33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Christ the King Sunday often means celebrating Jesus as the king. We often sing He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords celebrating all that Christ is. Yet Marian just read one of the darkest moments in Jesus’ life. When he is hanging from the cross between two criminals, about to die and certainly not being kingly. The second reading from Colossians also starts out dark, reminding us of the power we have in faith during our difficult times. Listen now for God’s word to you….
11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Thursday is the day I write my sermon. I work from home weaving together the sermon for Sunday. This past Wednesday night I got food poisoning, and I was wiped out all that night and the rest of Thursday. Chills and shakes invaded my body. Finally purging the poison, I started feeling a little better on Friday. I don’t like being sick, especially when I cannot even think or read while I am resting in bed. (I could listen to the hearings.) I consider being sick as a dark time in life. When it is hard to see past immediate needs and even harder to be hopeful. Of course, dark times can also be emotional, spiritual and relational. Our journey through grief and long battles with illness create even deeper darkness. We have no shortages of dark times.
Paul in his letter to the Colossians speaks of “enduring everything” and being “rescued from the power of darkness.” When a darkness takes hold of our life, we need a ray of hope to cling to, a faith that pulls us through. But it is also good to know that faith does not keep us immune from darkness. The psalms are filled with laments of darkness, Job is plagued with darkness, heck we could each write our own story of darkness. But as people of faith we aim to balance the dark times in our lives with the hope we have in Jesus. But we do not do that ourselves, God does that for us. In verse 13, “(God) has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
God rescues us from darkness and transfers us to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. What might that look like? Pastor Neta Pringle writes, “Some years ago a young couple adopted children, two and five years old, from Russia. As the congregation watched them come into our midst, I was continually struck by just how greatly the children’s lives had changed. It was not simply a matter of moving from institutional living to a home and family with people they did not know, or of English words crooned to them at night instead of Russian. Everything was different: the foods, the smells, the sounds.
Paul says that becoming a Christian is like that. It is not simply a matter of fitting Jesus into our present way of thinking. We are transferred, moved, deported from one kingdom to another” (Feasting on the Word, C4, 328). When I am in a dark place, I would love to be deported from it. I would love to have Jesus come to me and take me to another place, to his kingdom.
If I am honest when I hear kingdom I think of fairytales and princes, not so much my faith and God. But Luke thinks in terms of kings and kingdoms. Luke is referred to as the “Kingly Gospel” (A Hastings, Prophets and Witnesses, 152).
During the birth narrative Jesus inherits the throne of David (1:32),
at the Triumphal Entry Luke is the only one to declare:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” (19:38),
at the Last Supper Jesus offers a kingdom to us and declares we will eat at table in in his kingdom (22:28-30).
So it makes sense that on this Christ the King Sunday as we conclude our year long study of Luke that we have this passage, this dark passage, of kingship and crucifixion.
The place called “The Skull” sure sounds like a dark place to me.
A place where the leaders, the soldiers and a criminal all challenge his kingship or his chosen status and ask him to save himself. They are scoffing him. Jesus is even hanging under the inscription, ‘This is the King of the Jews.”
Here Christ’s kingship, his reign, is established in a radical way: through the crucifixion.
Not by threat or military dominion like earthly kingdoms, but rather through our powerful Savior giving his life willingly. Jesus is redefining kingship. He is “making peace through the blood of the cross” as we heard in Colossians (1:20). Luke is the only gospel that does not place a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head. Why? Because it is not Christ’s suffering that that makes him a King. Rather his crucifixion redefines his kingdom, his reign.
From his dark place, one criminal sees this kingdom. Hanging from his cross, in Jesus’ presence one criminal can find hope. Seeing Jesus’ kingdom when he is about to die, he says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Oh, that we could have such vision in our dark places.
And what does Jesus reply? “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
After this life Jesus will be in his kingdom and that kingdom is Paradise. What a perfect vision for when we are in the dark places.
But Jesus’ kingdom is not only after this life ends.
No Jesus’ kingdom is now. We are part of Jesus’ kingdom when our friends stand up at declare Jesus their Lord and Savior like we heard this morning from our new members, Holly, Jennifer, Shirley, Charlie and Brett.
We are part of Jesus kingdom when we care for the least of these.
We are part of Jesus’ kingdom when we worship and glorify God.
To help us understand Jesus’ kingdom in the now, Paul shares his thoughts on Jesus in what is thought to be a hymn or poem. Fighting against the Gnostics who did not believe that Jesus was fully God, but rather knowledge was the path to enlightenment, Paul bears witness to Jesus in his fullness. One scholar refers to this Colossian passage as “Jesus WOW!”
Now we are getting to celebratory King of Kings!
Jesus is the image of the invisible God- that is a Wow! Even more powerful when we realize that the word image here means manifestation!
Jesus is the manifestation of God!
Jesus is the King of Kings as the manifestation, the reality of God here on earth.
Then we see his kingship through time and beyond time in that all things were created in him, as the firstborn of all creation!
Next, we get this wonderful image of Jesus as the one who holds things together-
creation,
heaven and earth
and the one who holds us together when we are in our dark places.
Think about that, Jesus holding you together when it feels like your world is falling apart. For in him the fullness of God is pleased to dwell. Jesus is all of God, but in our moments of darkness, Jesus brings the tenderness, compassion and courage of God to us in a personal way. Jesus holds us and nurtures us, encouraging us towards the light, his light.
Finally, Jesus reconciles heaven and earth through his death and resurrection.
The king who died on the cross is the same king who holds you now.
The king who freely relinquishes his power on the cross is the one who gives you the power to endure your darkness.
The king granting you redemption and the forgiveness of sins.
From the cross Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
In his dying he saved us from our sin, in his resurrection we have hope and light in our dark places.
Follow Jesus as the King of kings while clinging to the same Jesus who holds you in your dark places. Amen.
