Christ’s Kingdom
November 24, 2024
“I don’t know who first uttered these words, but they set forth a terribly important bit of wisdom: If there is nothing above us we will be consumed by all that is around us.
Our nation’s Founding Fathers recognized its truth when they wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Our human dignity, rights and freedoms come to us not from our President, our Congress or our Supreme Court, they come to us from God our Creator. No king, ruler, or president confers them upon us. Perhaps that concept does not seem to be very bold to us today, but it was the foundation of our Declaration of Independence, the beginning of what back then was known as the American Experiment. Experiment? Yes! What our Founding Fathers asserted back then was RADICAL because the people in the rest of our world were governed back then by kings, dictators and totalitarians who ruled as if people were their possessions, as if their subjects belonged to them and not to God.” (Sermons.com, Father John A. Dane)
Today is Christ the King Sunday, when we are reminded that God is ruler of our lives, that Christ is our spiritual King. “This is actually a pretty new festival in the church year. Its roots go back only to the late 1800’s, when the world’s great empires–British, American, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese–were all at war or about to go to war somewhere.
The man who was the pope of the Roman Catholic Church at the time wrote a letter in which he dedicated the world to Christ the King. In the letter, he reminded the empires that God is present with the whole human race, even with those who do not know God.
After World War I, another pope designated the last Sunday in October as Christ the King Sunday, a day to remember that Christ received power and honor from God and was thereby made ruler of the universe. Christ the King Sunday was moved to the last Sunday of the church year” which is today. Next week, Advent starts the church year. (Sermons.com, David W. Miller, Reign of Truth).
In our gospel lesson the Roman Governor Pilate is questioning Jesus about his kingship. During the trial and crucifixion Jesus’ kingship is displayed and the faithlessness of those who reject him made evident. Remember this happens during Passover which is the moment when Israel should stop and remember God’s kingship and God’s rule over other powers. Listen to God’s word on this Christ the King Sunday as it comes to us from John 18:33-40
I want to explore three areas today: Kingship, Truth and Thankfulness. First Kingship.
Perhaps you have heard this story. It’s a great story: Many years ago, when Hitler’s forces occupied Denmark, the order came that all Jews in Denmark were to identify themselves by wearing armbands with yellow stars of David. The Danes had seen the extermination of Jews in other countries and guessed that this was the first step in that process in their country. The King did not defy the orders. He had every Jew wear the star and he himself wore the Star of David. He told his people that he expected every loyal Dane to do the same. The King said, “We are all Danes. One Danish person is the same as the next.” He wore his yellow star when going into Copenhagen every day to encourage his people. The King of Denmark identified with his people, even to the point of putting his own life on the line.
It’s a wonderful story with a powerful point. The only problem is it isn’t true. It’s an urban legend. It’s been around for a long time and told thousands of times over. Yet what an image for a king, identifying with his people.
“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked. “Is that your idea,” Jesus said to him, “or did others talk to you about me?” That’s how these legends get started. Other people talking about what other people have said. Jesus was essentially crucified on gossip and rumor. An urban legend had developed around his ministry that he was going to lead a revolt against Rome.
In his conversation with Pilate, Jesus finally does imply that he is a king. “My kingdom,” he explains, “is not of this world.” Not of this world. That’s what it takes. That’s what it takes to find a King who identifies with his people. A King of heaven, a King of kings from some place other than this world” (Sermons.com). Christ is that King! Christ is our King!
Now let’s turn to Truth. Jesus came to testify to the truth and Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?’ We know that Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 14:6). But more than that, Jesus is the King of our lives. Jesus invites us to follow and has the majesty and strength to lead us into any future.
“In difficult times, loyalty to Christ as King requires an unusual courage. In Nazi Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller stand out as church leaders and pastors who insisted that Christ is King and not Adolph Hitler. Pastor Niemoller understood that truth transcends Hitler’s gifted political rhetoric and it also transcends his own particular condition. Reflecting on the war years in Germany, Martin Niemoller confessed his own hesitancy to be obedient to the Truth and the King of Kings by saying:
‘First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the Poles, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Pole.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.’ —Martin Niemöller.
(So I ask you, when they come for the immigrants, will you speak out? When they come for the Department of Education will you speak out? How will you show that you honor Christ’s truth and Christ as your King?) Christ is King who witnesses to the way of Truth. And the truth which we know in Jesus Christ is one that transcends political expediency and our own particular existential crises” (Sermons.com, James R. Gorman, Christ Is King).
Christ is our King. Christ calls us to bear witness to the truth and is the Truth. And as we head into Thanksgiving this week, I want us to consider our thankfulness. Are we thankful because we have things or are we thankful to God. As we gather around the table, ask yourself, “Are we thankful for family, friends and faith, or are we thankful to our God who has blessed us with them?” This holiday is not about turkey, it is about our Thankfulness to God. “Our forefathers were not so much thankful for something as they were thankful in something. In bounty or in want they were thankful. In feast or in famine they were thankful. In joy or in misery they were thankful. There is a big difference between being thankful for things and being thankful in all things.
Our closing hymn this morning was carefully selected. It was written in 1607 by a German by the name of Martin Reinkardht. The name of the hymn is “Now Thank We All Our God.” In the year that Rinkardht wrote that hymn it is important to note that over 6000 persons in his German village, including his wife and his children, died of pestilence. Yet, in the midst of that catastrophic social and personal loss, Reinkardht set down to pen this great hymn of praise: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.’ The Christian faith affirms that in the midst of everything–in death, in loss, in hardship–we are to turn to God in praise” (Sermons.com, Brett Blair).
Christ is our King; Christ is our Truth and Christ is the one to whom we give thanks and praise!
