Sermonette: Christ the King Sunday

In my tradition, we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church year, on Nov. 25 this year. The assigned New Testament reading is from Revelation 1:4b-8. In that passage I read, “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5b-6).

I think we, in the United States, are at a disadvantage in attempting to understand this passage. We don’t know much about kings, except that we don’t like them. Our nation is not ruled by a king so we have no real experience from which to draw so we can try and understand.

At the same time, it is helpful to know that to be part of a kingdom is to be part of a people that show obedience to a king. A warrior that conquerors an evil ruler and sets the people free from the tyranny of the previous rule may be hailed by the people as their new king. The Revelation of Jesus Christ proclaims that to be the case.

The tyrant who previously ruled the people was sin. It enslaved people and made their lives miserable. Jesus gave his life and blood that the people might be set free from that tyranny. They were invited to accept him as king or ruler in their lives. His victory was accomplished by defeating the power of death that sin had used to maintain its power over them.

By demonstrating that death could not hold him, he revealed that the God of grace that he proclaimed had power even over death. But it was more than an individual victory. By conquering death, Jesus also demonstrated to the other rulers of the earth that he has authority over them as well. That is, Jesus has been given final authority over all those who have been granted the power to govern on this earth.

This is true even though many of them do not recognized his authority over them. To say, “He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Revelation 1:7), is to suggest that there will be a time when his authority will be recognized. To say that he is coming with the clouds is to say that God, who often spoke from the clouds, will make Jesus’ authority so clear that even those who crucified him will recognize his authority. Wow!

Note that this promise is not only a time of personal rule in individual hearts, it is that, but it’s also a rule over the nations of the earth. There have been times in history when the church has tried to impose its rule over nations and rulers. From those experiences, we have learned that we are no better at exercising power than the secular rulers are.

And so, as we await the culmination of Christ’s rule, we are given an opportunity to reflect on what it means to rule as he does, with service and love. Hmm... Glory be to God!