The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, November 21^st
Jeremiah 23:1–6
Jeremiah 23:1–6 (Semi-continuous)
Psalm 46
I will be exalted among the nations. (Ps. 46:10)
Luke 1:68–79 (Semi-continuous)
You have raised up for us a mighty Savior. (Luke 1:69)
Colossians 1:11–20
Luke 23:33–43

The Mercy of A King from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Vimeo.

Today, we come to the end of the church year. Today, we wrap up, in one text all of what we have talked about throughout this past church year.

Remember the year started off with the coming of a king, someone who was going to save people from their sin. We also had astrologers from the East asking Herod, “where is he who is born king of the Jews?” (Mt 2:2)

And it wasn’t long after this that we saw an enthusiastic crowd want to take Jesus by force and make him king. Although it seems Jesus has a love hate relationship with this sort of image because Jesus very directly tells his disciples to find him a donkey so he can ride into Jerusalem just as the prophet Zechariah had said: “Lo, your king comes to you, humble and riding upon a donkey.” (Zach 9:9)

We all remember Palm Sunday, a reenactment of Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We usually carry Palms and shout together “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 19:38)

Over the last couple of weeks we have heard about the close of the age, and we talked about the end coming . Here Jesus is talking about the cycle of life being completed, just as our cycle of the church year is being completed.

Also during that year we saw an assembly of folks bring Jesus before Pilate saying “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” (Luke 23:2)

Aren’t many of these people the same ones who just earlier tried to take Jesus by force and make him king? During this mockery of a trial, Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (Luke 23:2-3)

Pilate, of course, makes up a sarcastic sign and places it on the cross, “This is the King of the Jews.” This pretty much brings us full circle to our text for today where, in v36 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

Is the message we see in our gospel text today one of hope or one of despair? How does this little baby start off with so much promise to become a king only to end up on a cross between two thieves.

This text about a Jewish rebel, who we thought would become king now ends up in a story about a human who is being crucified, being scoffed by the crowd, being mocked by soldiers, a text that shows criminals, thieves being crucified one on the right and one on the left. This text hardly seems fitting for Christ the King Sunday.

As a child I don’t ever recall playing king with my small friends. I think in the United States we really don’t appreciate kings very much, we don’t understand them, perhaps most of our ideas about democracy don’t even allow for the idea of having a king in our world.
Ok, we do throw around titles about kings like the king of pop, or the king of soul, or the king of rock n roll. Could this mean we really don’t understand what it means to be a real king, does it mean we don’t or can’t appreciate this metaphor on Christ the King Sunday?

Perhaps we ought to recognize once and for all that our vision of a king and God’s vision of a king are very different. Isn’t that one reason why the disciples really didn’t get it either, not even as it came close to the end of Jesus’ life did they understand God’s mission in the world.

Isn’t our vision of a king something more like seeing a king as Superman. In contrast to what we know about the theology of the cross, that of a suffering/dying king, perhaps our image of God’s king needs to be modified.

Robert Capon in Hunting the Divine Fox presents a very interesting image of an American Messiah, an American King — and it doesn’t look much like Jesus on the cross.

He says isn’t our view of Jesus like that of Superman: “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It’s SuperJesus! Strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American Way.”

Now if that isn’t popular christology, I’ll eat my hat. Jesus — gentle, meek and mild, but with secret, souped-up, more-than-human insides — bumbles around for thirty-three years, nearly gets himself done in for good by the Kryptonite Kross, but at the last minute, struggles into the phone booth of the Empty Tomb, changes into his Easter suit and, with a single bound, leaps back up to the planet Heaven. It’s got it all — including, just so you shouldn’t miss the lesson, kiddies: He never once touches Lois Lane.

You think that’s funny? Don’t laugh. The human race is, was and probably always will be deeply unwilling to accept a human messiah. We don’t want to be saved in our humanity; we want to be fished out of it. We don’t admit guilt for our sin because there is no sin.

We crucified Jesus, not because he was God, but because he blasphemed: He claimed to be God and then failed to come up to our standards for assessing the claim. It’s not that we weren’t looking for the Messiah; it’s just that he wasn’t what we were looking for.

Perhaps our kind of Messiah would come down from a cross. He would carry a folding phone booth in his back pocket. He wouldn’t do a stupid thing like rising from the dead. He would do a smart thing like never dying. [pp. 90-91;]

After all why does there need to be a sacrifice, in the modern era there’s no need for redemption, there’s no such thing as sin if everything is relative. And yet, we know, deep down, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

So what do we really think? As it is with most things, most ideas, most Christian theology, it’s really not about us and what we think; it’s really all about God.

So based on the truth of scripture and understanding of the story of Christianity what can we learn about God’s view of Christ the King.

One thing we know is that some of the most familiar stories or parables that Jesus told turned the old ideas, the old culture, the old world on its head.
1) the Good Samaritan – who is our neighbor? Was it the priest, the religious one, no…..
2) the Employer who paid everyone the same wage regardless of the time worked
3) the Prodigal Son – we see a father accept back a derelict, but repentant son, yes even the worst of us can be accepted back by the father, no matter what

This is a new arithmetic, a new way of thinking, there’s a new formula for God’s kingdom.

Look at our text for today, Jesus is being crucified between two criminals, the folks are scoffing, the soldiers mocking, and Jesus says, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Unexpected forgiveness, that’s what God is about.

Really, forgiveness no matter what! What happened to an eye for an eye? What happened to the idea of justice or fairness? Don’t we all want to hold back our forgiveness a little; after all we need to teach them a lesson, right?

Well, in God’s kingdom there is nothing that can’t be forgiven. Is this what is meant by the mercy of a king?

Does this mean our understanding of the ‘kingdom of God’ needs to change? Does it mean we need to change our model from one of a member in the kingdom to a disciple of the King?

Does it mean we can no longer keep faith a private affair, but need to share our faith publicly?

Does it mean we can no longer sing hymns robustly while ignoring our neighbor industriously?

Does it mean we can no longer own our wealth because God owns our health and well being?

Understanding the mercy of a king means wanting to be remembered by the King. Remember the one thief’s request, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Shouldn’t that also be our request? Lord, remember me, forgive me, love me?

If it is, Christ the King will surely tell us, as he told the thief, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Amen