Sermon Manuscript November 20, Our Saviour Croton-on-Hudson. Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditation upon all of our hearts be

Transcription

1 Sermon Manuscript November 20, Our Saviour Croton-on-Hudson Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditation upon all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing to you, my God, my Rock and my Redeemer, AMEN! I ve often thought that the American obsession with royalty, especially the British monarchy, is a strange fetish and incongruous with what America has claimed to stand for these past 240 years since we declared our independence from the former absolute monarchy across the Atlantic. We fought a bloody war to rid ourselves of overreaching auhority and taxation without representation and instead established a republic with well-organized checks and balances so that power could not be concentrated in the hands of a single individual. Our founding document, the Constitution of the United States, acknowledges this ideal in its first three words, We the People, a powerful statement about who has the authority in this nation, and one we exercise in some form each and every year. Even our most monarch-like figure in government, the President, can only serve 8 years in office, and only if the people of the nation agree to a renewal after the first 4. We don t have lavish coronations when people are elected to public office because over 200 years ago America said we were done with kings and queens, because they never quite measure up to our expectations. Nonetheless there is still something that draws us to royalty, rulers and their regalia. Few celebrities are more compelling to us than the members of the English royal family, kings and queens, princes and princesses, their romances and their dalliances, the storybook nature of their lifestyles and an occasional fall from grace. Even though the crown is largely a symbolic monarchy, we still rejoice when a royal wedding takes over the world stage, and when a new heir to the throne is born to a royal couple. One of the most popular series on the video streaming service, Netfix, is The Crown, a story of Queen Elizabeth in her earliest days as a

2 young queen in her 20s. The budget for this series is rumored to have been $100 MM, which shows us that media investors are banking on the popularity of kings and queens to attract subscription and advertising dollars to Netflix. Still, I m puzzled by the obsession we seem to have with people who really have no particular reason for us to be interested in them, other than their dynastic bloodlines. Even among people who consider themselves free of such antiquated governing structures, there is something about us that craves the majesty of royalty, the promise of great leadership, the pomp and grandeur of a prosperous monarchy, and the future of the realm placed in the hands of one very powerful decision-maker. Sadly, history has shown us that none of these kings or queens ever live up to the expectations placed upon them by their subjects, and our seemingly primal preoccupation with kings is never, never sated. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the American republic, had his own questions about fallibility of kingly rule. He once pointed out that: Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. I think history has answered that question over and over again and still we crave. Perhaps it is because the king we really want, the one we really crave, is not like the endless string of failed monarchs, but is a different kind of king. On a day of the church calendar set aside as Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday, one might expect the church to proclaim this through images of Jesus conquering the world in glory, gathering his mighty armies to break down the corrupt powers that dominate the world, and tear down the walls of exclusion that deny people access to the resources of the dominant. We might expect to celebrate a coronation, a grand, glamorous and gaudy spectacle to show the world how powerful our King Jesus really is. Instead the images we look at are not majestic and powerful. They are not obviously victorious or salutary. They do not shout God

3 Save the King to Us. Instead, in our first reading from Jeremiah, we are not promised a king who will be a mighty warrior, whose power is exercised and spread through conquest and empire building, but a humble shepherd-king, someone from the lowliest of occupations, a different kind of king whose ruling principles are wisdom, justice and righteousness. Who wouldn t want that kind of king? Jeremiah writes and speaks these words to the people during a time of great disillusionment. Their kings have let them down, and the conquering people have now become a conquered people, an exiled people, a people without a home, a people who have been abandoned. The people counted on their kings to provide protection and stability to the nation, but instead these kings were corruptible, and acted selfishly, rashly, and weak in the face of other nations. King after king fell away from the God who had called the nation of Israel into being. What started out with such promise during the times of King David and King Solomon had fallen apart. Jeremiah reminds the people of God s promises to restore them with a new kind of king, one that will be faithful to God and to them, and one that will be a uniter of people, healing the divisions that had come to exist. But even with those images set by the promise of Jeremiah, I m not sure we are ready for the kind of king we look at in Luke s gospel. Instead of more promises of the restoration of Jerusalem and a new king that will rule, we are taken outside of the city to the hill on which Jesus is not sitting on a throne, but is nailed to the cross. This is no spot for someone who we refer to as our King. What kind of king is this, we ask? Jesus is a different kind of king ruling from a different kind of throne. On Christ the King Sunday, we are reminded that the Jesus movement did not result in a new world order, but ended in failure with the execution of its leader as an insurrectionist. Most scholars suggest Jesus active ministry on earth lasted only one year, before the entrenched powers of the time decapitated the movement and scattered

4 its members abroad. His executioners mocked his kingship by placing a crown of thorns on his head, and above that, affixing a sign with the derisive title King of the Jews. He was dismissed as a common criminal, crucified with two run of the mill thieves on either side of him. He was left on that hill to die embarrassed, tortured, miserable, defeated. And his movement was left on that hill to die with him. It s hard to see the how this is an image of kingship. And that is just the point that God always has the last word, even the last word over death. Jesus himself was divine, fully God, even through his death on the cross. His claim that his kingdom was from another world caused one of the thieves to ridicule Jesus for his failure to use his divinity to save himself. Instead of a kingly show of supernatural powers, Jesus instead used this unlikely throne to proclaim forgiveness to all who participated in his execution, and to promise eternal life to the thief who trusted in Christ s kingly power. A king who would not use his power to save himself, but to save others, must be a different kind of King. I think it s important for us to take notice that King Jesus did not rule from a throne set apart from the trials of the world, not even set apart from his enemies. What makes Jesus kingdom so powerful is that his most important work his crucifixion was done without his friends present, but in the hands and face of his enemies offering all of them forgiveness, offering all of them peace, offering them a share of paradise, even while he was forfeiting the last gasps of his life. As we live under the reign of Christ, we do so in the midst of those who may be hostile to our King Jesus. Martin Luther wrote: The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. So, If Jesus is a different kind of king, he must have a different kind of reign. If we are to claim Jesus as our king, then we must live a different kind of life. As disciples, we live under the

5 reign of Jesus without holding on to any earthly power to overcome the dominant forces of the world, the forces of death. Instead our power comes from the Jesus whose throne is the cross. Our only power is to offer forgiveness, even to our enemies, and to offer promise, and not judgment to those who are guilty. While it is true that King Jesus has risen victorious over death, it is not a crown we proclaim, but a cross, not a sign of power, but an instrument of death. That power is what Jesus died for, and what we now live for, the power of a different kind of king. In the reading today from Colossians, we are reminded that this unlikely king and his unlikely power is the life force that allows us to endure and persevere through the times when our earthly kings, rulers and leaders inevitably let us down. Whether you are hopeful or reeling from the results of the Presidential election, whether you become pleasantly surprised by the coming Trump presidency or ultimately disillusioned by a flawed leader, know that there is one king who has been there from the beginning of time and will never let us down a different kind of king that sits in first place over every corner of creation. One that rules with wisdom, justice and righteousness. A different kind of king, indeed. And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guide our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen!