1
Sunday November 26, 2017 Christ the King Sunday Matthew 18:1-9
What does a ruler look like and sound like? What traits should they have? What vision should they hold? What does a Queen or King look like, sound like, and do? Our government in Canada is a parliamentary system within a constitutional monarchy which means Queen Elizabeth the II is the head of our country. For some of us the Queen plays an important role for others she’s easily forgotten. Some of us may watch the Queen’s message every year and listen carefully for the pearls of wisdom she offers others may have no interest. Some of us may think the monarchy is outdated others may think it is vital to our lives, governance, and identity as Canadians. Questions around Monarchs are not far removed from our life as Canadians.
Each year on the last Sunday of the Christian calendar congregations throughout the world mark Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ Sunday. It is a recent addition to the Christian calendar started in 1925 by Pope Pius the 11th in the aftermath of the First World War and in response to the nationalism, violence, and hostility he witnessed. It is a Sunday when the royal language and imagery for Jesus is lifted up, when Jesus is celebrated as Prince of Peace, the one in whom God’s love rules.
But while Christ the King Sunday is relatively new, images of Jesus as ruler are not. Early on in the Christian faith political language was used for Jesus. The language of the Emperor, orCaesar, was used to describe him – Son of God, Lord, King of Kings, Prince of Peace were all titles the Caesars used. Stories that belonged to rulers were used to talk about Jesus’ birth such as a miraculous birth and a new starappearing. By the time the Gospels of Matthew was written somewhere between 80 and 90 AD the image of Jesus as Lord and King was who rules on the Right of God was lifted up.
So it should shock and surprise us to hear the words our Gospel reading today proclaims. What kind of King is Jesus? The story goes: a dispute is happening among disciples. They are playing the power game that is all too common of whois the greatest? When they ask Jesus who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, in the God’s vision for creation, Jesus looks at them and shakes his head. Then he looks around and sees the smallest, weakest, youngest child in the crowd and calls her forward. “Whoever becomes low in stature like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child welcomes me.”
Now, we need to understand a little bit about Jesus’ time to fully grasp how shocking this story is. The disciples are fighting over greatness and Jesus, the one who they are following, the one who by the time the Gospels is written is known as cosmic ruler, identifies himself with a child. Children weren’t seen as young and innocent in this time. Children in Jesus’ day, in the male centred and power driven culture he lives in are seen as vulnerable, insignificant, and powerless. Jesus says that the most vulnerable, looked down upon, and powerless, the humbled in society are the greatest in God’s vision for creation. Jesus stands in solidarity with them – “how you treat the vulnerable is how you treat me,” he proclaims.
And then he does something thatisn’t so shocking when you know the Gospels, Jesus explodes in a speech of holy rage – “if anyone puts a stumbling block in front of these little ones believe me, it would be better if you were dragged to the river and drowned. It would be better for you to cut off your hand or pluck out your eye, then to sin against the vulnerable because it would be better to do that then go to hell.
Jesus identifies with the most vulnerable, and rages against injustice. The fascinating thing about the image of cutting off your hand or plucking out your eye is that both acts would leave a person as one of the little ones, as one of the vulnerable.
Who is Jesus the king – he’s the vulnerable in the midst, he’s the one who stands in solidarity with them, he’s the one who rages against injustice. But Jesus’ speech will continue past where we read today. Professor Tom Neufeld calls this “The Sermon in the church” which spans the whole of Matthew 18. Do yourself a favour this week, read the whole of Matthew 18.
Matthew 18 continues with a passage about seeking the lost sheep, about ways of reconciliation and never giving up on another, about the sometimes costly but needed and life-giving act of forgiveness.
Who is Christ the King? Matthew 18 say that Christ the King is the one who identifies with the most vulnerable, stands in solidarity with them, rages against injustice, lifts up repentance and reconciliation, and calls for forgiveness.
And as people who follow in the path of Jesus, we are called to embody Christ. Paul, who wrote many year before the Gospels were even written speaks again and again about the way in which God’s Spirit is drawing us together in the sharing of our gifts and skills and experiences to be the body of Christ right here and right now. We are to embody the vision of God that Jesus lived, that Reign of Christ Sunday proclaims.
We are to be humble – to connect and identity and stand in solidarity with the ‘ little ones’ as Jesus says in today’s reading, with the most vulnerable in our homes, our families, our church, our community, and our world. We are to join in the cry against injustice and work towards wholeness. We are to live the path of repentance – of turning from all that destroys and limits, turning to God’s vision, towards each other, towards the true potential and promise written into our lives and our world. We are to seek reconciliation and live the gift of forgiveness. This is what Matthew 18 reminds us is at the heart of declaring Christ as King – a new vision for each of us and our world is presented, an empire of holiness and justice, a dominion of reconciliation and forgiveness, a kin-dom of love, peace, and wholeness.
So what happens if we lift up this vision in our lives, if we strive and struggle as a community of faith to lift up and live out the vision of Christ that Matthew 18 proclaims? What does it look like to pledge our allegiance, align our lives, with the reign of Christ? That is a question we are called to live into.
So come, let us celebrate a different kind of ruler and lift up a different kind of vision for creation. Let us celebrate Christ the King Sunday and allow it to transform our lives and our world for we are all part of this sacred story and we are all part of God’s vision being embodied. Amen. Let it be so.