“This is the King of the Jews” -11/20/22
Sermon 2022.11.20: "This is the King of the Jews"
During Wednesday midday Bible study, we have lots of fun. Maybe I should say that I have fun, and everybody else can speak for themselves. We discuss the passage for the upcoming Sunday. At the end of this week's study, someone said, "I can't wait to see what you're going to say about this passage on Sunday." I said, "I can't wait either."
People in Bible study were confused by the fact that this Sunday was the "Reign of Christ" Sunday, and the Gospel lesson depicts Jesus on the cross. How can Jesus be king and be crucified? I wrote in my doctoral dissertation almost forty years ago, "Jesus' only crown is of thorns, and only throne is a cross" (Michael Willett, Wisdom Christology in the Fourth Gospel). I was speaking about the Gospel of John, but I think that it is true of Luke as well. "Jesus' only crown is of thorns, and only throne is a cross." But how is that so?
Why was this passage chosen for Reign of Christ Sunday? I have a five-word answer: Jesus rules from the cross. Jesus rules from the cross. Say it after me. Jesus rules from the cross.
Let me give you just a little background about Reign of Christ Sunday. It is recent as far as religious holidays go; Catholics have been celebrating it since 1925, when fascism was rising in Europe. In 1969, it was moved to the Sunday before Advent. Increasingly, non-Catholic Christians began to celebrate the Reign of Christ, so that it appears in many liturgical calendars.
Christ rules. But what does that mean? I have one word for you: PROVIDENCE, providence. And I'm not talking about the city just north of here. No, I'm talking about small “p" providence. And here are two paintings I did on my computer of this concept of providence.
The city Providence was named by Roger Williams. He wrote: "…having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems [SAY-chums, that is, chiefs] and natives round about us, and having, in a sense of God’s merciful providence unto me in my distress, called the place PROVIDENCE, I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience." (https://www.nps.gov/rowi/learn/historyculture/foundingprovidence.htm) Let me read that to you again. "…having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems [SAY-chums, that is chiefs] and natives round about us, and having, in a sense of God’s merciful providence unto me in my distress, called the place PROVIDENCE, I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience." He put in all caps the word “providence.” It obviously meant a lot to him. Williams had left Massachusetts, essentially run out of there, and he made peace with the indigenous folk; thus, he had a sense of "God's merciful providence" in his sufferings. Williams modified "providence" with "merciful." Providence means that God rules, not as a dictator, but as one who guides--in love--toward the divine end, which is also love.
My late professor, the Rev Dr. E. Frank Tupper, wrote a 466-page book on providence, and he writes that God is "engaging transformation" and the God is "the power of the future who participates in every present" (A Scandalous Providence, p. 30). Now that's deep. But that's how Frank was, frankly speaking. "Engaging transformation." In all situations, God is calling us to transformation, calling us to be more aware, more loving, more guided by the image of God's Son, Jesus Christ. "The power of the future who participates in every present." All the time, God is loving us, spurring us on to greater grace, greater praise, greater compassion for all God's creatures, even ourselves. In this interim, in this transition, in this time in which we at present are preparing for the future, we acknowledge the rule of Christ, we acknowledge God's providence, which is not just in Rhode Island, but God rules all over the world, all over the universe. Christ is king. Christ rules in God's place, in God's stead. “No need to worry. No need to cry. God's going to bless you by and by," so goes an old Gospel song. And God is going to bless you because you will know for sure that “God has the whole world in God's hands. God's got you and me, brother; in God's hands. God's got you and me, sister, in God's hands. God’s got the whole world in God’s hands.”
I was texting yesterday with Rev. Dr. Evan Howard, pastor of First Baptist Church, North Kingstown, about Reign of Christ Sunday. I texted him, “Jesus reigns from the cross! Providence, man, providence.” And he texted, "See, we've already converted you into an honorary Rhode Islander. Providence is everywhere in this beautiful little state! It has been so in my 34-year journey here. I pray that you will have the same experience." I said, “I’m sure I will. I have!”
But what about this text in Luke that says that Jesus was king of the Jews? Someone in Bible study said, "Is Jesus not the king of all people, not just king of the Jews? And the Jews rejected Jesus." Mmm. We're getting into some difficult wading into some deep, murky waters here. Someone in Bible study asked, "Will the Jews be saved?" That question is a little far afield from the Gospel text. But what is Luke saying here?
