Colossians 1:11-20
Introduction
Did you know there are 53 Sundays this year? And I am pretty sure that extra Sunday is today because today is Christ the King Sunday which usually falls on Thanksgiving Sunday. And because it does, Christ the King Sunday typically gets pushed aside for the more ubiquitous focus. But because of how the calendar flows, this year we got to have our Thanksgiving, and now we get our Christ the King Sunday, which is the last Sunday before Advent and the start of a new liturgical year—which makes today a kind of New Year’s Eve.
Christ the King Sunday and its significant symbolic placement was chosen by Pope Paul the Sixth to emphasize the game-changing dimension of what it means to call Jesus Christ King.
In Jesus’ own lifetime, and in the generations immediately following, to call Jesus Lord was to say that the Roman emperor was not the greatest authority over human lives; making Christ’s followers counter-cultural, ruled by the Holy Spirit and not by the ways of the world.
The whole liturgical year—from the first Sunday of Advent, through Epiphany, through Lent and the Easter Season, Pentecost, and Ordinary time—all of it builds to Christ the King Sunday and its affirmation, which is: Christ is King, not Caesar; Christ is King, not our elected officials; Christ is King, not anything in this world. And what this affirmation reminds us is that in a world that offers countless options for who or what we will allow to rule over us—followers of Christ must be deeply grounded in who their King is.
Move 1
Over the next few weeks, we will call Christ the “prince of peace”, the one who will become King. We will call him “mighty God”, “Lord of Lords”. We will even call him our “newborn king”.
Skip ahead to Lent and we call Christ our “Savior”, our “Messiah”. At Jesus’ crucifixion, over his head was put a sign, “This is the King of the Jews” a message meant to be sarcastic. It ridiculed Jesus. But, not only that, the sign, “This is the King of the Jews,” also showed why they crucified him. Crucifixion was done to political criminals who challenged the rule of Caesar. Jesus died as a political enemy of the state.
And just like the seasons of the church year, our text from Paul’s letter to the Colossians gives us numerous images of Christ as King to ponder as well. There are metaphors and images to help us capture the essence of the one we call King. Paul tells how Jesus helps us understand God—that though we can’t see God, Jesus “is the image of the unseen God.” Jesus is the human face of God, as some have put it. God is not human, not male or female. The fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus, says the letter to the Colossians.
Colossians also affirms that Jesus was the first born of all creation—which is a really important affirmation because the early Church came to understand the resurrection as a recounting of the first creation in Genesis, and Christ’s resurrection started a new creation. Colossians also says, that in Christ God was reconciling the world to God’s self. This gets into the meaning of the cross. We won’t spend time on blood atonement theology today, but the fact remains, Jesus did atone for our sins. Christ, our King, died so we would live.
All of this is to say, as Christians we affirm God was acting in Jesus’ life and death to draw the world into deeper unity with God. Therefore, we pledge our allegiance to Christ as King for all Christ did, all Christ still does, and all Christ makes possible. And that is who we call King.
Move 2
So with Christ the King Sunday marking the culmination of our liturgical year. With this end, we begin a New Year, and enter a time when we anticipate and celebrate the Advent of Christ our King who rules the nations. This New Year, however, begins, ironically, at the same a time of the year where what seems to actually rule the season are the whims of retailers.
Now I know I said a couple weeks ago I am ok with our Christmas preparations starting early—even before Thanksgiving. With the stipulation, however, that we are actually preparing for the parts of Christmas having to do with Christ. If Christmas music on November 1st helps, then by all means. But what can’t be part of preparing Him room is not actually preparing Him room.
Christians who proclaim Christ the King can’t get to Christmas until we go through Advent. And Advent ends weeks from now, not on November 1st.
Christians who proclaim Christ the King can’t get to Epiphany without the twelve days of Christmas.
Christians who proclaim Christ the King can’t get to Easter without forty wilderness wandering days of Lent.
Season after season builds upon the previous, each piece preparing us, refining us, guiding us, inspiring us to live counter cultural and proclaim Christ as our King.
But this isn’t always so easy, is it? The conflict over who is lord is acted out in our lives today even though Rome is long gone. The world still wants us to worship all that is “Not-God”, and the culture rewards us when we do. And if you don’t believe me—then just ask those who got a great deal on a new television, on Thanksgiving Day. These world king options typically don’t make us suffer and wait—at least not more than two days, right? But this conflict between the competing Kingdoms—kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God— becomes clearly delineated in the life of Christ.
