Disputed election
Commentary
Now that election day is behind us again, we can get on with business as usual. In spite of all the hype and advertising that went into the campaign, our lives are not likely to change much. Even though they and their parties would never admit it, one candidate is much the same as another. We live in a society that has programmed most surprises out of our political life. We are stable, and life rolls on.
In some measure, this stability is an oddity in human history. Imagine, for instance, what it was like to live through the French Revolution of 1789: No pre-existing authority was safe, and "Madam Guillotine" cut a swath of terror through the first and second estates. Put yourself in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1917: The world around you would be coming apart at the seams. Think of the instability in Rwanda in the early 1990s: It would be impossible to know whether any of your family or your property would be with you tomorrow, let alone your own life.
Reviewed in the light of those and a thousand other historical political scenarios, our safe and somewhat monotonous political environment seems beneficially tame. Maybe we don't experience the exhilaration of revolution-passion and drama, but neither do we suffer from its devastating toll.
The lectionary passages for today force us to face other political environments. Each is freighted with the language of kings and the clashing of different points of view given shape by governing systems in competition with one another. Today we need to think politically. Consider, for instance, a world in which injustice won the election by subterfuge and smiled demonically at any challenge by other contenders. Imagine that a series of corrupt officials systematically collected the wealth of the nation while striding disdainfully over the cries of the poor. Think of what it would be like to live with the drab sameness of recurring politics because you fear voting for any other than the one who threatens to kill you, if you even dare. (For a powerful rehearsal of life in the Dominican Republic during the onerous regime of Trujillo, read Julia Alverez' captivating story of the Mirabel sisters called In the Time of the Butterflies, Plume Books, 1995).
All three lectionary readings for today presume some form of this last scenario, and then offer the amazing coup of God's Messiah and the invading army of heaven. This revolution cannot come from within, for in many ways we have bought into the dull tedium of the life-sucking systems that surround us. We are not only victims of evil, but also its vehicles and its voice. On Christ The King Sunday we celebrate the rule of Jesus, but we have to remember that it comes at a price -- to him, to our current regimes that have capitulated to lesser gods, and to ourselves who are often more interested in flag-waving than we are in going through the pain of redemption (for an interesting take on the cost of transformation, use C. S. Lewis' story of Eustace becoming a dragon and then being painfully released by Aslan in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Jeremiah is a grim preacher living in grim times. The Assyrian powerhouse, which ruled the Fertile Crescent (including Palestine) for most of the eighth century, was recently routed by its Babylonian province. The upstart revolutionaries decided to press their claim to the full extent of the old Assyrian borders (Israel, Judah's northern Palestinian partner, formed the outer edge to the west, falling before Assyria in 722 B.C.) and beyond. While looking with desire at Egypt's vast grain resources, they incidentally became curious about the little kingdom of Judah that lay along the same trajectory. A century earlier, King Hezekiah had allowed emissaries of Babylon to see the treasures of his kingdom (Isaiah 39); now they had taken all these and also carried off the brightest and best of its future leadership team (see Daniel 1). Furthermore, the Babylonians had installed Jehoiachin as puppet ruler (Jeremiah 22:24-30) to ensure domestic tranquility while they collected yearly tribute.
King Jehoiachin vacillated between living out his heritage as a descendant of David (with a mandate to nurture the theocracy shaped by the Mosaic covenant), and rejecting it in order to enjoy a role in common with other regents of the day -- take what you can while you can because you can. In the end, Jehoiachin satisfied neither Nebuchadnezzar's demands nor Yahweh's great vision of a covenantal community releasing the blessings of a righteous kingdom to the other nations around (cf. Genesis 12:1-3). What was left of David and Solomon's once magnificent realm was now a paltry province wrecked by foreign theft of its resources and wracked by internal intrigue within the remnants of the royal house that had drifted far from its religious moorings.
In this environment, Jeremiah's vocalization of the speech of God grated on the king's nerves because it spoke of a higher authority than either his or Babylon's, and called for justice. It antagonized both Jeremiah's fellow priests and the prophetic cult that was now paid to advise the king's politics because Jeremiah advocated capitulation to Babylon in order to avoid further bloodshed. It discouraged the people who found themselves without meaningful leadership in a time of extreme crisis. Jeremiah was on the outs with the high and low in society, disturbed with God, and gripped by the loneliness of a prophet's life during antagonistic times (see Jeremiah 20:7-18).
In these few verses, Jeremiah summarizes the "Day of the Lord" theology that had increasingly echoed from a variety of prophetic voices (as in Hosea 8-9; Amos 5:18-27; possibly Joel, depending on what his dates of writing were). The "Day of the Lord" had come to be a code term that summarized all of the implications of an imminent intrusion of Yahweh into human history. Built upon covenant theology that spoke of God's incursion, which had long ago created the nation of Israel out of the descendents of Jacob who had been enslaved in Israel, the current "Day of the Lord" talk saw a similar need for God to break in and set things right.
At least three ideas were consistently brought forward by all who spoke of the "Day of the Lord," all of which Jeremiah refers to here. First, it would involve divine judgment on both the nations that have been harassing Israel and also on much of Israel's own population that had forgotten to live as Yahweh's people. The fiercest punishment would be reserved for the leaders in Israel and Judah who had failed to shape the community as a covenant community. While the rest of Jeremiah's prophecy reeks with divine antagonism against Judah (see, for instance, ch. 18), the primary focus here (vv. 1-2) is on the leaders of the people. Jehoiachin, as an heir to the great covenant God made with David (2 Samuel 7), is directly challenged (Jeremiah 22), and here those who share his guilt are also brought to divine court.
Second, the "Day of the Lord" would be, according to all the prophets, an occasion when a remnant of God's people would be saved and gathered under God's protection. Taken as a group, the prophets are ambiguous as to whether the remnant deserves to be spared because of its faithful service to God (cf. Malachi 3:16--4:6) or if it will be saved in spite of its shared guilt (cf. Isaiah 40). Here (vv. 3-4), because the focus of God's judgment is on the leaders, the rest of the people seem to be considered more as innocent pawns on the chessboard of the rulers. In any case, God does not intend for God's people to be destroyed entirely by the current crisis. God will soon restore the fortunes of at least a remnant of the people and nurture their unity once again on the land of their inheritance in Palestine.
Third, the "Day of the Lord" will usher in the Messianic Kingdom. While Isaiah expands much on the character of life in this imminent, but future, age (see Isaiah 11-12, 35, 54-55, 60-62), Jeremiah focuses primarily on the qualities of the Messiah King who will be responsible for bringing about the age of glory and peace (vv. 5-6). Note that although the Messiah King is divinely installed, he is nevertheless a human ruler biologically linked to David (for "Branch" see Isaiah 11). Furthermore, as is generally true among the prophets, Judah and Israel are viewed together as the restored complete people of God (v. 6), even though the Assyrians had obliterated the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. From the divine vantage point, neither the destruction of Israel nor the coming captivity of Judah would be permanent events; the "Day of the Lord" will restore the full complement of Yahweh's people once again.
Most important in all of this is that the current corrupt regime, and its effects on the society of Judea in Jeremiah's day, will be forcefully overthrown in a divine coup that will be anything but peaceful. The political agenda in both Jerusalem and Babylon will not survive, and the transition will be cataclysmic. When God steps into history on the "Day of the Lord" there will be no peaceful election or minor tweaking of past policies; instead, society, economics, politics, and jurisprudence will be immediately and drastically altered. The kingdom of God will impose its justice, peace, and prosperity on all nations and societies, and the king who is divinely appointed, rather than elected, will ensure this.
Colossians 1:11-20
Paul's prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon) are ironic in that each speaks powerfully of the rule and reign of Christ over the nations, even as Paul himself sits in prison, subdued and incarcerated by the might of Rome. The occasion for this letter is distilled from clues found in it and in the letters to the Ephesians and Philemon. From the letter to Philemon we find that Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus connected with Paul while Paul was imprisoned in Rome (Philemon 8-16). Though Paul considered keeping Onesimus with him as an attendant, he knew that his relationship with Philemon would not allow it. So, after enjoying Onesimus' company for a time, and instructing him in the faith of Jesus, Paul was now sending the slave back to his master accompanied by Tychicus (Colossians 4:7-9). Since Philemon lived near Colossae, Paul used the occasion to send a letter to that congregation, also. Furthermore, along with these items of correspondence, Paul wrote what appears to be a circular letter that ended up in Ephesus (see Colossians 4:16 and the notes relating to Ephesians 1:1).
