What Can We Believe about the Reign of Christ?
Sermon
What Can We Believe?
Second Lesson Cycle A Proper 23 through Thanksgiving
The church calendar says that this is the day on which we celebrate the festival of Christ the King. That makes this a very important day. The idea of the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of Christ, is one of the most important biblical and theological explanations of the meaning of the Christian faith. It probably represents the very heart of Jesus' own teachings. Mark tells us that right after Jesus returned from being tempted in the wilderness, "Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe the good news'" (Mark 1:14-15). Later, the writer of the letter to the Ephesians gave a more universalistic interpretation to that concept. He says that "with all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Ephesians 1:8-10). Later, he wrote that God has put his great power to work in Christ "when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all" (vv. 20-23). This passage elaborates on the concept of the kingdom of God by picturing God and Jesus in the splendor of all powerful rulers over all things.
It certainly is an awesome image. But, if we think much about it, most of us won't like that image very much. We don't know an awful lot about kings, and we really don't like what we do know about them. Those of us who are Americans remember that our country came into existence by being in a war fought to get rid of a king. We don't much like the idea of anyone playing the role of a king in our lives, not even Christ. And the non-Christian peoples of the world have a problem with all of our talk about Christ being the all powerful king of the whole creation. To them that sounds like a rationale for Christian countries conquering them and forcing our religion and our way of life on them. The truth is at times in history, Christians did think that way. There are some problems with the image. But, the meaning behind the image is very important and valuable to all of us. Let's try to catch a vision of the meaning. What can we believe about Christ the king and about the kingdom of God?
For people in biblical days, there was always a king. The king was the most important other in their lives. The strength and effectiveness of the king determined the well being of the people of the realm. The way in which the king chose to rule determined the quality of life in the kingdom. If the king was a cruel tyrant, as so many of them were, the people lived in fear. The expectations of the king were the responsibilities of the people. The people's relationship with the king shaped their lives.
Is there any "other" that plays a role like that in our lives or in our world? That question may set us all to squinting and thinking hard. Most of us probably want to say, "I can't think of anything that is so important that my relationship with it shapes my life." We have separate relationships with different "others" and they all have different effects on our lives. Think now, can you imagine all those separate realities forming one big other reality whose relationship with you determines how you live? Can you see yourself having a relationship with reality as a whole? Can you see yourself living in relationship with life? We do sometimes see ourselves living in some kind of a relationship with life, don't we? The shape of that relationship determines the quality of our lives.
Now let's take one more step. Can you imagine one great reality, a living reality, standing behind that reality that we experience as "life" and relating to us in all of our interactions with life? Can you imagine that the greater reality that is out there relating to you in all of your interactions with life is God? Can you? Maybe your honest answer will be "no." You may never have thought of God in that way. And you may be having trouble getting this picture into focus. If you can't get this picture right now, that's all right. Just stay with us until you see the whole picture. Then you can make a decision about it. The point is the Bible writers compared God, and the risen Christ as an aspect of God, to a king in order to say they play the role in our lives of that all important other whose interactions with us shape our lives.
Now, if we do live in relationship with some great other, that relationship will ultimately shape our lives. We can learn how that works by remembering how the lives and personalities of children are shaped. They are shaped mostly through their interactions with the most important others in their lives: their parents. How the child experiences his or her parents and how they interact can make a big difference. Let's make up a case study to see how this works.
Imagine a little boy who is being raised by a single parent who is seriously addicted to narcotics. The parent's way of relating to the child varies between being neglectful and being abusive. The parent often stays gone for days at a time leaving the child with nothing to eat. When the parent comes in, the child has to hide to avoid being beaten. On the rare occasion when the parent is sober, the parent talks about how much he or she loves the child, but the child really can't figure out what that means. It only confuses him. If that kind of a relationship with the most important other shapes the child's life, what shape is that child's life likely to take?
Now imagine one day, the child welfare people come and take the child away. At first the child is terrified because he is being taken away from all that he knows. The child is taken to a group home for children. Eventually the child comes to realize that he is safe here and there is plenty to eat. The people who care for him are kind, but no one treats him like he is special. The child has the idea that this arrangement is temporary and he can't imagine what is ahead for him. If this is the shape of the child's relationship with the important other, what effect is it likely to have on his life?
