Sunday of Christ the King

Let us pray:
Illumine our hearts with the pure light of Your divine knowledge. Open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Your gospel teachings. Implant in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments that we may enter into a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well-pleasing unto You. For You are the illumination of our souls and bodies. Amen.

This week is an interesting time in our Christian calendar year. Since Pentecost, we’ve been in this time we call “Ordinary Time,” which is the longest period of our liturgical year. We don’t say “Ordinary Time” because it’s some boring or mundane period, but because we count these Sundays in numerical order since Pentecost. And today is the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, the last Sunday before our Church turns over a new year, and we start Advent. We’re looking out over the horizon where, after we celebrate Thanksgiving, we begin to prepare for the birth of our Lord. This Sunday offers us a bit of a breather to reorient ourselves towards Christ in a world that feels so chaotic.

In today’s Gospel, we see an important moment in Christ’s passion. Pilate asks Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered him: "My kingdom is not from this world." Not that it isn't in this world, but that it isn't from this world and that’s an important distinction.

About 100 years ago, Pope Pius XI saw a world that was still in turmoil – WWI, the war to end all wars, had ended less than a decade before and Europe had a front seat world to humanity’s ability to destroy. And the world was changing – secularism and atheism were on the rise, replacing the Christian values that defined the West. People were searching for hope, looking for answers, and for someone to lead them. Mussolini declared himself Italy's savior. Hitler had just been released from prison for treason and was gaining popularity in Germany. The Bolsheviks were launching anti-religion campaigns under Stalin.

So, the world had just witnessed human suffering and death on a complete unimaginable scale even just a few decades before and were looking for a way to make sense and move forward. Pope Pius saw the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty facing people and did something amazing – he gave us Sunday of Christ the King - reminding Christians of a fundamental truth: there is only one true King.

This morning’s reading from Revelation tells us that Christ is "the ruler of the kings of the earth," the "Alpha and Omega." These aren’t just words from centuries ago, but they, like the rest of the Scriptures, speak to us today.

In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul reminds us that we are citizens of heaven, serving under Christ. Revelation affirms this by declaring that Christ has made us a kingdom. Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who’s Kingdom is not of this world. As Christians, we live in this world, but we are not of it, because our true citizenship, our first and true allegiance belongs to the Kingdom of Christ and to heaven itself.

Now, over the coming weeks and months as the new Church year starts, we’re going to see just how……unconventional Christ’s Kingship is. Think about it:

• A king born in a manger surrounded by animals and shepherds
• A king who eats with tax collectors
• A king who washes his followers' feet
• A king whose crown was made of thorns
• A king who conquers through sacrifice instead of with force

In John's Gospel, Pilate questions Jesus and His kingship through a lens of worldy power that he was use to. In response Jesus tells Him, "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

This really is a different kind of kingdom.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I found an article that quotes Percy Shelly’s sonnet Ozymandias. I’ll be honest, I haven’t given much thought to it since my junior year of undergrad when I was in an English poetry class. At the time, I had no idea that 20 years later I’d be standing in front a congregation talking about it, but I will tell you, I’m really glad I paid attention to that lecture.

So in this sonnet, Shelly follows a traveler in the desert who comes across the remains of this great statue . Only the legs are standing while the broken head is half buried in the sand. Near the feet, there’s an inscription that says,

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

The traveler notes, “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

This great and mighty king who once ruled a vast empire, is all but forgotten by time. Every king, no matter how powerful, dies. Every earthly kingdom, no matter how great or how mighty, will eventually crumble to dust.

But we as Christians serve a different kind of king. Revelation tells us, Jesus Christ is "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." His kingdom, as we say in the Creed each and every week, will have no end..

For us as members of Christ’s Kingdom, and serving Him as our King puts us in an…..interesting place. We're citizens of two kingdoms – our earthly nation, and Christ’s eternal kingdom. Most of us here are Americans, with a duty to our nation - Christ taught: "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." But our primary allegiance is to Christ's eternal kingdom. The story of Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, who faced lions and fire rather than worship Darius Nebuchadnezzar, the earthly kings of Babylon, is a great example of how we as Christians are to live.

So, as we prepare for the beginning of Advent, let’s remember that our King’s power isn't based on violence, force, or fear, but on love and truth. We have a King who didn't just give us laws and tell us how to live but one who showed us by becoming one of us, living among us, and giving Himself for us. Our King continues to reign, not on some far away throne, but as one who knows our human experience intimately. Our reading today from Revelation reminds us that He is the one "who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom."

Look in the pews around you - these are your fellow citizens in Christ's kingdom, your brothers and sisters. And outside of our parish, we’re going to encounter people who need to know about this different kind of King, this different kind of kingdom. We're called to be ambassadors, to be, as Jesus said, salt and light in our world.

Let’s remember that while earthly kingdoms rise and fall, while political seasons come and go, we serve an eternal King whose reign has no end, a King who chose to become one of us, who continues to advocate for us, and who promises to return. A King who the world needs.

Let us pray, one more time, the collect for today,
“Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

In the name of Christ our King, Amen.