It is obvious that Paul's Ephesian and Colossian letters are similarly shaped (many commentaries include a summary of these parallels). It seems, however, that the message of Ephesians is slightly more general, thus allowing it to function as a circular letter. In his letter to the Colossians, on the other hand, Paul addresses a specific issue that appears to be dividing the community (2:6-23). Various analyses identify the problem as proto-Gnosticism, Pharisaic-Judaism-influenced-Christianity, or Gentile-proselyte-to-Judaism-cum-Christian-convert reactionary legalism. The exact nature of the false teaching is not as important as its impact -- those who were influenced by it tended to allow an authority other than Christ to set the agenda for daily lifestyle.
It is on the basis of this competing authority in the lives of some among the Colossian congregation that Paul reasserts the ultimate and complete rule of Christ. Any other contenders are intruders and usurpers. Furthermore, these other authorities once held sway in their lives, and those who wish them back are denying the transformational redemption that Christ brought (1:21-23). If Christ is indeed King (as we celebrate on this Christ The King Sunday), then all the lesser authorities must be subservient to him. Those who are tempted to follow powers or gods of their own making need to be reminded of these things.
Paul's reference to Christ as the "image" of the invisible God (1:15) is a way of saying that Jesus made God visible. The spirit world (and with it God) that we are unable to see because our eyesight is limited to the physical realm, Jesus has made known to us. Thus, the intervention promised by the prophets who spoke of the "Day of the Lord" has already begun. We no longer need to wait only for God's future intrusion into human history in order to find God's justice and God's ways; instead we can look to Jesus and begin to live in the Messianic Age.
Luke 23:33-43
A gospel reading from the crucifixion story this close to Christmas may seem out of place. Yet, its message is exactly on target for "Christ the King" Sunday.
First, in the irony of the message on the placard above Jesus' head, what is feared by a few (Pilate), mocked by some (the religious leaders of the day and the Roman soldiers), and hauntingly misunderstood by others (for example, Jesus' mother, the twelve, and those with them) is actually unfolding as true. Jesus is the King of the Jews, though the character of his kingdom is not fully apparent at this time. He is also a king wielding great authority in spite of his perceived weakness in this moment -- the testimony of the early church will be that Jesus chose to go to death in order to conquer death (see Philippians 2:1-11). Some forms of "ransom" atonement theory emerge from this power-in-weakness juxtapositioning (read the story of Aslan's death on the stone table in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis for a powerful version of this idea). The testimony and request of the believing criminal being executed next to Jesus plays into this irony.
Second, God in Jesus did something that the Old Testament prophets did not fully comprehend as they peered into the murky future and tried to conceptualize the "Day of the Lord." For them, all three elements of judgment, salvation, and eschaton were wrapped into a single event. Jesus split the "Day of the Lord" in two, bringing anticipations of future blessing through his healings and teachings during the time of his first coming, and then taking upon himself the initial blow of God's judgment, thus reserving the rest of it until his second coming. What appeared to the prophets to be a single cataclysmic event actually became two divine intrusions, separated by the times in which we now live. So it is that we worship a seemingly weak king, while confidently declaring the coming of the powerful ruler of the universe. So it is that we rally around a machine of execution as a symbol of life. So it is that we pay homage to a kingdom that appears out of touch with our current world and invisible among the nations of the earth, and yet that touches the longing in every human heart.
On "Christ the King" Sunday, choices have to be made because Jesus' rule and the great kingdom of God can be apprehended only by faith. Is Jesus king today? The evidence can be argued two ways, as the criminals on either side of Jesus show. Do we despise the one who seems to have failed in his attempt to start a revolution and became to some merely another lost figure among the tragedies of our history? Or, do we believe that Jesus' death was intentional, not capitulation, and that through it, and Easter's resurrection, a subversive movement has been unleashed? Is the world right side up (even with all its warts and problems), and has Jesus merely muddied the waters a little as he tried to turn it upside down? Or is our world actually upside down -- living by deadly values and paying homage to spiritual toxic wastes -- and Jesus (and we with him) are beginning to turn it right side up, even if the evidence on this Christ The King Sunday is still a mixed review?
Application
If we were to hold an election here today and ask people to vote on a ballot that listed Jesus among the other potential candidates for top ruler in our nation, we could well be arrested as subversives and jailed according to the limits established by the Patriot Act. Yet, is not our very worship service itself a declaration of our voting habits? Today we say that Jesus lives and rules and that no president or parliament, no congress or convention, no governor or general, no mayor or majority has precedence beside or over him. With our songs we cast our votes:
Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own!
Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity.
-- Matthew Bridges
Obviously, our election of God's candidate would be disputed by the pollsters of our world. Jeremiah's detractors did not believe that the "Day of the Lord" would come in their lifetimes, nor did they believe that God's messianic candidate for office would judge them as harshly as Jeremiah seemed to think. The congregation in Colossae wrestled with Paul's reminders about Jesus' absolute superiority in the power games of our world, and those who surrounded Jesus at Golgotha were seriously divided as to what the sign promoting Jesus' royal position really meant. Our world is no more united on the nature and extent of Jesus' authority, when it comes to messianic talk, than were those people from Bible times.
In the end it is not so much our voting that matters. The point of Jeremiah's prophetic declaration is that all the disputes in these matters will not be resolved by either Jehoiachin or Nebuchadnezzar (along with their associates), but rather by the deliberate trump card God alone can play. So, too, Paul's version of theological history in his letter to the Colossians -- whatever the pollsters here might record as a majority win -- stands as feeble and insignificant when placed next to the surpassing power and authority of Christ. Finally, when Jesus is lifted on the cross of Golgotha, however we might interpret the placard above his head, he is still the only one who can declare with authority, "Today you will be with me in paradise!"
The disputed election for control of the universe is rigged. By God. Thank God!
An Alternative Application
Jeremiah 23:1-6.
"Christ the King" Sunday ends the liturgical year. It may be important to summarize on this day the threefold work of God (creation, redemption, and sanctification) as it unfolds in the drama of Israel and the church. That drama includes Israel's selection to bear the news of the kingdom of God despite its own waywardness. Christ's arrival at the midpoint of history, bridged the centrifugal pull of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel with the centripetal push of the New Testament sending of the gospel to the nations from Israel. The Holy Spirit's sanctifying grace applied the work of Jesus during the waiting times until the consummation. All of this is pointed to successively by the three persons of the Trinity.
Today would be a good day to tell of the Father God who cared enough about his people during Jeremiah's days to send prophets and the Messiah, and who would not allow David's line to end. Today would be a good day to declare the mysteries of the Lion/Lamb Messiah who roared with the voice of heaven while dying under its awful gaze, all for the purpose of reconciling earth and heaven through his blood. Today would be a good day to tell of the Messianic good news spreading under the empowerment of the Spirit, declaring that the times of other kings and kingdoms to have come to an end. The three passages should then be used with the gospel in the middle and Colossians last.
Preaching The Psalm
Luke 1:68-79
The words of Zechariah concerning the arrival of the Messiah, and the role Zechariah's son will play in announcing that arrival, are among the most beautiful and evocative in the Bible. They are also especially significant as we seek to gain an understanding and appreciation of the meaning of Christ as King.
We have several handicaps in modern American culture when it comes to understanding the meaning of Christ as King -- the first one being right there. Christ as King literally, in its Hebrew background, means King as King. The nuances of the meaning of the Greek word Christos, and how that word connects to the Hebrew notion of "Messiah," both words meaning anointed, are all but lost on us. When we hear the word "king" there are typically two associations that we make.
The first is actually the lack of an association. Our contact with a king is so far removed from our national experience as to be totally irrelevant. Simply put, we have no idea what it means to have a king, to expect a king, to honor a king, and so on. When we do try to conjure up some associations, we almost always resort to stereotypes presented to us by popular media.
Additionally, and here we share a struggle with all people throughout history, it is difficult for us to think of a political leader of any sort, king or president, and not think of that role almost exclusively in terms of coercive power. Even in Zechariah's song there is a tacit assumption that the king can do what he wants. But, the power we associate with the idea of king is power for the powerful. In other words, the king in our world acts on behalf of the privileged, not on behalf of the needy.
We must listen carefully to songs of kingship offered in the New Testament, and in particular this song in Luke, and seek to understand power in a different way and for different people.
Twice in this passage, Zechariah celebrates the hope that the king when he comes will free people from bondage. "Our enemies," he writes, "will be vanquished." The people who wait for this king are not privileged people; these are oppressed people. The king they hope for is not so much regal as he is compassionate. He will be adored, not for his pomp and circumstance, but for his commitment to justice.