Now imagine one day, a man and a woman come to the group home and the child is told that these people have come to adopt him. They will be his new parents. Again, the child is frightened. But eventually the child realizes that these people are relating to him as no one ever has before. They show him a room they say is his room. They call him to supper. They ask him what he likes to eat and what he wants to be when he grows up. They spend time playing with him and they seem to enjoy it. They take him to school and they talk with the teacher about him. When he gets sick at school, they leave work and come to get him. When he acts up, they punish him, but they don't hurt him and, when it is all over, everything is okay again. After a year of this, the child begins to understand what love means. If the child's life is being shaped by that kind of a relationship with the most important other, what shape is the child's life likely to take?
Who the most important other is in a person's life, and what kind of relationship a person has with that most important other, can make a big difference in the shape and quality of a person's life, can't it? If that is true, it is awfully important for us to know something about that great other in interaction with which we live our lives. We need to know what -- or who -- it is and how it relates to us and how we ought to respond to it. Many of us just drift into some kind of a relationship with life that is shaped by our good and bad experiences. We may or may not put together any kind of an image of who or what that is out there that keeps coming to meet us in life. Christians believe that Jesus came to show us who it is that is meeting us and interacting with us in all of our experiences of life. Jesus came to show us how that other relates to us and how we can best relate to the other so that our lives can take the best shape possible. Is this all coming together now?
Jesus came to show us that there is someone who really is the most important other out there, someone who is greater than all of the little tyrants that keep trying to get us to let them be king of our lives. There is someone who really does play the role of the king. And that one who really is the great other is someone who loves us and cares about our well being, and is even willing to make costly commitments to our lives. That other invites us to respond to him -- and to life -- in basic trust and love and to allow trust and love to shape our lives. The one who made himself known to us through Jesus Christ is still God. The one who lived among us to make God known has become an aspect of the God who meets us in life day by day. That can get a little complicated. Just hold on to this. The Bible writers talk about Christ being the king in order to tell us that the most important other in our world and in our lives is someone who loves us and is working for our salvation just like Jesus did. Can you imagine what shape our lives might take if we really allow that great other to play the role of king in our lives?
The idea of the kingdom of God and of Christ has other dimensions too. We have to stretch a little more. We have seen that the image of the kingdom of God is a way of talking about our personal relationship with God. It is also a way of talking about the shape of all reality and a way of talking about the future toward which God is moving the creation.
God is not just our little personal God. Yes, we each have a very personal and intimate relationship with God. That is not to say we can have a relationship with God but rather that we each do have a relationship with God. We all live in daily interaction with God, whether we realize it or not. We make decisions about how we will respond and relate to God and to life and that determines the quality of our lives. The very same kind of interaction is going on between God and every other person on the face of the earth. God is reaching out to each of us in love and inviting each of us to respond in trust and love. That gives a special kind of unity to the human race, doesn't it? Stretch a little more. That greater reality in relationship with whom we live our daily lives is the one who created the world. And out beyond the atmosphere of our little planet is a reality so vast that our most brilliant scientists have not yet been able to imagine its dimensions. We have to believe that all of that is part of the reality that exists in the realm of the God whom we are invited to call king. All of that is the creation of someone who loves us, someone who loves us all.
We can spend a lot of time thinking through the implications of all that. One of the first implications that will emerge is if God loves us all, God must want us to love one another. Jesus said he does. That is really pretty basic. But what a great difference it would make if we took that seriously. When we get that picture, it will be very clear that believing Christ is the king will never give anyone an excuse to try to conquer and suppress anyone else. On the contrary, it will mean that we ought to be busy loving each other and being committed to the well being of all people just like God is. That gives us a promising image of the end toward which God is trying to move the whole creation. That makes sense of the words from Ephesians that speak of God's "plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (v. 10).
During the 1960s, a certain musical drama was presented that was based on the "Hippie" way of life. It was called "Hair."1 For several good reasons, you don't often hear it referred to in church. There was one song in that musical that foretells and celebrates the dawning of a new age when peace and love would govern everything, even the movement of the planets and the stars. Remember? It was called "The Age of Aquarius." That kind of expectancy was not new. Ever since the letter to the Ephesians was written -- or before -- Christians have believed that a new age of peace and love is coming. That expectancy has given Christians something to celebrate, a hope to hold on to, something in which to commit themselves, and a new way to live their lives. But that new age Christians have expected is not the age of Aquarius, it is the kingdom of God, the reign of Christ the king.
This series of sermons is designed to peel away some of the wrappings of the Christian faith in which we can no longer believe and show us the important things that we can still believe. This one ends in a somewhat different place. I hope that we have shown you an image of the meaning of the idea that Christ is king that will make sense in terms of our modern way of thinking. But this time, instead of saying, "Here is something you can still believe," I have to say, "Can you believe this?" Can you believe that there is a greater reality out there relating to you and to every other person through our interactions with daily life and that great other is someone who loves us and wants us to live in love? It will take great imagination and great courage to actually believe that and to let that belief shape your life. If you can believe it, you can experience life in an entirely new way. You can experience the new life of the kingdom of God. Amen.