Jesus tells us and shows us that the worldly materials people elevate as gods—temporal power, wealth, fame, stuff, a particular lifestyle—are counter to the Kingdom of God and the supreme values of love and generosity.
Jesus tells us the kings of this world never last. But with him as our King, life is way different. Yes, maybe harder, maybe even with its share of persecutions, but it will ultimately lead us to a Kingdom that lasts for eternity.
Move 3
Now admittedly, by the time I got deep into this sermon, I started to worry it would go the route of so many sermons around this time of year—the kind that preach, “Don’t get sucked into the cultural demands and expectations of the holiday season—shopping, baking, card sending—because Jesus is the reason for the season.” As a preacher you can only go to that well so many times. And while such a message is true, what each of us truly needs, in every season of the year, is not “pie in the sky ‘peace on earth, goodwill to all’”. Rather what is really needed is as Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, “Pie in the here and now.” “Pie in the sky ‘peace on earth, goodwill to all’” is great—we like knowing it will be…one day. But right now, in the here and now, we want and need strength for the journey.
Right now, in the here and now, we want and need assurances there is a way when the way seems uncertain. Right now, in the here and now, we want and need reminders that unconditional love really is unconditional. Right now, in the here and now, we want and need a vision that compassion still exists, that kindness still matters, that “peace on earth, goodwill to all” is actually possible.
“Pie in the sky ‘peace on earth, goodwill to all’” is great. But “pie in the here and now” is what we need to rule in our hearts; because it is what will enable us to reject the kings of this world and proclaim Christ as King of our lives.
So maybe the question rightly asked is not “Who is your King?”— a question that ultimately just makes us feel bad for having shopped on Friday or Thursday. But maybe the question ought to be, “If Christ is your King, what does that mean?”
Move 4
Preaching to his beloved Ebenezer Baptist congregation, just two months before his assassination, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told his congregation how he would like to one day be remembered. And in doing so, he addressed this question, saying, “If Christ is King, what does that mean? If Christ is ruler over our lives, then my Nobel Peace Prize is less important than my trying to feed the hungry. If Christ is King, then my invitations to the White House are less important than that I visited those in prison. If Christ is King, then my being Time magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’ is less important than that I tried to love extravagantly, dangerously, with all my being.”
Conclusion
If Christ is King, what does that mean?
If Christ is King, I have to believe, while the world might operate in the same way, we won’t live in the world in the same way— we will live counter cultural. If Christ is King, that means we are not ruled by worldly materials or worldly ways—rather we are ruled by the ways of heaven—love, compassion, justice, hope, peace, joy. If Christ is King, that means we say to the powers of this world—“You might rule in this world, but there is One who still rules over all.”
If Christ is King, that means, though our world offers countless “Not God” options to rule our lives, we still give our faith and loyalty to the One who rules all of time…not just what rules for a season. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, November 26, 2023
God of Eternity, on this Christ the King Sunday, we stand with the courage of those who insisted, even in perilous times, that not even the most powerful rulers of this earth hold our eternal destiny in their hands. We are secure in Christ, whose reign is just, whose power is endless, and whose love is unfathomable. And because we have such security, we join the chorus of saints who continue to declare that Christ is our King.
We make this declaration, but we want to do more than just acknowledge such with our lips. We want to acknowledge such with our words, our actions, and our whole lives.
But to do so, to make such a reality, we are in need of your help.
We need your help because it is hard to live in this world while being called to a way of life that is counter to where we are.
It is counter in this world to be compassionate, to look out for others and not just the self.
It is counter to be daring with our generosity, unconditional in acceptance, and to love recklessly.
But that is how your son, Christ our King, lived and taught. And because he did, we want to as well.
So it is our prayer that you would help us become how he lived and taught. Help us become those who act counter to this world and who live as followers of our Savior and King.
So by your blessing, may you grant that we may become living examples of Christ’s ways in this world and show the people of the earth, now divided by the power of sin, how we can be united in the glorious and gentle rule of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
May this be so, because life is so very precious, and we should dare not waste even a moment of it living counter to how you would have us live.
We ask you to hear now the prayers of our hearts, as we offer them in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ our King, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”