A Different Kind of King. A Different Kind of Kingdom

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Gainesville FL
The Chapel of the Incarnation, Gainesville FL
November 21, 2010

Year C: The Last Sunday after Pentecost - Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Canticle 4
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43

A Different Kind of King. A Different Kind of Kingdom

There’s been a lot of talk in the media lately about the initial public offering of stock in what’s being called “New GM.” – the General Motors that is emerging out of bankruptcy and leaving behind the broken and empty shell of “Old GM.” Apparently this has been expected to be the biggest initial public offering of stock in history – pretty amazing considering that not so long ago it looked like GM was going to sink under the weight of debt and poor leadership into oblivion.

Of course, we can still see “Old GM” in abandoned plants scattered around the country. We can still see “Old GM” in unemployment lines. And we can still see “Old GM” in tens of thousands of Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs and Saturns that are still out on the road.

Actually, Sue and I used to own a Saturn. Anyone else? It was nothing fancy but we liked it – that is, until it died suddenly one morning as Sue was driving to work on a busy elevated highway.

At first Saturn seemed kind of cool and cutting edge. GM claimed that with Saturn it was changing the way it made and sold cars. Do you remember Saturn’s advertising slogan?

“A different kind of car. A different kind of car company.”

I guess in the end Saturn turned out to be not different enough.

Here in church, today we have reached the last in the long line of Sundays after Pentecost. We’ve reached the last Sunday of the church year. We’re in white to celebrate Christ the King.

Thinking of Christ as king is a very old idea but celebrating Christ the King on the last Sunday before Advent is actually very new. In 1925 Pope Pius XI declared that the last Sunday in October would be set aside the celebration of Christ the King. And then in 1970 it was moved to the last Sunday of the church year – and many Anglican churches adopted the celebration.

So here we are. To be honest calling Christ the King can be problematic. History is filled with kings who were only concerned with their own power and prestige and wealth. The good kings are remembered so well because they were so few and far between.

Today, at least in Europe, kings live on as ceremonial figureheads and their families get a lot of tabloid attention. I bet you’ve all heard the Prince William is getting married next year.

I have nothing against Prince William, but Christ is a different kind of king. Christ has no palace and he has no jewels. Although he may wear crowns and elegant vestments in statues, in reality Christ is a different kind of king and he rules over a different kind of kingdom.

A different kind of king. A different kind of kingdom.

Today’s lessons highlight how Christ is a different kind of king. Look at what images the Church offers us on the last Sunday of the church year. Just as many of us are beginning to look ahead with a mixture of excitement and dread to the so-called holiday season, the Church sets aside this Sunday to celebrate Christ the King by presenting us with Jesus of Nazareth hanging in agony on the cross.

A different kind of king.

On this last Sunday of the year, the Church takes us back to the place that is called The Skull and makes us look up at Jesus, the crucified king hanging between two criminals, praying to the Father to forgive those who had nailed him there. There’s Jesus the crucified king watching as they cast lots to divide his clothing. There’s Jesus the crucified king being offered sour wine. There’s Jesus the crucified king hanging beneath the mocking inscription, “This is the king of the Jews.”

A different kind of king.

Of course, we know what happened next. Fast forward through the First Century. God raised Jesus on Easter Sunday. It didn’t take long for the first followers to understand that Jesus the crucified king is the Christ, God’s anointed one. The first followers realized that when they looked at Jesus they saw what God is really like.

The Good News began to spread throughout the Mediterranean world. In Jesus of Nazareth the God of the universe had become one of us – had lived, died and risen again. The stories were passed around, the bread was broken and the wine was poured out, over and over. The Body of Christ grew with each new convert. The Church grew with each new baptism.

Probably sometime near the end of the First Century a Christian – probably not Paul himself but someone writing under the name of Paul - sent a letter to the Colossians. And in that letter, the writer quoted from an extraordinarily grand hymn about Jesus that was probably known among the early Jesus followers - a hymn that we just heard read this morning:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.”

By the end of the First Century the followers of Jesus had come to understand that this rabbi from Galilee, this teacher and healer, this teller of parables, this crucified messiah, was the king.

A different kind of king.

Christ is a different kind of king who was born into a world of nobodies and he lives there still. Christ is a king who hung out with the sick and the outcasts and he hangs out with them still. Christ is a different kind of king who chose the unlikeliest of people to be his friends and disciples and he chooses them still.

A different kind of king. A different kind of kingdom.

Two weeks ago in the Beatitudes we heard Jesus’ clearest and most challenging description of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is a different kind of kingdom. It’s a different kind of kingdom where the poor and the hungry and the weeping are blessed. It’s a different kind of kingdom where we are called to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us.

It’s a different kind of kingdom where we are to turn our cheek when we are struck. It’s a different kind of kingdom where we are to give to everyone who begs of us. It’s a different kind of kingdom where if anyone takes away our goods, we are not to ask for them back.

It’s a different kind of kingdom where we are to do to others as we would have them do to us.

A different kind of king. A different kind of kingdom.

As we speak, out in the world there’s lots of hope and excitement as “New GM” is being born out of the broken pieces of “Old GM.” There’s lots of hope that this time GM really will produce a different kind of car; that this time GM really will be a different kind of car company.

We’ll see. But, here in church we can be sure that you and I were reborn in our baptism. We were reborn as followers of a different kind of king. We were reborn as residents of a different kind of kingdom.

Unfortunately, the sad truth is we often live as if we haven’t been reborn. The sad truth is that we live like everyone else, like the followers of the kings of this world. The sad truth is we live like we are residents of the kingdoms of this world.

Fortunately, the church gives us another chance. Another church year is about to start. Next Sunday it will be Advent – the holy season when we’ll be looking back to the birth of Jesus and looking ahead to the completion of the kingdom of God.

We have another chance to follow Christ the King. We have another chance to build the kingdom of God right here and now.

A different kind of king. A different kind of kingdom.

Amen.