Christ the King Sunday
Today is “Christ the King” Sunday, or “Reign of Christ” Sunday. It marks the very end of the church calendar. It brings us to the ultimate pinnacle of history, which is the recognition of all of creation that Christ is the ruler of all. This Sunday points to the day when all things will be put under his kingship. God’s kingdom, which is here in part, but not yet fully here, will one that day grow to engulf all of creation. On that day all things will be as they should be.
Our reading from Revelation says that Jesus is “the ruler of the kings of the earth” and that when he comes “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”. Even his enemies, those who rejected him, will recognize him for who he is.
In our Gospel reading Jesus stands before one of those enemies. As a prisoner, standing before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, Jesus is asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” It is a small question. “Are you claiming some kind of leadership among these people?” “Are you a threat to King Herod?”…
If Pilate knew who stood in front of him, he would see how small that question was. … He is the king over all kings. Over Herod, yes. Over Roman governors, as well. Over the Emperor, and all governors and all emperors and all kings that have ever existed and ever will exist. He is the supreme ruler even over the powers of death, and Satan, and all darkness- who, even against their will must submit to him and obey him. And he is the king over all light, and life, and justice, and goodness.
Pilate’s question is a small one. The religious leaders who handed Jesus over had accused him of blasphemy and wanted him put to death- a sentence that in those particular circumstances required a higher authority above the Sanhedrin (the religious and political high court of the Jewish people). So, they brought Jesus to Pilate, but he didn’t want to be used as a prop in their religious power plays, so they changed the charge to a political crime so that Pilate would be more agreeable to a sentence of death. Jesus was causing rebellion against Rome. He forbids the payment of taxes to Rome. And he sets himself up as king in opposition to Caesar.
Pilate is only really interested if Jesus was going to disturb the status quo. Was Jesus going to make trouble for him by causing some kind of uprising? Was he going to force Pilate to release the violence of Rome on the people? … Pilate just wants to know how to maintain the status quo. Is Jesus going to cause trouble or not?
Standing before Pilate, who is asking if he is a king, Jesus answers that his kingdom is of a different kind. He says, “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” … His kingdom cannot be defeated with armies, or even by crucifying the King. In fact, even that seeming defeat will be transformed into the greatest victory. The crucifixion of their King will lead to the defeat of sin and death and his resurrection will open the door to eternal life with God. … The army of martyrs will become immortal as they pass through the gate of death, and their blood will be the seed for the church of the future. This is a different kind of kingdom. An undefeatable, everlasting kingdom. No power can put his kingdom at risk.
And what is a kingdom? A kingdom, as Dallas Willard explains, is the range of the king’s effective will. …What the king wants to happen is what happens. If the king commands that a castle should be built and the castle gets built, then the will of the king is effective among those people. … The kingdom of God is where what God wants to happen is what actually happens.
How do we enter the kingdom of God? When we talk about the kingdom of God we often talk as if it is where we go when we die. It includes that reality, but it’s much more than that. God’s kingdom is also here among us right now. … When Jesus began his preaching ministry he said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mk 1:15). He wasn’t saying they were all about to die, or that the world was about to come to an end. … What does he mean that the kingdom of God has come near? … In the Lord’s prayer we pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Where God’s will is done, the kingdom has come. When God’s will becomes a reality in our lives, we have entered into His Kingdom. When we accept Him as our King- when we accept his loving rule in our lives- when we receive him as the ultimate Authority in our lives- then, we become citizens of His Kingdom.
To live in the Kingdom of God means to align your will with God’s will. Of course, that means knowing God’s will. That requires a relationship with God developed in prayer, Scripture study, and fellowship with other followers of Jesus. It means receiving the sacraments, and attempting to follow God’s teaching. …
But knowing God’s will is just the beginning. Entering the kingdom also means choosing God’s will. So, I start to see a difference between what God wants and what I want. It’s like there’s another kingdom pushing against God’s kingdom. It’s my kingdom. I want my will to be done. In my mind, in my desires, I have to make choices. To be a citizen of God’s kingdom I have to start to choose what God wants. I start to fight against that other kingdom that lives inside of me.
I do battle through my choices. When someone cuts me off in traffic, I have a choice to make about which kingdom I want to be a citizen of. … When someone attacks me with gossip, I have a choice to make about which kingdom I want to be a citizen of. … Am I going to choose to live as a citizen of the kingdom of God, with Christ as my King? Will I allow Christ to be my king? Will I allow him to guide me so that my choices place me in His kingdom?
We get a glimpse of that kingdom when we read through the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). Jesus is describing a world where the kingdom has come. That is a world where Christ is recognized as King. It is a world where our anger is not allowed to cause destruction. It is a world where lust is not allowed to destroy families, and young girls are not left feeling used. It is a world where promises are kept. It is a world without revenge because people have learned to love their enemies. It is a world where the poor are helped- not so the rich can show off, but out of genuine love and compassion. It is a world where we have learned to trust God and our anxieties and fears disappear. It is a world where we are not constantly judging others. It is a world where we treat others as we would like to be treated. … That is a glimpse of a world where Christ is king. If we can learn to live according to the will of God, we enter the Kingdom.
This is one of the reasons I love learning about the saints. They learn to consistently choose what God wants, and that gives us a glimpse of life in the Kingdom. … Sometimes there is a sense of a ‘return to Eden’. St. Seraphim of Sarov lived from 1754-1833 in Russia. At one point in his life, once per week, Seraphim would go to the monastery for prayer and pick up food for the week because he stayed in a hermitage in the forest. A biographer writes,
“His return was eagerly awaited by the inhabitants of the forest. Birds, animals, and reptiles came up to his door and the father fed them. One who witnessed the scene, The Deacon Alexander, asked Father Seraphim one day how he managed to feed so many creatures. ‘I’ve no idea’, he replied, ‘but God knows. As for me, I've always enough in my [bag]’. The same Deacon Alexander saw a huge bear lying quietly at Father Seraphim's feet.”[1]
A nun also experienced this.
“One day Matrona, one of the nuns, saw him sitting on a tree trunk in the company of a bear. Terrified, she let out a scream. The Staretz [a spiritual elder] turned round and, seeing her, patted the animal and sent him away. Then he invited Matrona to come and sit beside him. ‘But’, Matrona relates, ‘hardly had we sat down when the animal returned from the wood and came and lay at the Staretz’ feet. I was terrified as before, but when I saw Father Seraphim, quite unconcerned, treating the bear like a lamb, stroking him and giving him some bread, I calmed down.”[2]
There are stories about him levitating when in prayer, or walking. The same biographer writes
“Moreover the elements were submissive to him; water sprouted up from the ground at his prayer, fire burst spontaneously into flame, animals in the forest obeyed his orders, and his very body lost its gravity. It seemed as though time and space no longer had any power over him; It was he who dominated them”.[3]Eventually crowds would flock to see him. God’s love poured out of him, and there are many stories about healings, miraculous knowledge, and other miraculous events surrounding him. … His life was a life where he became a citizen of the kingdom of God. …
We don’t need to have miraculous events happen around us as evidence that we are in the kingdom. I think those are glimpses. They are signs. They point to how beautiful that kingdom is, and maybe they point to how we will experience it some day. … I think the saints can give us a wonderful example of choosing the Kingdom. We are invited to choose the Kingdom- to align our will with God’s will- to choose Christ as our King. AMEN
[1] ‘St.
Seraphim of Sarov’ by Valentine Zander, P18,
[2] ‘St.
Seraphim of Sarov’ by Valentine Zander, p.61
[3] ‘St.
Seraphim of Sarov’ by Valentine Zander, p.80.
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