Today,
the Feast of Christ the King marks the end of the church year. Over the
year we have recalled the promise of Christ’s coming, his birth, life
and ministry, his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. Today
rings with the words of Jesus from the cross - ‘it is finished!’ - as
today also marks the end of our annual training programme on how to be
Christian disciples.
The conversation between the Pilate and
Jesus revolves around the issue of kingship, with Pilate determined to
discover whether Jesus poses a real political threat or not, and Jesus
determined to redefine the notion of ‘kingdom’ and kingship.’ Again
Jesus reminds Pilate that it is he who defines Jesus in political terms.
“You say that I am a king.’ Even though Jesus was not a problem for
Pilate - he believed he held Jesus’ life in the balance - Pilate was
determined to get to the bottom of this and so should we - what does it
mean for Christ to be King?
Christ’s kingship is God given and has a universal and personal reign. Universally Christ
is king of all creation. When God sent his son, he did so to complete
the work he began when he said. ‘Let there be light!’ Christ’s life,
death and resurrection are about God taking all that it means to be
created, broken, hurting, incomplete even sinful, to heart, and on the
cross’s eternal embrace, to allow the eternal effect of sin and death to
die with his Son. Christ is King of creation because in his death and
resurrection he he deposes the power that holds all of creation captive -
he liberates everything into a new freedom in the presence of God and
releases eternal life into the present.
Personally, Christ is
King of our hearts. As Christ dies, the eternal affects of sin and death
are annihilated. With his cry of ‘It is finished!’ Christ is not
defeated, but victorious! Christ is King of creation because in his
death and resurrection he he deposes the power that holds all of
creation captive - he liberates everything into a new freedom in the
presence of God and releases eternal life into the present. Christ is
King in me, for just as he took sin and brokenness to his heart, so I
must take Christ’s kingship to heart. Christ is King in me through faith
in him. The liberation beginning to be experienced in creation, can be
experienced in my life, in yours only when we pay due respect to the
king, when we listen to his words, and as loyal subjects, carry out his
will.
What does it mean for Christ to be King in my life? As
Christ has given his all for me, so I must give my all for him. We need
to become people who lay ourselves open completely to the will of God,
we need to become a trusting people, we need to ask him to help us to
become a faithful praying people. This sort of radical obedience is hard
- God knows even Jesus found it hard - Gethsemene still rings with
Jesus’ ‘Father if it is possible, take this cup from me!’ Yet when we
do, even our deaths become resurrections and the problems and worries
that might keep us awake at night pale into insignificance. It’s not
that they disappear, but that we entrust them and ourselves to the will
of God. Friends it is then and only then that we will experience true
joy, true peace, and we will see our lives and the lives of others
filled with Christlike kingship.
What does it mean for Christ to
be King in my life? As Christ has given his all for me, so I must give
my all for him. We need to become people who are filled to overflowing
with the love of God. Just as God’s love for creation overflowed into
the coming of Christ, so our love of God should overflow into our
relationships with others. The hallmark of the Christian community in
Paul’s day, back as the church was beginning, was the way that
Christian’s loved one another. This sort of radical obedience is hard -
God knows it’s hard - the well where Jesus encountered the Syrophonecian
woman still stings with Jesus’, ‘Is it right that the children’s food
is thrown to the dogs?’ Yet when we do even our deaths become
resurrections, like Jesus, even the most deepseated difference with our
neighbours, friends or family pale into insignificance when we see all
people made in the image of God and loved by God. Friends it is then and
only then that we will experience true joy, true peace, and we will see
our lives and the lives of others filled with Christlike kingship.
What
does it mean for Christ to be King in my life? As Christ has given his
all for me, so I must give my all for him. We need to become people who
know that we are loved personally by God. If you were the only person on
earth, God’s love is so great for you, Christ would have come - did
come - just to restore the relationship between God and you.
Hear
Jesus’ words in 3:16 from God’s point of view - God so loved N so much
that he sent his only son so that if they believe in me, they would not
perish but have eternal life. God calls us to love ourselves too - he
does. This sort of radical obedience is hard - God knows it’s hard - the
seashore is still lapped with Jesus’ words to Simon and his response,
‘Do you love me... you know that I love you.’ Yet when we do even our
deaths become resurrections, like Peter, our self-worth is restored.
Friends it is then and only then that we will experience true joy, true
peace, and we will see our lives and the lives of others filled with
Christlike kingship as brothers and sisters of Jesus.
Friends,
today rings with the words of Jesus from the cross - ‘it is finished!’ -
as today marks our renewed recommitment to be Christian disciples,
seeking Christ’s kingship, the love of our redeemer, brother and lord,
in our lives, in our loves, in our world.
Bringing Christ to the community and the community to Christ
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