X the Rex

Luke 23:33-43

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. [[ Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 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!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Today we celebrate The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Sunday. Or, because that’s about 7 too many super chewy church words, we just shorten it to Christ the King Sunday. It was started in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in the dark shadows of a broken world following World War I. He saw that even though the official war had come to an end the old hatreds, rivalries and political manipulations of the world were still at work. He wrote, “as long as individuals and states refuse to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.” He argued that “we must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ” if the world was to have real peace. So, he instituted this feast to lift up the Kingship of Christ.

Now at this point we could get horribly derailed by the Papal origins of this day and the king-like hierarchy of Rome and the baggage that comes with it, or by the very “male” focus that comes along with the word “king” or that some still use this concept as a twisted reason to try to “force” people to declare that Christ is their King. But if it’s OK with you, I’d rather just acknowledge, that along with every other metaphor we use to try to wrap our minds around the infinite nature of God, “Kingship” too has baggage and limitations. So, I propose we just put an asterisk here, acknowledging those very real limitations, but for today, look for what it is about this day might be helpful instead.

So, with a bold asterisk firmly in place to help us resist the temptation to dive into one of those very tempting rabbit holes, I’d like to suggest that ol’ Pius the X-I was actually onto something. He wrote how, “bitter enmities and rivalries… hinder the cause of peace” and how “insatiable greed” hides under the “pretense of public spirit and patriotism.” He saw how patriotism, a thing he said was of “noble virtues and so many acts of heroism” could be perverted into an “extreme nationalism” and lead us to forget that we are all part of “one human family” and that nationalism could lead us to dismiss the idea that “all people have the right to life and prosperity.”

If you ask me, it looks like ‘ol Pope Pius the X-I could just as easily have been reflecting on our own world today! Those reflections on patriotism turning into malignant nationalism and how it’s so easy to forget that other human beings are our siblings, seems hauntingly familiar! I think the core of the lesson Pope Pius hoped the world would learn back then, is still very relevant today, because it flows out of this Gospel lesson. I think he wanted the world to learn that it is not our loyalty to earthly kings, emperors, kaisers, presidents, political parties or doctrines that will lead the world to peace, but it is following the path walked by the One who rules all of creation from the seemingly power-less position of hanging on a cross. THAT is the One, who’s WAY will guide us to genuine and lasting peace.

Now, I think this is a good spot to remind us all again about that asterisk we put up before, warning us away from the entrance to the rabbit hole that says, “if everyone just confessed Jesus as Lord” we’d have peace. Because it isn’t REALLY the particular doctrines we believe, or the words we say that really make a difference. What will, as Bishop Curry says, “transform the world from the nightmare it is for so many into the dream that God intends” is our living our lives each day, step by step in the footsteps of Jesus… living our lives modeled after the Jesus-Way of living. Doing what Jesus did... living as Jesus lived... THAT’S what makes the difference!  Searching out the lost, feeding the hungry, embracing the forgotten, maligned and demonized. Speaking truth to power, advocating for justice, lifting up the trampled, healing the sick, reuniting the estranged and raising the dead… THAT is how to live in the Kingdom of Christ! You and I living life on THAT path is how God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Pope Pius saw that earthly kingdoms filled with greed, anger and a thirst for revenge demanding peace by way of a war to end all wars, didn’t bring the world to the peace God intended. He saw that REAL peace is not something that can be commanded from a human throne, but is something that is offered as an undeserved gift from the cross with the promise, "today you will be with me in paradise.”

I know this isn’t easy.  We drive down the road of faith in this life and as we look out the windows we see a world that remains broken and far from the kind of peace God intends. It is very tempting, seeing mile after mile of that sort of injustice, to run off the road into the ditch on one side that says “God can not, or chooses not, to bring peace to the world so it is all on us to make peace happen on our own” or jerk the wheel over and end up in the ditch on the other side that says, “Only God can bring peace to the world so we might as well sit back, do nothing, and wait for God to work it all out.” But faith that “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done” is found in neither ditch. Faithfulness is holding, in what I admit is a horrible tension, the reality that our King rules us with unlimited power, from a completely powerless place on the Cross. Faithfulness to Christ the King is living and walking in that impossible tension and driving down the road of life as St. Augustine suggested: “Praying as though everything depended on God and working as though everything depended on us.” Amen.