Preached at St. John’s Lancaster 25 November, 2012
The idea of celebrating anything to do with a monarchy, any monarchy, seems a little strange, a lot foreign, and rather suspicious. Our national ethos teaches us that kings are part of what our ancestors came here to escape. To most of us, even the nice ones, like they have in the UK or the Netherlands, are expensive diversions without much purpose. And yet on this “Sunday Next Before Advent,” our Holy Mother the Church calls us to celebrate “Christ the King Sunday.” What were they thinking?
Actually, “they” were continuing an ancient tradition of the people of God which allows us to consider anew the nature of God’s covenant with you and me. This covenant runs all the way back to Father Abraham, and even back to Adam and Eve. It was restated to all of us by the blood of Jesus, the blood of the everlasting covenant, and its “earnest money” or “surety” is found in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ on that first Easter. But to more fully appreciate the Covenant of God with his people, we must grasp the concept of kingship as it relates to Jesus, our liege lord and true sovereign.
A king is very different from a president. A president is chosen by people (and from among the people) to hold a particular term of executive office. If the people don’t like the job he or she does, they can vote for a new president. A president is usually bound by the actions of a legislature or court, and by the content of a constitution or body of customary case law. Kings of the biblical sort have no such limitations. At least in theory, their right to reign and rule is granted by God himself and confirmed by providence via lineage or conquest. They are not bound by law or constitution, because their word is the law and their will is the constitution. In a word, their power is absolute and they do not answer to the people they rule.
But they do answer to a higher principle, a form of “noblesse oblige” if you like. With the gift of sovereignty comes a responsibility to govern well with justice, and mercy, and wisdom. Herein lies the basis for the covenant God has provided for us. It actually appears in the Bible in the form of an ancient near eastern suzerainty treaty. It was a well known legal form in the ancient near east, and was very different from a contract, because the signatories were not equal in any way, shape, or form. It usually sounded something like this:
“I am the great and mighty king. I have conquered your armies in battle and seized your cities and herds, thus demonstrating to all the world that my god is greater than your god. My army is stronger than your army. My desire is now your law.”
“Because I am gracious and just and merciful, I will rebuild your cities and provide security for your economic and personal pursuits. I will institute equitable laws and a court system that will enable you to prosper and live in peace. No one makes me do this and you do not necessarily deserve it. I do it because I choose to do it.”
“I expect you to follow the laws I establish and live peaceably with each other. Know that I will not tolerate rebellion of any kind, and I expect you to translate the loyalty you gave to your former king to me, because your former kings are not kings at all.”
“If you follow my expectations, you and your children will live in peace and prosperity. If you do not, I will kill you, destroy your homes, break up your families, and sterilize your land with salt.”
“I am the great and mighty king.”
Now, let me rephrase this covenant form as the everlasting covenant of God with his people:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. I created you, loved you, and have given you chance after chance to do the right thing. Although you are a rebellious people, and have turned away from me time after time, I have chosen you for my own reasons to bear the good news of how men and women might be reconciled to me, to all the nations of the world.”
“Because I am merciful and loving, I will set you apart as a special nation of priests and kings who will have the privilege of sharing my love with everyone. I expect you to maintain a particular lifestyle and form of worship that I will prescribe, and I will give you an ability beyond your own to rely on me and accomplish this mission. You will be known as my special people.”
“If you follow in this path to which I have called you and for which I have set you apart, I will bless you richly in this world and in the world to come. You will have persecutions because many will not understand what I call you to do, and many more, who prosper from their rebellion against me in the short run, will see you as a threat to their interests. But in spite of their opposition, I will use you to build my church, and there you will find meaning, and a sense of belonging, and peace.”
“To demonstrate the truth of this arrangement, I will send my only Son to die for the punishments that you deserve for your bad behavior. By his life he will show you how I want you to live and he will demonstrate the attitudes and motives I want you to have. To prove the depth of my love I will do this. To prove that it is all true, after three days, my Son will come back to life, and in him, you will see the sort of existence you will taste in this world, and which you will enjoy in the afterlife.”
“If you accept these terms, ask forgiveness for your past sins of rebellion and evil toward me and your neighbors, believe that my Son Jesus can enable you to do all of these things, and do your best to live according to my plan, I will bless you while you live and you will be with me forever after your death. If you do not accept these terms and behave like your acceptance is genuine, you will suffer the results of your own plotting and conniving in this world, and after you die, you will be separated from me and from hope forever. You will feel an aloneness that no person has ever known.”
“I am you Creator and your God, and I love you.”
In the diplomatic forms of the ancient Sumerians, that is God’s offer to you and to me. God the Father has designated his Son Jesus to be our Liege Lord and Sovereign King, and has in his mercy sent upon us the Holy Spirit to give us strength to live into this relationship with our King. He has established the Church as the ark of safety, the dispenser of the Sacraments, and the proclaimer of Scripture to teach us and guide us. He has given us each other and every Christian who has ever lived as a supernatural family to help us along the way. In Holy Baptism, the people of God celebrated the fact that we were adopted into this family. In Confirmation, we as adults publicly reaffirmed our decision to implement the promises of our Baptism. In Holy Communion, we receive God’s gift of the body and blood of Jesus to give us grace and strength and assurance to live into this covenant with our king for yet another day. We come to this holy place to say to all the world that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ as our King, to live under his banner that all the world might know the love of God. By our constancy and our attitudes and our behavior people will come to see the truth of what God offers to everyone made in his image.
Are you up to the challenge today? Are you willing to change when some area of your life or some attitude or behavior fails to match God’s expectations? Are you willing to trust God enough to take the risks involved in sharing the love you have found with others in a life of service and ministry in the Name of Jesus? Then stand with me as together we affirm our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. Kneel with me as we bring our needs before the throne of God. Along with me, confess your sins with a sorrowful heart and an honest desire to change when it is needed. And then join me at this altar of the living God as we renew our allegiance to Jesus Christ the true and living King. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
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