The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
November 24, 2019
Year C, Proper 29:
The Last Sunday after Pentecost – Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Canticle 16
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43
A Palace for Christ the King
One
of my most favorite days of the church year is Palm Sunday, especially our
10:00am service.
In
my early days as your rector, I tried to impose order on our Palm Sunday
proceedings but I quickly realized that this was not really possible and, not
only that, but our confusion and disorientation is actually a big part of what
that most unusual day is all about.
After
all, that day is so mixed-up that it even has two names: the
Sunday of the Passion - Palm Sunday.
So,
if you’ve been here you know we start outside.
Some
years, people are fairly orderly, sticking to the paved parts of the churchyard,
and other times people are wandering around all over the place. While still
outside, we tell the story of Jesus entering his capital city in triumph as people
lay palms and their cloaks along the route.
And
then, carrying palms, we have our own little parade, with people not always
certain what’s happening, with latecomers wondering what they’ve gotten
themselves into, with passersby looking on in confusion and maybe even mockery.
But,
somehow, we get where we need to go, singing “Ride On, King Jesus” over and
over until we get inside the church and we switch to the more solemn, more
regal hymn, “All Glory Laud and Honor.”
When
we finally get everybody settled here in what’s usually a pretty crowded
church, it feels like we’ve gathered for a big party – for a coronation – but
then the mood switches quickly as we remember the end of Jesus’ earthly life,
when we retell the sad story of betrayal and cowardice, suffering and death,
the sad story of the cross.
For
the huge crowds of people gathered in Jerusalem on that Passover weekend two
thousand years ago, it seemed like
the reign of King Jesus had lasted only for a few hours.
For
the palm-waving people who had welcomed him into Jerusalem so expectantly, and
most especially for the disciples who had left behind their old lives to follow
Jesus, the crucifixion must have been a heartbreaking disappointment.
But, you know, the
truth is that most people could never and would never see Jesus as a king. How
could this teacher and healer from Galilee with no crown and no palace and not
even that many followers, how could he possibly be king?
So,
for the chief priests and the Romans and for most of the crowd, the quick
demise of Jesus – and the mocking inscription placed above him on the cross –
seemed totally appropriate.
In
the eyes of the world, this was no king.
And,
yet, to everyone’s surprise, mockery, cruelty, and death were not the end of
the story.
And,
the reign of Jesus, the most unusual king, continues to this very day.
And
this very day happens to be the last Sunday of the church year, the day when
the Church invites us to reflect on Christ the King, on Jesus the most unusual
king.
Most
of our church calendar is quite ancient, but, maybe surprisingly, not today.
The
Feast of Christ the King began in the Roman Catholic Church in 1925, just about
a hundred years ago, and then the feast was adopted by other churches,
including ours.
The
Feast of Christ the King began because the Church was alarmed that people – self-proclaimed
Christian people - were giving their allegiance to other kings – to
certain political leaders and also to ideologies like nationalism, fascism,
communism, and so on.
It
would be nice to say that things have changed over the past century but we know
that’s not true.
All
we have to do is turn on the news and we can see Christians giving their
allegiance to other kings.
All
we have to do is look into our hearts and see that we give our
allegiance to other kings.
Jesus
is the most unusual king, and just like people two thousand years ago, we don’t
know what to make of a king with no palace, a king whose only crown is made of
thorns, a king who asks nothing for himself but instead calls on us to love the
hard to love and to give away what we have to people who can never pay us back.
It’s
all just as mixed-up and confusing as it was two thousand years ago.
And,
just like the first followers of Jesus the most unusual king, we abandon Jesus.
We fall away, and
choose to live just like everybody else.
But
not all of us.
And,
not all the time.
For
example, earlier this month Pope Francis dedicated a new homeless shelter
located just a few yards from St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
That
may seem nice and no big deal, but this is not just any homeless shelter.
The
shelter located in a centuries-old palace called the Palazzo Migliori, a named
for the family who previously owned it, but it’s a name that translated
literally as “the palace of the best.”
The
Vatican requested that the company doing the renovations hire homeless workers.
No surprise, the company didn’t want to do that, but they wanted the job so
they did what they were told and, to their surprise, they discovered that these
homeless people were some of the best workers they had ever seen – and, in
fact, the company chose to permanently hire them.
Now
that the project is done has been blessed, the poorest of the poor will be
living in a palace, a palace decorated with beautiful art, a palace with a
terrace overlooking St. Peter’s Basilica, a palace where tourists would happily
pay a small fortune to stay on vacation but has instead been set aside as a
home for the homeless.
It
turns out that Jesus the most unusual King has a palace after all.
And,
in a smaller but no less important way, we build a palace for Jesus when we
host our Family Promise guests on Duncan Avenue or Storms Avenue.
We
build a palace for Jesus when we feed the homeless guests over at Garden State
Episcopal CDC, or give to the food pantry, or make sandwiches with the Sandwich Squad, or buy a Christmas gift for a child
in need, or even just when we see, really see, our brothers and sisters in need
all around us, people who deserve not just scraps but the very best.
And
so, on this last Sunday on the church year, on the Feast of Christ the King,
we’re invited to take stock of our allegiances.
Are
we loyal to other leaders or ideologies or do we place our trust in Jesus the
most unusual King?
Through
our own faithfulness and generosity are we willing to build a palace for Christ
the King?
Amen.
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