This is the king Zechariah saw that his son would help introduce to the world. This was the king that he saw would bring hope like the light of a new day. This is the king we now celebrate as Christ our King -- even though we don't know much what that means. We know we have hope because of him, and to him we owe our loyalty and our praise.
In some measure, this stability is an oddity in human history. Imagine, for instance, what it was like to live through the French Revolution of 1789: No pre-existing authority was safe, and "Madam Guillotine" cut a swath of terror through the first and second estates. Put yourself in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1917: The world around you would be coming apart at the seams. Think of the instability in Rwanda in the early 1990s: It would be impossible to know whether any of your family or your property would be with you tomorrow, let alone your own life.
Reviewed in the light of those and a thousand other historical political scenarios, our safe and somewhat monotonous political environment seems beneficially tame. Maybe we don't experience the exhilaration of revolution-passion and drama, but neither do we suffer from its devastating toll.
The lectionary passages for today force us to face other political environments. Each is freighted with the language of kings and the clashing of different points of view given shape by governing systems in competition with one another. Today we need to think politically. Consider, for instance, a world in which injustice won the election by subterfuge and smiled demonically at any challenge by other contenders. Imagine that a series of corrupt officials systematically collected the wealth of the nation while striding disdainfully over the cries of the poor. Think of what it would be like to live with the drab sameness of recurring politics because you fear voting for any other than the one who threatens to kill you, if you even dare. (For a powerful rehearsal of life in the Dominican Republic during the onerous regime of Trujillo, read Julia Alverez' captivating story of the Mirabel sisters called In the Time of the Butterflies, Plume Books, 1995).
All three lectionary readings for today presume some form of this last scenario, and then offer the amazing coup of God's Messiah and the invading army of heaven. This revolution cannot come from within, for in many ways we have bought into the dull tedium of the life-sucking systems that surround us. We are not only victims of evil, but also its vehicles and its voice. On Christ The King Sunday we celebrate the rule of Jesus, but we have to remember that it comes at a price -- to him, to our current regimes that have capitulated to lesser gods, and to ourselves who are often more interested in flag-waving than we are in going through the pain of redemption (for an interesting take on the cost of transformation, use C. S. Lewis' story of Eustace becoming a dragon and then being painfully released by Aslan in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Jeremiah is a grim preacher living in grim times. The Assyrian powerhouse, which ruled the Fertile Crescent (including Palestine) for most of the eighth century, was recently routed by its Babylonian province. The upstart revolutionaries decided to press their claim to the full extent of the old Assyrian borders (Israel, Judah's northern Palestinian partner, formed the outer edge to the west, falling before Assyria in 722 B.C.) and beyond. While looking with desire at Egypt's vast grain resources, they incidentally became curious about the little kingdom of Judah that lay along the same trajectory. A century earlier, King Hezekiah had allowed emissaries of Babylon to see the treasures of his kingdom (Isaiah 39); now they had taken all these and also carried off the brightest and best of its future leadership team (see Daniel 1). Furthermore, the Babylonians had installed Jehoiachin as puppet ruler (Jeremiah 22:24-30) to ensure domestic tranquility while they collected yearly tribute.
King Jehoiachin vacillated between living out his heritage as a descendant of David (with a mandate to nurture the theocracy shaped by the Mosaic covenant), and rejecting it in order to enjoy a role in common with other regents of the day -- take what you can while you can because you can. In the end, Jehoiachin satisfied neither Nebuchadnezzar's demands nor Yahweh's great vision of a covenantal community releasing the blessings of a righteous kingdom to the other nations around (cf. Genesis 12:1-3). What was left of David and Solomon's once magnificent realm was now a paltry province wrecked by foreign theft of its resources and wracked by internal intrigue within the remnants of the royal house that had drifted far from its religious moorings.
In this environment, Jeremiah's vocalization of the speech of God grated on the king's nerves because it spoke of a higher authority than either his or Babylon's, and called for justice. It antagonized both Jeremiah's fellow priests and the prophetic cult that was now paid to advise the king's politics because Jeremiah advocated capitulation to Babylon in order to avoid further bloodshed. It discouraged the people who found themselves without meaningful leadership in a time of extreme crisis. Jeremiah was on the outs with the high and low in society, disturbed with God, and gripped by the loneliness of a prophet's life during antagonistic times (see Jeremiah 20:7-18).
