there’s the story in 1 Kings of the first case that King Solomon
judged.[3] Two women came before him, each one had had a
baby about the same time and they shared a house. Well, one woman woke up one morning and her
baby had died, so she switched babies with the living baby and the other woman
wanted her baby back. King Solomon said
that the living baby was to be cut in half, with half given to each woman. The woman whose baby had died was ok with
that decision, but the woman whose baby was alive cried out, and said no, give
the baby to the first woman. King
Solomon then knew that the living baby did indeed belong to the second woman
and had the baby given back to her mother.
Judges hear all kinds of crazy cases, don’t they?
So,
what does it mean that God is also a King who judges? For one, it means that we have a King who is
just, who does what is right, who judges the nations with equity. God makes sure that there will be justice
done. This is both good and terrifying. We want justice! We also don’t want to be punished according
to our sins; we want mercy, too. We tend
to want those who wrong us to be punished, and when it’s us who are wrong, we’d
rather have a “get out of jail free” card.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says, “For we know
the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will
judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.”[4] “Vengeance is mine” is
something God says in the Old Testament.
Paul interprets it in Romans to mean: “Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No,
“if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them
something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their
heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.”[5] The work of judging is not something we do with God, but leave that work to him.
Finally,
let’s talk about a King’s power. Historically, a King was all powerful, an
absolute monarch. His people could put
no limits on his power. This type of
ruling only went into decline in the 18th century after the French
Revolution, when democracy became more popular.
However, we’re talking about our Bible, which was written about 2,000
years ago when democracy wasn’t really an option, unless you happened to live
in Greece. A king’s power 2,000 years
ago was absolute. And what Paul says in
Ephesians about God’s power is that it is “far above every
ruler and authority and power and dominion, any power that might be named, not
only now but in the future.”[6] Whatever is the most
absolute, strongest power you can imagine, and then go greater than that. That’s how powerful God is. He can do far beyond what we can imagine or
dream up. And part of Paul’s prayer for
the Ephesians is that they might know “the overwhelming greatness of God’s
power that is working among us believers,” or in another translation, “the
immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.”[7] “The immeasurable greatness
of his power for us who believe.” This
is how great a King we serve. Without
measure. And that power is for us who
believe. That’s enough for me to stand
up and say, “Lord, I believe”; how about you?
Immeasurable greatness, beyond what we can imagine, and it’s for
us. I was reminded this past week that
the most important thing we can do is pray.
God, in his power, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine,
and the best way to tap into that power is through prayer.[8] It’s to approach the throne
of grace humbly, not proud, but trusting that he will receive us, that he will
hear our prayers and our cries, that he will grant our request to do a new
thing in this place. God can do it. There is no doubt about that. He can make a way in the wilderness, in the
desert, he can make a way where there seems to be no way. He can bring it about. He is that powerful. If we would only let him use his power, he
can do all kinds of things for those who believe.
In
the game of chess, if you lose your king, it’s checkmate – game over. The pawns, the rooks, the knights, even the bishops
and the queen, they are all expendable.
But in chess you must protect your king.
We don’t protect God in quite the same way, it’s not up to us to keep
him safe. But it is up to us to make
sure we don’t lose him, to make sure we keep his kingship in our lives
intact. If Christ is King and reigns in
your heart today, are you helping him in the work of caring for his flock? Are you leaving the judgment to him? And are you laying claim to his unimaginable
power, not power to do whatever we want, but power to bring about Christ’s
kingdom on earth, to catch glimpses of the kingdom, here in White Marsh [Middle
River]? Keep God King in your life. Join him in humble service. And see what happens.
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