SERMON FOR CHRIST THE KING – FR KEITH
Sunday 20th November 2022
Today’s feast of ‘Christ the King’ marks the end of the Churches’ year. Next Sunday is ‘New Year’s Day’ for Christians! Advent begins and we start to celebrate again the key events in Jesus’ life and the promise of salvation that comes to us through Him. But what exactly does thinking of Christ as our ‘King’ mean in the modern world?
This year we have been more conscious than ever, of the role of monarchy. The late Queens’ Platinum Jubilee celebrations, her sad death, and the accession of our new King, Charles, have given us the opportunity to reflect on the value of the institution of monarchy in the modern age.
In the past, monarchs were cast in the role of warriors. They led their armies into battle, conquering peoples and taking away their freedoms and identities. When Jesus came to earth, this is the kind of King many people in Israel had been expecting. But, as far back as the days of the prophet Jeremiah, when the Jewish people were in exile due to sinfulness and the failings of their leaders (the bad shepherds), God was already preparing Israel for a different kind of king. Sadly, this message seems not to have been understood.
In our first reading this morning Jeremiah prophesied, ‘The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness”.’
Jesus came to be this righteous king, and set an example, for all monarchs and leaders to follow. Queen Elizabeth’s life as our monarch of 70 years, was certainly patterned on Jesus’ kingship. It showed in her devotion to duty to the nation and to the service of others. Her strong Christian faith was the bedrock on which her reign was built, and hearing her openly acknowledge that, continues to be a great inspiration and a powerful witness to our faith. But it is a way of life that we, too, are called to, by God.
Working for justice and righteousness, for a world where all God’s people can live in safety should be what we all strive to do. Looking to Christ as our ‘King’, in this sense, is very relevant today. Jesus’ teaching is concerned with love, even of enemies, turning the other cheek to those who harm us, and praying for those who persecute us. Jesus rejects the behaviour of
‘traditional’ kings who often did harm to others.
In today’s Gospel we see the ultimate manifestation of the type of Kingship that Jesus embodies. Laying down His life for our salvation. In this He was truly being the ‘Servant King’. He had the power, as Son of God, to save Himself by coming down from the cross. But, even as the leaders scoffed at Him, he did not waiver in doing what He knew was required, for our sakes.
Jesus was not ‘The King of the Jews’ that His people had expected. This title, put on His cross, was there to mock Him and label Him as a fraud. But, Jesus’ words to the penitent criminal, being crucified alongside Him, show that Jesus’ Kingdom goes far beyond any limits that we humans would put on Him. The reply to the plea ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’ is ‘today you will be with me in paradise’. Jesus’ Kingdom is on an altogether different scale to any earthly kingdom. His is a universal Kingdom, not just a national one.
As festive fervour begins to ramp up, it is good to take this opportunity to reflect on Jesus as our King, to remind ourselves of the whole point of celebrating Christmas. God sent His Son to be born in poverty in Bethlehem to turn worldly values and priorities upside down. As Mary says in the ‘Magnificat’, in the coming of Jesus, God has ‘shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted the humble and meek.’ And to this day, Jesus still challenges those who are powerful, in worldly terms, to think less of themselves and more of others, especially the weak and marginalised. Jesus came to establish a Kingdom where righteousness, selfless love, compassion and forgiveness rule the day, and he calls everyone – rich and poor, to enter it on equal terms.
We, who have answered Jesus’ call should, then, look to ways of telling people the real meaning behind all of the sparkle and joy of Christmas. It is a time of year to enjoy, certainly, but also a time of year to get people thinking about how, with Jesus, we can all change the world for good. How can we harness the ‘good-will’ of the festive season to make life better for more and more people in the coming New Year?
Let’s all try to make sure that Christmas is not just a brief escape from the harsh realities of life, but a transformative moment that will last. For far too many the ‘season to be jolly’ is all too fleeting (if it exists for them at all), we must pray and act to change that in 2023 by spending more time being like our Servant King. Amen.