In these few verses, Jeremiah summarizes the "Day of the Lord" theology that had increasingly echoed from a variety of prophetic voices (as in Hosea 8-9; Amos 5:18-27; possibly Joel, depending on what his dates of writing were). The "Day of the Lord" had come to be a code term that summarized all of the implications of an imminent intrusion of Yahweh into human history. Built upon covenant theology that spoke of God's incursion, which had long ago created the nation of Israel out of the descendents of Jacob who had been enslaved in Israel, the current "Day of the Lord" talk saw a similar need for God to break in and set things right.
At least three ideas were consistently brought forward by all who spoke of the "Day of the Lord," all of which Jeremiah refers to here. First, it would involve divine judgment on both the nations that have been harassing Israel and also on much of Israel's own population that had forgotten to live as Yahweh's people. The fiercest punishment would be reserved for the leaders in Israel and Judah who had failed to shape the community as a covenant community. While the rest of Jeremiah's prophecy reeks with divine antagonism against Judah (see, for instance, ch. 18), the primary focus here (vv. 1-2) is on the leaders of the people. Jehoiachin, as an heir to the great covenant God made with David (2 Samuel 7), is directly challenged (Jeremiah 22), and here those who share his guilt are also brought to divine court.
Second, the "Day of the Lord" would be, according to all the prophets, an occasion when a remnant of God's people would be saved and gathered under God's protection. Taken as a group, the prophets are ambiguous as to whether the remnant deserves to be spared because of its faithful service to God (cf. Malachi 3:16--4:6) or if it will be saved in spite of its shared guilt (cf. Isaiah 40). Here (vv. 3-4), because the focus of God's judgment is on the leaders, the rest of the people seem to be considered more as innocent pawns on the chessboard of the rulers. In any case, God does not intend for God's people to be destroyed entirely by the current crisis. God will soon restore the fortunes of at least a remnant of the people and nurture their unity once again on the land of their inheritance in Palestine.
Third, the "Day of the Lord" will usher in the Messianic Kingdom. While Isaiah expands much on the character of life in this imminent, but future, age (see Isaiah 11-12, 35, 54-55, 60-62), Jeremiah focuses primarily on the qualities of the Messiah King who will be responsible for bringing about the age of glory and peace (vv. 5-6). Note that although the Messiah King is divinely installed, he is nevertheless a human ruler biologically linked to David (for "Branch" see Isaiah 11). Furthermore, as is generally true among the prophets, Judah and Israel are viewed together as the restored complete people of God (v. 6), even though the Assyrians had obliterated the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. From the divine vantage point, neither the destruction of Israel nor the coming captivity of Judah would be permanent events; the "Day of the Lord" will restore the full complement of Yahweh's people once again.
Most important in all of this is that the current corrupt regime, and its effects on the society of Judea in Jeremiah's day, will be forcefully overthrown in a divine coup that will be anything but peaceful. The political agenda in both Jerusalem and Babylon will not survive, and the transition will be cataclysmic. When God steps into history on the "Day of the Lord" there will be no peaceful election or minor tweaking of past policies; instead, society, economics, politics, and jurisprudence will be immediately and drastically altered. The kingdom of God will impose its justice, peace, and prosperity on all nations and societies, and the king who is divinely appointed, rather than elected, will ensure this.
Colossians 1:11-20
Paul's prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon) are ironic in that each speaks powerfully of the rule and reign of Christ over the nations, even as Paul himself sits in prison, subdued and incarcerated by the might of Rome. The occasion for this letter is distilled from clues found in it and in the letters to the Ephesians and Philemon. From the letter to Philemon we find that Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus connected with Paul while Paul was imprisoned in Rome (Philemon 8-16). Though Paul considered keeping Onesimus with him as an attendant, he knew that his relationship with Philemon would not allow it. So, after enjoying Onesimus' company for a time, and instructing him in the faith of Jesus, Paul was now sending the slave back to his master accompanied by Tychicus (Colossians 4:7-9). Since Philemon lived near Colossae, Paul used the occasion to send a letter to that congregation, also. Furthermore, along with these items of correspondence, Paul wrote what appears to be a circular letter that ended up in Ephesus (see Colossians 4:16 and the notes relating to Ephesians 1:1).
