EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Nov. 20, 2022.
This week's gospel: Luke 23:33-43
33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The message:
Last night, Shelley and I were eating dinner, and she asked me what today’s sermon was about.
I said excitedly, “It’s about Christ the King Sunday, a day when we celebrate Jesus’ reign over a kingdom unlike any earthly kingdom ever known!”
She looked across the table, and gave me her look. … It’s one I know well. … It’s a bit of a crinkle of nose, kind of like the way you look after you bite into a lemon.
And she says, “That sounds boring.”
Well, I stewed on that for a while last night … until I came to the conclusion that she was right! … It did sound boring.
So, today, I’m not going to tell you about Christ the King Sunday, a day when we celebrate Jesus’ reign over a kingdom unlike any earthly kingdom ever.
No, rather what I’m going to tell you about … is the unimaginable paradox presented to us in today’s gospel. … Just a short text, but a mind-bending scene that unfolds and should leave us speechless.
So, if you will, please take this trip with me today …
Before we begin, let’s set the scene, shall we? … Picture this …
We’re no longer sitting comfortably in the Sanctuary of Faith Lutheran Church, here in the 21st century. … But rather we are in the 1st century Middle East, standing just outside the boundaries of the city known as Jerusalem.
Dressed in our tunics and common headdresses, we are standing atop the rocky, mostly barren hill known as Golgotha. … A strange sounding Hebrew word that means skull, which it turns out was the shape of the hill on which we are standing.
Around us, there are crucifixion poles that dot the landscape. …. So many crucifixion poles in fact, that is a macabre scene that looks like a scarred and barren forest.
Dozens of people are present, filling this rocky hillside. Many of those here with us are the family and loved ones of those convicted and hanging in pain on the crosses. You can hear the shrieks of anguish, pain and fear … coming from the mourners … and those hanging on the poles.
There are other people present as well. … Roman soldiers of various ranks, and probably some local civilian leaders, and even some religious leaders.
Crucifixion day, after all, was a big public display. … The Romans loved making a spectacle of public torture to remind people of their power and rule.
The time is about mid-day, maybe just after noon. The sun is high in the sky. And despite it being spring, it’s likely hotter than what we’re accustomed to for that time of year.
And Jesus has already been painfully hanging on that cross of his now for several hours.
He is not alone, of course. We know this from today’s text that there are at least two others suffering his same fate hanging on poles nearby. … Those “criminals” as they are described, are even close enough to talk to him.
Among the mourners present today are a number of people who are close to Jesus. … His mother, his sister, Mary Magdalene … and other followers. Many of them women, many of them wailing. … A symbol of the powerlessness of women in the 1st century Middle East.
Now contrast the picture of those helpless women with the many Roman soldiers present. All powerful. Military strongmen.
And then we begin to see the fuller picture of the paradox taking place in today’s text, taking place while Jesus is actively dying on the cross.
You have the powerlessness of the accused who hang in crucifixion and the powerlessness of their loved ones gathered around in anguish … squaring off with the picture of the Roman soldiers, the very symbol of the power and authority of the Roman Empire.
And that is the context of what takes place in the final act of today’s gospel. … The powerful and the powerless. The exact picture we think of when we think of almighty rulers here on earth.
But in what might be Jesus' last act as a king of a different nature, he turns the entire scene on its head by granting the second criminal access to God’s heavenly kingdom. … Salvation for eternity for a common criminal who recognized in his last moments that Jesus was indeed guiltless and would become his savior.
All of the context in today’s gospel that leads up to that exchange between Jesus and the criminal should twist our very understanding of the word power, the concept of kingdom. … The paradox of the moment should blow our minds.
Here is this seemingly powerless leader, the man who Roman soldiers dubbed in jest the “King of the Jews” because of his helplessness … this seemingly ordinary man hanging on a cross … promising the criminal access to eternal paradise. … When the man can’t even save himself from an excruciating death?
Kings are powerful, are they not? … So promising a fellow condemned man that he will be saved is the action of an all-powerful king … not the action of someone hung on a cross waiting to die, right?
But you see, we understand what it is that the criminal on the cross sensed on that crucifixion day. … We know that Jesus is a king of a kingdom so unlike what the Romans of the 1st century … and frankly nearly everyone else in history …could understand.
And that, Faith Family, is what we are celebrating today on Christ the King Sunday. … We are celebrating Jesus’ unorthodox reign here on earth.
Today, on this Christ the King Sunday, we gather to celebrate an entirely different kind of king … a wholly different kind of kingdom.
A type of reign from a type of king ruling in a type of kingdom that no one in the 1st century -- or ever again -- would have even imagined possible.
So, in a powerfully ironic twist, we gather on this feast day, this Christ the King Sunday, not to celebrate a Roman empire that faded hundreds of years ago.
But rather we gather to celebrate Jesus’ reign which lives on … two millennia later. Still powerful. Still inspiring us to make the heavenly kingdom real right here on earth.
So if Jesus’ reign is so different from the reigns of authoritarian kings and oppressive Roman caesars … then what is it like?
Well, in today’s other readings, we get some glimpses …
In Jeremiah, the prophet tells us that God’s kingdom will include justice and righteousness in the land.
Faith Family, if justice and righteousness aren’t present, it’s not God’s kingdom.
In God’s kingdom, those who destroy and scatter the sheep should watch out. … Because woe to them, as the prophet warns. God isn’t about division.
In God’s Kingdom, he will not scatter the sheep but rather, he will go to find all of the sheep and bring them together.
In God’s Kingdom … Fear is gone. Dismay is gone. And none of his beloved children will ever go missing ever again.
Our Psalm goes on to explain further … In God’s Kingdom … our Lord is our refuge and strength and He is present in our every trouble.
And in the reading from Colossians, Paul paints the final strokes on the canvas …
In God’s Kingdom … our strength will come from His glorious power, and we will be empowered to endure everything with patience.
In that kingdom, God rescues us from the power of darkness and grants us access to the eternal kingdom in heaven.
So on this Christ the King Sunday … this feast day, we gather to celebrate our unorthodox king. … We come to worship him and to give thanks to him for his great glory.
Today we ask Christ to abide with us, here in this earthly kingdom. … We ask him to reign in us so that we are moved to make this world into a “fit habitation for his divine majesty.”
And that is the Good News on this Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. … And if I’ve done my job, that wasn’t boring at all. … Amen.
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