This title “king of the Jews” first appears in Luke in the first verse of this chapter, Luke 23:1-3: "Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor and saying that he is himself is the Messiah, a king. [My parenthetical remark: That’s a lie.] Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "You say so." Then Pilate said he was innocent. The chief priests and the crowds said that he stirred up the people in Galilee, and Pilate sent off to Herod, who eventually sent him back to Pilate, who ordered him executed. Notice that Messiah and king are used synonymously here. The chief priests think of "Messiah" in terms of King David, who liberated the Jews from the Philistines through violence. He took up the sword to free the Jews. It seems that most but not all Jews were looking for someone in David's mold, someone who would liberate them from Rome violently. Thus, the Messiah-king would be a man of violence. Jesus did not fit that mold. Jesus was non-violent. Sometimes folks have argued that the action in the Temple was violent because according to John, Jesus made a whip of cords, but that is hardly violent and does not quite compare to modern armaments.
Jesus was a different kind of deliverer. He taught things like turn the other cheek and give your wealth to the poor. As biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan said, Rome taught victory and peace, but Jesus taught justice and peace. And these two collided at Passover. Jesus acted in the temple to drive out the merchants, probably to symbolize the destruction of the temple, which no longer symbolized God’s justice and peace. That put him on Rome’s radar and the chief priests’ radar too. And these two groups conspired to do away with Jesus--the Jewish leaders because Jesus threatened their power in the temple, and Rome because he might start something that would lead to armed revolt. Rome killed Jesus on a political charge, that he was a revolutionary, and on that point, Rome was right. But he was a non-violent revolutionary.
So when the Romans placed the inscription "This is the king of the Jews" on the cross, they were right and wrong. In Old Testament theology, God is King. God is King of the Jews, indeed, of the whole world. But as the Hebrew prophets make clear, most Jews did not follow God as king in that they did not take care of the lost, the least, and the left out. Some Jews did. And some followed Jesus. The vast majority, though, did not know about Jesus. The Jews, then, did not kill Jesus. The Romans did, in cooperation with the Jewish hierarchy. Gentiles killed Jesus.
Jesus, however, did not remain killed. He arose and ascended, according to Luke. He died, he was buried, he rose again and appeared to people, he ascended, and he will return. So when Luke has the inscription here: "This is the king of the Jews," he is being ironic. Jesus is not the king of the Jews because most Jews in his day did not follow him or even know about him. But yes, he is king of the Jews because Jesus is king of all humanity, indeed, king of the cosmos.
And what does that mean to you and me as we go about our days? There's a hymn in our hymnal, "Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. / Because he lives, all fear is gone. / Because I know who holds the future." Yes, God holds the future, God in Christ. Thank God. Providence, friends, providence, it's not just a city 30 minutes away by car. It is God's loving care for creation, for you and for me and for our enemies, for all creation. So we can be imitators of Christ, to use Paul's term (1 Cor 11:1). We can be followers of this one who told us to love God and love our neighbor, especially those hurting by the side of the road. Our task in this transition--our transitional task--is to recommit ourselves to the church's mission of faith, hope, and love, so that we can be ready, not just for a new pastor, but a world that is crying out for Christians to put up or shut up, that is, put up faithful, hopeful, loving actions, or shut up talking about faith, hope, and love. Put up or shut up—faith, hope, love.
In addition to faith, hope, and love, the crucified king offers us forgiveness, Paradise, community. But not through human power, not through human hierarchies, not through scoffing and standing by, but through sacrificial love, through taking up the cross daily and following Jesus DAILY. Everyday. “Day by day. Oh Lord, three things I pray: see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, following thee more nearly. Day by day by day by day.” Denying self, bearing the cross day by day by day.
On this Reign of Christ Sunday, on this last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Sunday before Advent, we celebrate Christ's rule as king, but his is not wielding power over us like an earthly king; rather Christ rules with us, especially as we suffer, as we experience our own crucifixions. Jesus’ power is not power-over but power-with. Someone once said that the most important word in the English language is "with." Christ rules with us as king in our suffering, in our letting go.
In a recent church council meeting, someone read a poem about fall and the leaves, and I had my computer, so I found a similar poem by Lucille Clifton, who is perhaps my favorite poet. This poem is widely available on the web. It is entitled, "the lesson of the falling leaves."
the leaves believe
such letting go is love
such love is faith
such faith is grace
such grace is god
i agree with the leaves
--
A church council member said, "Wow! I didn't know there was such significance to falling leaves." There is, but only if we are willing to let go.
In letting go, in surrendering, that is how we get the victory. In a few minutes, we will sing “Victory in Jesus.” I want you to be aware of the imagery. It is vivid at points, but, if possible, get below the imagery to what the hymn is trying to communicate, which is what Paul says, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
And all God's people said, "Amen."