It is obvious that Paul's Ephesian and Colossian letters are similarly shaped (many commentaries include a summary of these parallels). It seems, however, that the message of Ephesians is slightly more general, thus allowing it to function as a circular letter. In his letter to the Colossians, on the other hand, Paul addresses a specific issue that appears to be dividing the community (2:6-23). Various analyses identify the problem as proto-Gnosticism, Pharisaic-Judaism-influenced-Christianity, or Gentile-proselyte-to-Judaism-cum-Christian-convert reactionary legalism. The exact nature of the false teaching is not as important as its impact -- those who were influenced by it tended to allow an authority other than Christ to set the agenda for daily lifestyle.
It is on the basis of this competing authority in the lives of some among the Colossian congregation that Paul reasserts the ultimate and complete rule of Christ. Any other contenders are intruders and usurpers. Furthermore, these other authorities once held sway in their lives, and those who wish them back are denying the transformational redemption that Christ brought (1:21-23). If Christ is indeed King (as we celebrate on this Christ The King Sunday), then all the lesser authorities must be subservient to him. Those who are tempted to follow powers or gods of their own making need to be reminded of these things.
Paul's reference to Christ as the "image" of the invisible God (1:15) is a way of saying that Jesus made God visible. The spirit world (and with it God) that we are unable to see because our eyesight is limited to the physical realm, Jesus has made known to us. Thus, the intervention promised by the prophets who spoke of the "Day of the Lord" has already begun. We no longer need to wait only for God's future intrusion into human history in order to find God's justice and God's ways; instead we can look to Jesus and begin to live in the Messianic Age.
Luke 23:33-43
A gospel reading from the crucifixion story this close to Christmas may seem out of place. Yet, its message is exactly on target for "Christ the King" Sunday.
First, in the irony of the message on the placard above Jesus' head, what is feared by a few (Pilate), mocked by some (the religious leaders of the day and the Roman soldiers), and hauntingly misunderstood by others (for example, Jesus' mother, the twelve, and those with them) is actually unfolding as true. Jesus is the King of the Jews, though the character of his kingdom is not fully apparent at this time. He is also a king wielding great authority in spite of his perceived weakness in this moment -- the testimony of the early church will be that Jesus chose to go to death in order to conquer death (see Philippians 2:1-11). Some forms of "ransom" atonement theory emerge from this power-in-weakness juxtapositioning (read the story of Aslan's death on the stone table in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis for a powerful version of this idea). The testimony and request of the believing criminal being executed next to Jesus plays into this irony.
Second, God in Jesus did something that the Old Testament prophets did not fully comprehend as they peered into the murky future and tried to conceptualize the "Day of the Lord." For them, all three elements of judgment, salvation, and eschaton were wrapped into a single event. Jesus split the "Day of the Lord" in two, bringing anticipations of future blessing through his healings and teachings during the time of his first coming, and then taking upon himself the initial blow of God's judgment, thus reserving the rest of it until his second coming. What appeared to the prophets to be a single cataclysmic event actually became two divine intrusions, separated by the times in which we now live. So it is that we worship a seemingly weak king, while confidently declaring the coming of the powerful ruler of the universe. So it is that we rally around a machine of execution as a symbol of life. So it is that we pay homage to a kingdom that appears out of touch with our current world and invisible among the nations of the earth, and yet that touches the longing in every human heart.
On "Christ the King" Sunday, choices have to be made because Jesus' rule and the great kingdom of God can be apprehended only by faith. Is Jesus king today? The evidence can be argued two ways, as the criminals on either side of Jesus show. Do we despise the one who seems to have failed in his attempt to start a revolution and became to some merely another lost figure among the tragedies of our history? Or, do we believe that Jesus' death was intentional, not capitulation, and that through it, and Easter's resurrection, a subversive movement has been unleashed? Is the world right side up (even with all its warts and problems), and has Jesus merely muddied the waters a little as he tried to turn it upside down? Or is our world actually upside down -- living by deadly values and paying homage to spiritual toxic wastes -- and Jesus (and we with him) are beginning to turn it right side up, even if the evidence on this Christ The King Sunday is still a mixed review?
Application
If we were to hold an election here today and ask people to vote on a ballot that listed Jesus among the other potential candidates for top ruler in our nation, we could well be arrested as subversives and jailed according to the limits established by the Patriot Act. Yet, is not our very worship service itself a declaration of our voting habits? Today we say that Jesus lives and rules and that no president or parliament, no congress or convention, no governor or general, no mayor or majority has precedence beside or over him. With our songs we cast our votes:
Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own!
Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity.
