Christ the King

November 26, 2006

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

 

Lights flashing, sirens screeching – the liturgical police have arrived on the scene in full force! The officer emerges from her car saying: “What on earth are we doing reading about Jesus’ trial and pending crucifixion on Thanksgiving Weekend? Did the liturgical clocks get turned back six months to Good Friday?”

 

Today is the feast day of Christ the King. This particular feast day, established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and happily adopted by the Episcopal Church, reminds us that Christ’s power is above everything temporal. We are answerable to him over everyone and everything else. Christ is the only king to whom we are answerable.

 

In this morning’s gospel reading from John, Jesus is standing before Pilate engaged in this very famous dialogue about his kingship. During the preceding night, Jesus has been betrayed by Judas and arrested in the garden by soldiers and officers of the chief priests. He has been dragged off to the high priests – first Annas, then Caiaphas – for questioning. In the wee hours of the morning, Jesus is taken from the house of Caiphas and then to the Praetorium, the residence and headquarters of the Roman occupation forces, for interrogation by the governor of the province of Judea. According to Jewish law, the Praetorium was defiled and not to be entered by Jews because of the presence of pagan authorities. It was definitely taboo for any Jew who was preparing to celebrate Passover to go any where near this bastion of Roman authority. To remain ritually pure, the Jews stayed outside but sent their prisoner Jesus to Pilate for questioning. 

 

Jesus is brought to Pilate for both political and religious reasons. The gospels tell us that the chief priests have charged Jesus with blasphemy. However, they want the Romans to do the dirty work so the chief priests deliver Jesus to Pilate hoping Pilate will do the actual execution. Pilate is more than a bit irritated and wants nothing to do with what he perceives to be a petty religious matter. Nonetheless, there are political implications which are why Pilate ends up getting involved in what should have been a strictly internal Jewish affair. The chief priests have accused Jesus of claiming to be King of the Jews. If indeed Jesus claimed to be king of the Jews, then Pilate would accuse him of treason and call for punishment by death. To his credit, Pilate decides to do a bit of investigating. And so enters this famous Good Friday scene about Jesus’ kingship. 

 

If you remember nothing more about John’s gospel, remember this. John’s gospel has a highly mystical element and lots of cryptic and veiled language. Pilate asks Jesus: “What have you done?” In a fashion typical of the gospel of John, Jesus does not answer the question. Pilate asks “what have you done?” And Jesus replies: “My kingdom is not from this world.” Not exactly a direct response. Pilate then says: “So you are a king? Jesus turns this around as well: “You say that I am a king.” This exchange between Pilate and Jesus is so rich. Jesus ends by saying; ‘Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

 

Jesus never claims to be a king of anything other than spiritual matters: “My kingship is not of this world.” Nonetheless, we believers claim that Jesus is “the one true king for us and that Jesus is king above all the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 1:5). 

 

This culminating feast of the Church year, this feast of Christ the King, is a way of letting us affirm the reality of Christ as our true authority. Combined with this weekend of Thanksgiving, we have been given an opportunity to once again prioritize our lives. Thanksgiving weekend is a complex of emotions. On the one hand we have this magnificent feast of celebration of the goods of the earth, of the harvest of the bounty of food that is available at this time of year. On the other hand, there is the dismay of the marketplace. I must say that I found this year to be particularly disturbing as news of the violence associated with the Friday “feast day” of shopping emerged in the press. For many of us, boycotting taking part in the hysteria of the shopping mall on the Friday after Thanksgiving has become as much of a ritual as Thanksgiving Day itself.

 

We need to be particularly focused on our faith and remaining centered at this time of year. As the rest of the world embarks on the shopping frenzy, we need to turn inward and discover the wonders of the King of kings. As the cacophony of Santa songs gets cranked up in every place we might venture to go, we need to remember hymns of Advent. As the world focuses on gifts of lavish luxury, we need to remember the gift of faith. As the lights emerge in our neighborhoods, we need to remember the one true light.

 

We do not need to disengage from the festivities of the season as much as we need to keep our priorities straight. When the priorities begin to slip, then we need to retreat for even just a few hours and regain our sense of balance. And so I leave you with a story that will help you to remember the reality of the king of the world and the savior of the universe. 

 

As we prepare to end this weekend of celebration with family and friends, if you begin to wonder who is the real authority of your being, remember the story of the large jar and the rocks. A professor stood in front of his class and picked up a large jar. In it he placed as many beautiful Petoskey stones as he could manage to fit. The professor then asked his students if the glass was full. They all enthusiastically agreed that the jar was indeed full. Then the professor picked up a box of gravel and poured it into the jar. The gravel rolled into the spaces not occupied by the beautiful Petoskey stones. He then asked his students if the jar was full and they shouted again:  “It is full!” But the professor was not done. He then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar and, of course, the sand filled up the leftover space. Finally he picked up a glass of water and poured it in, filling what little space was left and then he was done. The professor turned to his students and said: “This jar represents your life. The Petoskey stones are the important things: your faith, Christ as your king, your family and your health, your friends and your passions – things that if everything else were lost and only they remained your life would still be very full. The gravel represents the material aspects of life:  your job, your house, the clothes on your back and food to eat. The sand and the water represent everything else, the trivia of life. If we put the sand in first, there won’t be room for the beautiful stones. As we enter into this season of multiple distractions, let us remember the beautiful stones, let us remember the King of the Universe, let us remember that Christ came to this world to save us.