A Grace-Filled King

by | Nov 24, 2024

Questions for ReflectionThe Rev. Suzanne Trump, Associate Pastor of Formation and Compassion

  1. When you think of a king, what qualities do you imagine?
  2. What qualities does Jesus Christ possess as our king? 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

  1. On the church calendar, this is the last Sunday of the year
    1. Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent
    2. Thus begins a new liturgical year.
  • This Sunday, known in many churches as Christ the King Sunday, is a relatively new festival
  1. In the 1920’s Pope Pius XI saw a Europe still reeling from World War I.
  2. He saw economic uncertainty
  3. And he saw people willing to turn the governance of their lives over to political leaders who promised to save them
  • So, Pius XI instituted the festival of Christ the King to assert that no human ruler is Lord but that the sovereignty of Christ extends to all time and to all space
  • And from that small beginning today churches all over the world are celebrating Christ the King Sunday
  1. It is fitting that we close the church year celebrating Christ as Lord of all
  2. Some of you may have seen the motion picture a few years back, The Apostle
  3. Robert Duvall plays a flawed, but talented Pentecostal/holiness-type preacher
  • In one service he conducts a type of litany that is sort of a “Jesus Cheer”
  • Imagine his congregation responding each time by shouting “Jesus”!
  • Who is the king of the Jews!
  1. Jesus!
  • Before Abraham was, was who?
  • Jesus!
  • Who is the first and the last?
  • Jesus!
  1. If I’m on the devil’s hit list, who is by my side?
  • Jesus!
  • Who’s the Lily of the Valley?
  • Jesus!
  • Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, who is by my side?
  • Jesus!
  • Come on and say Jesus! Beloved Jesus!
  • If I wake up in heaven this morning, who do I look up to?
  • Jesus!
  • Shout it out loud and say Jesus
  • Jesus!
  • I can’t hear you!
  • Jesus!
  • Jesus
  • Jesus!
  • In the name of Jesus
  • Jesus!
  • That is not our style of worship, but it is kind of invigorating
  1. On this last Sunday of the church year, we celebrate the culmination of history, when Christ shall reign over all
    1. John in his Revelation expressed it through rich symbolism: John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before this throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth
    2. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power forever and ever!
  • Amen
  • What does it mean that Christ is King?
    1. Christ was not and is not a king over a geographically defined piece of national real estate
    2. When we pin the label of King on Christ, we are responding to something he has done for us
  • We are reacting to an impression he made on our life
  1. We are resorting to a language of worship- because our brother Jesus has touched us in a special way
  2. We can dare to respond by coining a doxology for our King
    1. To Christ who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to God and his father, to him be the glory and the power into the eons of the eons! Amen
    2. Note this doxology praises Christ not for what he is, but for what he makes of us.
    3. He has found our weakest spot and healed it
    4. he has affirmed us and made us into his special people
    5. he has looked us squarely in the eye and shown us how supercilious and how nasty,
    6. how pretentious and how mean we can be
    7. then he tells us he loves us nevertheless
    8. despite ourselves, he has made us into his special people
    9. a kingdom, no less
    10. even priests for God
    11. and he has made it all happen by dying
    12. in other words, he finds us at our worst and at our weakest and identifies with us and so affirms us and loves us and forgives us
    13. The result is that we, who now consider ourselves to be subjects to Christ our King, are thereby empowered to treat our fellow subjects with the same grace and style with which our king treats us
  3. There is a humorous story about an attractive woman who was being wooed by two persistent suitors
    1. Each had asked her to marry him
    2. She was talking it over with one of her girlfriends
  • “When I’m with Charles,” she said, “I feel like he’s the best guy in the whole world.”
  1. “So, you are going to marry Charles?” her friend asked
  2. “No” she answered, “I’m going to marry Harold.”
  3. “For heaven’s sake why?”
  • “Because when I’m with Harold I feel like I’m the best person in the whole world.”
  • The same pattern holds for us
  1. Christ makes us into the best people in the world
  2. Therefore, we are committed to him as our king and that is how we come to treat each other so royally
  3. So, the question to be asking yourselves this morning is this
  • “How do I treat the people around me?”
  • Do I treat them as Christ has first treated me?
  • Do I treat them as royally as Christ treats me?
  1. If the answer is yes, then you are doing great, and we want you to continue to do what you are doing
  • If the answer is no, then ponder what Christ has done for you as King
  • And act accordingly toward others
  • God grant us the grace to see how we treat others, the strength to treat them royally and the courage to make changes and grow in love
  • Who is our king?
  1. Jesus!
  • Who loves us?
  • Jesus!
  • Amen