__________
1. "Hair. The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical." James Rado, Gerome Ragin, Galt McDermit, first presented off-Broadway, 1967.
It certainly is an awesome image. But, if we think much about it, most of us won't like that image very much. We don't know an awful lot about kings, and we really don't like what we do know about them. Those of us who are Americans remember that our country came into existence by being in a war fought to get rid of a king. We don't much like the idea of anyone playing the role of a king in our lives, not even Christ. And the non-Christian peoples of the world have a problem with all of our talk about Christ being the all powerful king of the whole creation. To them that sounds like a rationale for Christian countries conquering them and forcing our religion and our way of life on them. The truth is at times in history, Christians did think that way. There are some problems with the image. But, the meaning behind the image is very important and valuable to all of us. Let's try to catch a vision of the meaning. What can we believe about Christ the king and about the kingdom of God?
For people in biblical days, there was always a king. The king was the most important other in their lives. The strength and effectiveness of the king determined the well being of the people of the realm. The way in which the king chose to rule determined the quality of life in the kingdom. If the king was a cruel tyrant, as so many of them were, the people lived in fear. The expectations of the king were the responsibilities of the people. The people's relationship with the king shaped their lives.
Is there any "other" that plays a role like that in our lives or in our world? That question may set us all to squinting and thinking hard. Most of us probably want to say, "I can't think of anything that is so important that my relationship with it shapes my life." We have separate relationships with different "others" and they all have different effects on our lives. Think now, can you imagine all those separate realities forming one big other reality whose relationship with you determines how you live? Can you see yourself having a relationship with reality as a whole? Can you see yourself living in relationship with life? We do sometimes see ourselves living in some kind of a relationship with life, don't we? The shape of that relationship determines the quality of our lives.
Now let's take one more step. Can you imagine one great reality, a living reality, standing behind that reality that we experience as "life" and relating to us in all of our interactions with life? Can you imagine that the greater reality that is out there relating to you in all of your interactions with life is God? Can you? Maybe your honest answer will be "no." You may never have thought of God in that way. And you may be having trouble getting this picture into focus. If you can't get this picture right now, that's all right. Just stay with us until you see the whole picture. Then you can make a decision about it. The point is the Bible writers compared God, and the risen Christ as an aspect of God, to a king in order to say they play the role in our lives of that all important other whose interactions with us shape our lives.
Now, if we do live in relationship with some great other, that relationship will ultimately shape our lives. We can learn how that works by remembering how the lives and personalities of children are shaped. They are shaped mostly through their interactions with the most important others in their lives: their parents. How the child experiences his or her parents and how they interact can make a big difference. Let's make up a case study to see how this works.
Imagine a little boy who is being raised by a single parent who is seriously addicted to narcotics. The parent's way of relating to the child varies between being neglectful and being abusive. The parent often stays gone for days at a time leaving the child with nothing to eat. When the parent comes in, the child has to hide to avoid being beaten. On the rare occasion when the parent is sober, the parent talks about how much he or she loves the child, but the child really can't figure out what that means. It only confuses him. If that kind of a relationship with the most important other shapes the child's life, what shape is that child's life likely to take?
Now imagine one day, the child welfare people come and take the child away. At first the child is terrified because he is being taken away from all that he knows. The child is taken to a group home for children. Eventually the child comes to realize that he is safe here and there is plenty to eat. The people who care for him are kind, but no one treats him like he is special. The child has the idea that this arrangement is temporary and he can't imagine what is ahead for him. If this is the shape of the child's relationship with the important other, what effect is it likely to have on his life?
Now imagine one day, a man and a woman come to the group home and the child is told that these people have come to adopt him. They will be his new parents. Again, the child is frightened. But eventually the child realizes that these people are relating to him as no one ever has before. They show him a room they say is his room. They call him to supper. They ask him what he likes to eat and what he wants to be when he grows up. They spend time playing with him and they seem to enjoy it. They take him to school and they talk with the teacher about him. When he gets sick at school, they leave work and come to get him. When he acts up, they punish him, but they don't hurt him and, when it is all over, everything is okay again. After a year of this, the child begins to understand what love means. If the child's life is being shaped by that kind of a relationship with the most important other, what shape is the child's life likely to take?
