November 21
2010 Reading: Luke 23.32-43
The Sunday of Christ the King
Theme: Christ the King
Louis
the XIV France’s greatest king. If there’s one thing you can say about King
Louis XIV of
King
Louis XIV set out to show he was the most powerful man on earth by building this hall. The idea was
that visiting kings, government ministers, diplomats and ambassadors would see
at once how wealthy and powerful he was. When they came to gaze at the king
from one end of the hall, or seek audience with him.
This
was all part of a larger project, of course. When the chief minister of the
French government died Louis took over, and total power was in his hands. King
Louis built the palace as a symbol not only of beautiful architecture and
elegance but as a sign of his extraordinary, absolute power. The palace had
taken 60% of the total income of
a new centre for the royal court, a proper
distance between himself and the ordinary people in
If
there’s one positive thing you can say about King Louis XIV of
This Sunday the Church remembers a king, Jesus Christ. This is the Sunday of Christ the King. Jesus Christ as King. As the season of Advent is about to begin we celebrate the coming to earth of Jesus...... the One who is King. But in the readings for today, there is mystery
What is that mystery ?
Well, the mystery has to do with what kind of King we wait for........
this King, we wait for is certainly like no other......... this world has seen,
And the mystery has to do with what kind of Kingdom we wait for........
the Kingdom we wait for is certainly like no other......... the world has seen,
Let’s take a closer look at the readings for this morning
In the Old Testament, we read the Word of God brought by the prophet Jeremiah in 600BC. Jeremiah’s message - the Word of the Lord - is one of piercing judgment about the abuse of power in Israel, the collapse of justice, where men and women could find no redress, the migration away of so many of Israel’s people........ The message of the prophet Jeremiah, the Word of the Lord is a stark condemnation of the untold luxury, and power of Israel’s king: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the rulers who were supposed to take care of his people: "You have not taken care of my people; you have scattered them and driven them away. Now I am going to punish you for the evil you have done. “ But beyond judgment, Jeremiah’s message is one of hope - that the living God Himself will bring justice, straighten things out...... put things right for His people. And there is a further promise too. When God acts in power on behalf of His beloved, suffering people...... a new King will be appointed, one of perfect integrity,
The Lord says, "The time
is coming when I will choose as king a
righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just
throughout the land. When he is king,
the people of
When we turn to our second reading from the Scriptures the opening chapter of Luke’s gospel......... we step straight into this mystery again. When John the Baptist was born, as is described in Luke’s gospel, John's father Zechariah, we are told, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he said these words in the Spirit’s power. First, he said
"Let us praise the Lord, the God of Israel! He has come to the help of his people and has set them free. He has provided for us.........a descendant of his servant David. He promised through his holy prophets long ago that he would save us from our enemies, from the power of all those who hate us”
Now, you would have thought
that the new King coming to
Zechariah says: "You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God. You will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his road for him to tell his people that they will be saved - by having their sins forgiven. Our God is merciful and tender. He will cause the bright dawn of salvation to rise on us and to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death, to guide our steps into the path of peace.
The one who is to come, of the royal line of David, is no ordinary King ........ this is someone of unparalleled greatness.........
But now, in the third reading from Luke 23, we are brought to a halt, stunned by what we hear........ for the words we hear there, are about a King, but not like any King we might have expected. Because we hear the words king and kingdom, but the mystery of this King deepens into something we can scarcely comprehend.
For we read here, of the trial of Jesus. And we read that after that trial
Jesus and two criminals, were brought to a
place on a hill outside the city of
offered
him cheap wine, and said, "Save
yourself if you are the king of the Jews!" There’s the word King. Above him on a card were written these
words, "This is the King of the Jews." There’s the word King again. One of the
criminals hanging there hurled insults at
him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" The other one, however, said to Jesus,
barely above the level of a whisper, "Jesus remember
me when you come as King!" There’s
the word King, for the third time. Jesus said to him, "I promise you that
today you will be in
Three times at the Cross, the words King, written once, spoken twice.
We have reached the very heart of the mystery........ and its this - Jesus Christ King
but no one recognises Him, we can see no Kingdom, and it seems there is no one in this Kingdom,
except one man.......... a criminal
Jesus Christ on the cross, and a criminal next to Him who is the only citizen of this kingdom, guilty, knowing he is guilty, a sinful man with his life blood ebbing away.......
"Jesus remember me when you come as King!"
Now listen and listen again to the words of the Lord Jesus here, and the mystery of what kind of King this is begins to fall away, in those words of the Lord Jesus:
His words are not: God will bring us to paradise today,
or, we hope to be in paradise today,
but I
promise you today that you will be in
I promise you today that you will be in
Now, Who can promise this ?
who has the authority to say this ?
Who can promise a sinful dying man the mercy of God, and heaven itself ?
who has the authority to offer heaven,
who has the power to offer heaven ? ask yourself !
who has the power to offer the poorest, most worthless, dying sinful man salvation !
who has the power to bring the poorest, most worthless, dying sinful man
into the presence of the Holy, Eternal living God...............
If not Jesus, who is, as Jeremiah had proclaimed, The Lord of Salvation Himself,
John Calvin once wrote
Look at Him, the man of sorrows, and be the more strengthened,
the one who was despised and rejected and still is.........
by so many, but for those who know and love Him.
Let us not cease to hold to Him, Jesus Christ. The Lord of Salvation.
there on that Cross, His glory and greatness is in this
He is the King who bears our sins upon His shoulders,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
And in His last moments on the Cross
the lowly One, placed Himself, into the Father’s care and power and love.
Father, Into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Raising Jesus to life, to be seated at His right hand side,
the Father has made this Jesus, King over all,
and on a day to come,
at the name of Jesus Christ the King every knee shall bow !