-- Matthew Bridges
Obviously, our election of God's candidate would be disputed by the pollsters of our world. Jeremiah's detractors did not believe that the "Day of the Lord" would come in their lifetimes, nor did they believe that God's messianic candidate for office would judge them as harshly as Jeremiah seemed to think. The congregation in Colossae wrestled with Paul's reminders about Jesus' absolute superiority in the power games of our world, and those who surrounded Jesus at Golgotha were seriously divided as to what the sign promoting Jesus' royal position really meant. Our world is no more united on the nature and extent of Jesus' authority, when it comes to messianic talk, than were those people from Bible times.
In the end it is not so much our voting that matters. The point of Jeremiah's prophetic declaration is that all the disputes in these matters will not be resolved by either Jehoiachin or Nebuchadnezzar (along with their associates), but rather by the deliberate trump card God alone can play. So, too, Paul's version of theological history in his letter to the Colossians -- whatever the pollsters here might record as a majority win -- stands as feeble and insignificant when placed next to the surpassing power and authority of Christ. Finally, when Jesus is lifted on the cross of Golgotha, however we might interpret the placard above his head, he is still the only one who can declare with authority, "Today you will be with me in paradise!"
The disputed election for control of the universe is rigged. By God. Thank God!
An Alternative Application
Jeremiah 23:1-6.
"Christ the King" Sunday ends the liturgical year. It may be important to summarize on this day the threefold work of God (creation, redemption, and sanctification) as it unfolds in the drama of Israel and the church. That drama includes Israel's selection to bear the news of the kingdom of God despite its own waywardness. Christ's arrival at the midpoint of history, bridged the centrifugal pull of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel with the centripetal push of the New Testament sending of the gospel to the nations from Israel. The Holy Spirit's sanctifying grace applied the work of Jesus during the waiting times until the consummation. All of this is pointed to successively by the three persons of the Trinity.
Today would be a good day to tell of the Father God who cared enough about his people during Jeremiah's days to send prophets and the Messiah, and who would not allow David's line to end. Today would be a good day to declare the mysteries of the Lion/Lamb Messiah who roared with the voice of heaven while dying under its awful gaze, all for the purpose of reconciling earth and heaven through his blood. Today would be a good day to tell of the Messianic good news spreading under the empowerment of the Spirit, declaring that the times of other kings and kingdoms to have come to an end. The three passages should then be used with the gospel in the middle and Colossians last.
Preaching The Psalm
Luke 1:68-79
The words of Zechariah concerning the arrival of the Messiah, and the role Zechariah's son will play in announcing that arrival, are among the most beautiful and evocative in the Bible. They are also especially significant as we seek to gain an understanding and appreciation of the meaning of Christ as King.
We have several handicaps in modern American culture when it comes to understanding the meaning of Christ as King -- the first one being right there. Christ as King literally, in its Hebrew background, means King as King. The nuances of the meaning of the Greek word Christos, and how that word connects to the Hebrew notion of "Messiah," both words meaning anointed, are all but lost on us. When we hear the word "king" there are typically two associations that we make.
The first is actually the lack of an association. Our contact with a king is so far removed from our national experience as to be totally irrelevant. Simply put, we have no idea what it means to have a king, to expect a king, to honor a king, and so on. When we do try to conjure up some associations, we almost always resort to stereotypes presented to us by popular media.
Additionally, and here we share a struggle with all people throughout history, it is difficult for us to think of a political leader of any sort, king or president, and not think of that role almost exclusively in terms of coercive power. Even in Zechariah's song there is a tacit assumption that the king can do what he wants. But, the power we associate with the idea of king is power for the powerful. In other words, the king in our world acts on behalf of the privileged, not on behalf of the needy.
We must listen carefully to songs of kingship offered in the New Testament, and in particular this song in Luke, and seek to understand power in a different way and for different people.
Twice in this passage, Zechariah celebrates the hope that the king when he comes will free people from bondage. "Our enemies," he writes, "will be vanquished." The people who wait for this king are not privileged people; these are oppressed people. The king they hope for is not so much regal as he is compassionate. He will be adored, not for his pomp and circumstance, but for his commitment to justice.
This is the king Zechariah saw that his son would help introduce to the world. This was the king that he saw would bring hope like the light of a new day. This is the king we now celebrate as Christ our King -- even though we don't know much what that means. We know we have hope because of him, and to him we owe our loyalty and our praise.
