Christ the King

 We have journeyed through the church’s year with the story of Jesus and connected our own through various themes of growth. The church year or the liturgical year begins with Advent giving us the hope of the coming Messiah and ends with the Feast of Christ the King that proclaims Christ as king over the universe or the reign of Christ over the universe. Now we must remember that Advent is not Christmas. Christ the King leads us back to a new cycle which begins with Advent a season of expectation and preparation for the coming Messiah.

For us who live in a world led by secularism and consumerism, today is an opportunity to remind ourselves that we are under the rule of Christ and examine our lives to see how we are living in it.

Jesus, God’s anointed – the Christ, is before Pilate, the governor of the Roman province of Judea. Pilate presides over the trial of Jesus. 

Through their conversation, Jesus establishes who he is. The OT and NT readings support what Jesus says about himself.

There are references to Kings and kingdoms and Jesus uses these references to impress upon Pilate the truth, and Pilate though he see’s nothing wrong with Jesus, goes for a compromise with the crowd, and puts the ball into their court.  

However, from beginning to end Jesus has been seen as a threat. Threat to the establishment – religion and politics alike. At the birth of Jesus, Herod put to death, children, hoping to kill the future king. Now Pilate sentences Jesus to death.

On both occasions Jesus was understood wrong. That created a threat and led to innocent people being killed. At the visit of the Magi and now, the reference made to Jesus is, “the king of Jews”. Unfortunately, Jesus was not the kind of king the Jews wanted, neither was he exclusively the king of the Jews.

Coming back to the refence of Kings and kingdoms when Jesus says king we need to understand that there cannot be a kingdom without a king. And Jesus is the king of God’s kingdom, but that kingdom is not of this world, neither is it defined by the ways of this world. Rather it is about the rule of Christ in believers' hearts.

Keeping this in mind Jesus goes to differentiates between the rule of this world and the rule of God’s kingdom. In v 3 he says, my kingdom is not of this world. If it is so, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.

Jesus is the king who bears witness to the truth. He is the king of truth. Throughout his ministry he demonstrated that.

Now Pilate represents the powerful world, and the imperial political power of Rome. He represents a system that is filled with lies, injustice, corruption, oppressions, bondage, manipulation and always burdening the people to keep them under their control. (ohu niyōjanaya karannē boruven, ayuktiyen, dūṣaṇayen, pīḍanayen, vahalbhāvayen, upāmāruvalin piruṇu, hæmaviṭama janatāva mata bara paṭavamin ovunva tama pālanaya yaṭataṭa pat karana kramayak.)

The followers of Christ, though, responds to his revelation of truth and love, with forgiveness, humility, compassion and humble service. (kristus vahansēgē anugāmikayin, ohugē satyaya saha prēmaya piḷiban̆da heḷidaravvaṭa samāva dīma, yaṭahat pahatkama, dayāva saha nihatamānī sēvaya saman̆ga praticāra dakvayi.)

And these are characteristics of the King himself. Christ the King, represents life. His kingship is not about a crown and fine linen. But it is one of the service and sacrifice. As we read in Revelations, he is one 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.

The citizens of Christs’ kingdom are not slaves but free. They are priests in service. Priests meaning purified by the blood of Christ and brought into close contact with God, and devote their life to Christ alone.

And so when Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world, he is saying, under his reign truth is lived and love is spread. And so the reign of Christ gives hope. Hope to people in despair, forgotten, hurt, alone, always seeking to bring liberation to people. It is a righteous rule. It is inclusive. It is based on truth and love. (balāporottu sun vū, amataka vū, rida vū, tani vū, sæmaviṭama minisunṭa vimuktiya gena ēmaṭa utsāha karana minisunṭa balāporottu vanna. eya dharmiṣṭha pālanayaki. eya ætuḷat vē. eya satyaya saha ādaraya mata padanam vē.)

However, there was a price to be paid – the cross.

Jesus paid that price – the cross, with a board the king of Jews, which the chief priests beg not to do.

This is the challenge for us, to Fashion our lives after the pattern of this cross, school our hearts in Christ’s love and compassion. In a secular and highly consumeristic world this is difficult. And we sang that in our 4^th verse of the gradual.

Let me give you an example before we end. We have not yet begun Advent – the world is in Christmas mood. From Christmas carols to Christmas sales. That has impacted the church. So we forget the importance of Advent and start celebrating Christmas carol services and parties. All done and dusted. Now it is time for ourselves.

So rather than impacting the world and telling them the truth of Jesus’ birth, we rather go with them. Christmas tree…….. Can the church make a statement and impress the government to ban the cutting of Christmas trees.

Today most often we are like the Jews. We don’t want to disturb the status quo. We’d rather go with flow and nail truth and love to the cross, rather than getting nailed ourselves.

Friends, it is time that we take Christ seriously. That we live out our discipleship with intention. So that the world will want to come under the reign of Christ. A reign where truth and love has the highest place.