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Christ the King Sunday
November 20, 2005
Pastor Lisa Richardson
Today is the last Sunday of the church year called Christ the King Sunday.
What does it mean that Jesus is King? What kind of a king is Jesus? A king
like we have never known before. He was born on a bed of hay in a cold barn.
His throne is a cross. His crown is made of thorns.
What kind of king is Jesus? He washes the feet of the disciples. He eats
with sinners. He takes children in his arms and blesses them. He seeks the lost
and carries them home. He feeds the hungry. He welcomes the stranger. He
clothes the naked. He takes care of the sick. He visits the prisoners. He
knows what it is to be mocked. As he hung on the cross, the soldiers made fun
of him. "If you are the King, save yourself and us." When the criminal on the
cross said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom," Jesus
answered, "Today you will be with me in paradise." No earthly king could make
such a promise.
As he was dying on the cross, Jesus cried out, "Father forgive them for they
know not what they do."
What kind of king is Jesus? In dying, he breaks the chains of death. He
comes in the midst of our lives. He comes to have his own heart broken. He comes
to battle the enemies we can't fight on our own - sin, death, and the devil.
He comes to die the death intended for us, to conquer it on our behalf.
Jesus comes to give us life in his name and life in the kingdom forever. No
earthly king could do that. Jesus is not a king who comes to scare us and lord it
over us to keep us at a distance. He is not secluded in a far off castle with
guards, walls, and servants. He knows what it means to be a stranger, poor,
broken, naked and hungry. He lays down his life to give us life. Jesus our
King sends us out to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked,
care for the sick and visit the lonely. We who belong to the kingdom, who bear
the sign of the cross, we who are royalty by Jesus' blood and not our own,
are sent out to serve. When we are tempted to build our own castles and
kingdoms, when we are tempted to live only for ourselves accumulating more and more
and never having enough, never taking time to take care of someone else, when
we are tempted to keep people at a distance and turn the other way from those
who are hurting and in need, Jesus our King takes us away from ourselves and
sends us where true joy is found - "as you did it to one of the least of these,
you did it to me."
Dear friends, Jesus comes to be your king. He comes to be a king like we
have never known before. When you feel alone and afraid, when you don't know if
you can stand, when you feel crushed in grief, in sickness, in sadness, in
doubts, when you feel like you don't measure up or don't fit in, when you don't
know where to turn for help, when you can't do things the way you used to,
Jesus comes to be your king. To love you and hold you when you are worried about
the future, even when unbelief takes you away from the promise, even when you
think he doesn't care about you at all. You have a king who promises never to
leave you. You belong to him. He knows the cries of your heart and promises
to hold you with nail-pierced hands, to give you victory over death, to give
you the kingdom.
Jesus comes to be your king, a king like you have never known before. Today
when you are hungry and thirsty, he feeds you and nourishes you with the bread
of life, with forgiveness, life and salvation. Today when you are a
stranger, Jesus welcomes you and clothes you. Today when you are in need, Jesus cares
for you. When you are in bondage to sin, he comes to set you free.
What kind of king is Jesus? Jesus comes to be our king, to take us away from
living only for ourselves. He comes to be our king, to rule our hearts with
love and then, we who bear the sign of the kingdom, the sign of the cross, are
sent out to the hungry and thirsty, to the stranger, to the naked, the
lonely, to the sick, to the prisoner, and we hear Jesus' words "as you did it to the
least of these, you did it to me."
Amen
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