This is the King of the Jews!

Sunday is the last Sunday of the Christian Year, known mostly as the Festival of Christ the King, and Americanized into The Reign of Christ (because we don’t do royalty).  It marks the fulfillment of our understanding of the maturation of God’s Kingdom now realized:  we believe that when Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished”, it IS!   Lessons from Scripture include the ancient Hebrew expectation of the Righteous Ruler, and the later Christian awareness that such has appeared in Jesus the Christ.

The prophet Jeremiah looked for the days “when [God] will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” (23:5)   Compared to previous & corruptible shepherd-kings, this will be a holy change, and the scattered flock will be gathered in prosperity and safety.  Ensuing Jewish history reminds us that this didn’t happen quickly, since much dispersion and political instability continued.  Where IS that king?

The Epistle reading comes from the letter to the Colossian churches.  Paul wishes them to be “prepared to endure everything with patience” (1:11), realizing that God has already “rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…”(v.13)   We could think of refugees, transported to a new place where both geography and style are much different from what we’ve been used to.  Rules and ethics are different, and so is the general understanding about civic responsibility.  God’s Kingdom brings its citizens to have new assumptions about the meaning of life!   Jesus has “first place in everything”. (v.18)

With these upbeat passages, we’re not ready to hear about the Crucifixion. (Luke 23:33-43)   Is this really the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom?  To the humble criminal alongside, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” are welcome words of life in the midst of death!   The soldiers didn’t get it:  “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”   Pilate didn’t get it:  “This is the King of the Jews”.   And most of us today don’t get it, either.  But here one era ended and another began.

With typhoons, daily shootings and arguments about health care, it’s hard to see those thin places where the Kingdom has drawn near.  Citizens of that Kingdom are entrusted to point through the fogginess of earthly confusions to announce those locations where God has already come to dwell with humanity.  Those who have traveled in Holy Realms are expected to tell the tales of the wonders to be found there, to speak of marvelous wisdom which endures, to prepare the Way of the Lord!  Even now, watch for the Star of Bethlehem….

God Bless Us, Every One                               H   B    King