Who the most important other is in a person's life, and what kind of relationship a person has with that most important other, can make a big difference in the shape and quality of a person's life, can't it? If that is true, it is awfully important for us to know something about that great other in interaction with which we live our lives. We need to know what -- or who -- it is and how it relates to us and how we ought to respond to it. Many of us just drift into some kind of a relationship with life that is shaped by our good and bad experiences. We may or may not put together any kind of an image of who or what that is out there that keeps coming to meet us in life. Christians believe that Jesus came to show us who it is that is meeting us and interacting with us in all of our experiences of life. Jesus came to show us how that other relates to us and how we can best relate to the other so that our lives can take the best shape possible. Is this all coming together now?
Jesus came to show us that there is someone who really is the most important other out there, someone who is greater than all of the little tyrants that keep trying to get us to let them be king of our lives. There is someone who really does play the role of the king. And that one who really is the great other is someone who loves us and cares about our well being, and is even willing to make costly commitments to our lives. That other invites us to respond to him -- and to life -- in basic trust and love and to allow trust and love to shape our lives. The one who made himself known to us through Jesus Christ is still God. The one who lived among us to make God known has become an aspect of the God who meets us in life day by day. That can get a little complicated. Just hold on to this. The Bible writers talk about Christ being the king in order to tell us that the most important other in our world and in our lives is someone who loves us and is working for our salvation just like Jesus did. Can you imagine what shape our lives might take if we really allow that great other to play the role of king in our lives?
The idea of the kingdom of God and of Christ has other dimensions too. We have to stretch a little more. We have seen that the image of the kingdom of God is a way of talking about our personal relationship with God. It is also a way of talking about the shape of all reality and a way of talking about the future toward which God is moving the creation.
God is not just our little personal God. Yes, we each have a very personal and intimate relationship with God. That is not to say we can have a relationship with God but rather that we each do have a relationship with God. We all live in daily interaction with God, whether we realize it or not. We make decisions about how we will respond and relate to God and to life and that determines the quality of our lives. The very same kind of interaction is going on between God and every other person on the face of the earth. God is reaching out to each of us in love and inviting each of us to respond in trust and love. That gives a special kind of unity to the human race, doesn't it? Stretch a little more. That greater reality in relationship with whom we live our daily lives is the one who created the world. And out beyond the atmosphere of our little planet is a reality so vast that our most brilliant scientists have not yet been able to imagine its dimensions. We have to believe that all of that is part of the reality that exists in the realm of the God whom we are invited to call king. All of that is the creation of someone who loves us, someone who loves us all.
We can spend a lot of time thinking through the implications of all that. One of the first implications that will emerge is if God loves us all, God must want us to love one another. Jesus said he does. That is really pretty basic. But what a great difference it would make if we took that seriously. When we get that picture, it will be very clear that believing Christ is the king will never give anyone an excuse to try to conquer and suppress anyone else. On the contrary, it will mean that we ought to be busy loving each other and being committed to the well being of all people just like God is. That gives us a promising image of the end toward which God is trying to move the whole creation. That makes sense of the words from Ephesians that speak of God's "plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (v. 10).
During the 1960s, a certain musical drama was presented that was based on the "Hippie" way of life. It was called "Hair."1 For several good reasons, you don't often hear it referred to in church. There was one song in that musical that foretells and celebrates the dawning of a new age when peace and love would govern everything, even the movement of the planets and the stars. Remember? It was called "The Age of Aquarius." That kind of expectancy was not new. Ever since the letter to the Ephesians was written -- or before -- Christians have believed that a new age of peace and love is coming. That expectancy has given Christians something to celebrate, a hope to hold on to, something in which to commit themselves, and a new way to live their lives. But that new age Christians have expected is not the age of Aquarius, it is the kingdom of God, the reign of Christ the king.
This series of sermons is designed to peel away some of the wrappings of the Christian faith in which we can no longer believe and show us the important things that we can still believe. This one ends in a somewhat different place. I hope that we have shown you an image of the meaning of the idea that Christ is king that will make sense in terms of our modern way of thinking. But this time, instead of saying, "Here is something you can still believe," I have to say, "Can you believe this?" Can you believe that there is a greater reality out there relating to you and to every other person through our interactions with daily life and that great other is someone who loves us and wants us to live in love? It will take great imagination and great courage to actually believe that and to let that belief shape your life. If you can believe it, you can experience life in an entirely new way. You can experience the new life of the kingdom of God. Amen.
__________
1. "Hair. The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical." James Rado, Gerome Ragin, Galt McDermit, first presented off-Broadway, 1967.
