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Thought for the Week Sunday
22 November – Christ the King
Today
we celebrate Christ the King. Christ the king of What? England? Well no; we
already have a queen. France? Well no it’s a republic. Europe? Well no, it’s
made up of a variety of countries, some republics and some monarchies. And if
we go to the world we have all sorts of governments and dominions. So king of
what? How are we to understand this declaration? Our
readings of course give us lots of clues, but Daniel and Revelation are
difficult books. Someone called John,
generally accepted as the Apostle John, but a chap called John the Presbyter
is a contender, wrote Revelation. Probably the most difficult book in the
Bible to understand. I once attended a Christmas Eve service and heard the
Archdeacon, no less, describe Revelation as having been written by someone on
an island under the influence of a strong drug --- I don’t intend going any
further down that line of thinking! It
is generally accepted that John the Apostle wrote it whilst in exile on the
island of Patmos in about 96AD, and at a time when Christians were about to
face a persecution in the Roman Empire not previously experienced apart from
Nero’s time. This was a few years later, under the Emperor Domitian, who has
the doubtful reputation of being the first emperor to persecute Christians
because of their refusal to worship the emperor – a cult that had grown over
the years. John wrote Revelation using very figurative language and a
symbolic use of numbers. Many believe John used this language and symbolism
to hide the real message that he was sending out from the prying eyes and the
understanding of non-believers. Although
we in England now have a constitutional monarchy, that was not always the
case. Indeed most kings and queens for that matter in Europe have in fact
very little power, even our own. But before, most kings operated in a
despotic way exercising absolute power over their people - over the years there have been classic
remarks by kings or their consuls showing how far removed they were from the
ordinary people. One that most people will know is that of Marie Antoinette,
the queen to Louis XVI of France. “Let them eat cake” she is alleged to have
remarked when the crowd were clamouring for bread during a famine not
understanding that cake was something the ordinary man could only dream of.
No wonder they had a Revolution some years later. Do
you remember Nathaniel ---- he was the one with Philip when Jesus called both
to be Disciples. Upon told by Philip that Jesus came from Nazareth, Nathaniel
said “Can anything good come from there?” and very soon ate his words by
being the first to declare Jesus the King of Israel and also the Son of God. To
here Recognising in Jesus the descendant of David that was promised to David
in 1 Chronicals at chapter 17. From the time of David, he reigned over Israel
from about 1000 to 970 BC by he way, the Jews had been awaiting David’s
descendant, who in their view was to restore and revitalise the Jewish nation
and take up the cudgel against the Romans --- the long awaited Messiah. But
of course the Jewish idea of the Messiah was a long way from the one they got,
and didn't as a consequence recognise. This
Messiah from David’s line was quite the contrary to what the Jews were
expecting. His message was love, compassion, peace and understanding not
confrontation, war and hate as a consequence of this disposition he was not
recognised except by a relative few and he was left to die a criminal’s death
as a consequence of Pilate’s appeasement of the Jewish hierarchy. But this
rejection of itself led to Jesus’ teaching being made available for all
peoples --- for every nation --- who were put on the same footing as the Jews
themselves. As a consequence Jesus made himself available through his death
to all who would put their trust, their faith in him. Thus he became their
King. In
his book “The Shack” William Paul Young imagines a conversation between the
hero of the story, Mack or MacKenzie and Jesus. It goes like this, “You must care deeply about creation.”
smiled Mack. “Well,
this blue–green ball in black space belongs to me.” Jesus stated emphatically
“So why don’t you fix it?” Mack asks “The earth I mean.” “Because
we (The Father Son and Holy Spirit i.e. God) gave it to you.” “Can’t
you take it back?” asks Mack. “Of
course we could, but then the story would end before it was consummated.” Mack
at this point gives Jesus a blank look and Jesus continues and here’s the
rub, “Have you noticed that even though you call me Lord and King, I have
never really acted in that capacity with you? I’ve never taken control of
your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to
do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others.” Jesus
continues, “To force my will upon you is exactly what love does not do.
Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not
helpful or healthy,” …….”Submission is not about authority and it is not
obedience it is all about relationships of love and respect In fact,” Jesus
says, “we are submitted to you in the same way because we want you to join us
in our circle of relationship. I don’t want slaves to my will. I want
brothers and sisters who will share life with me.” I
have quoted lengthily from The Shack and I would recommend it to all. Apart
from being a good read, it will make you think hard about your relationship
with God. Think
of that reading from Daniel, think of the majesty, the awe, and the
reverence, think of that kingdom that will never be destroyed. Think of our
reading from Revelation, think of that Jesus who is ruler of the kings of the
earth, think of that love that he had for us and the blood shed for us, think
of the glory and power that is his; then think of the nature of his kingship. By
the time Jesus was before Pilate he knew that his end was in sight. At this
time the Jews were still concerned with form rather than content. Witness the
fact that they did not want to enter Pilate’s palace for fear of being
ceremonially unclean as a result of which they would be unable to eat the
Passover --- all right to condemn an innocent man to death though! And
put him to death they were determined to do. Pilate tried dissuading them
“Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” “But we have no right to
execute any one” was the reply. The first words Pilate says to Jesus are “Are
you the king of the Jews?” Jesus doesn’t answer that question immediately but
clearly questions Pilate’s motives. “What is it you have done?” persists
Pilate. Now we get to the meat of the matter. “My kingdom is not of this
world” It
is not a worldly kingdom in any sense of the word – indeed the nature of
Jesus’ kingship is such that his being a King is quite foreign to any
consideration of kingship to be found here on earth. Kings here have always
exercised absolute power before the constitutional monarchy was established
which in fact took away the power of the monarchy. Certainly in Jesus time
kings exercised despotic powers whether they were beneficent or not. Christ
the King – not a king who dominates, not a king who commands, not a king who
demands, not a king who exacts but a king that has in obedience to the Father
given of himself for all our sakes. A King who is servant of all. I
am minded of the painting by Holman Hunt of 1853 “The Light of the World”
–I’m sure you know it, apart from being extremely famous and well known it
probably hung in every Sunday School class or hall and every sacristy in the
land, certainly during my youth. It was based upon Revelation 3 verse 20
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears my voice and opens
the door I will come in and eat with him and he with me.” This king does not impose himself on
others. He is passive, peace loving and patient with you and me. The point
about Holman Hunt’s painting is of course that there is no handle on the door
at which Jesus is knocking ---it’s on the inside, the choice of opening it is
ours and ours alone. This
brings us to the point of what William Paul Young was getting across. This
king doesn’t control our choices or us --- we can accept him or have nothing
to do with him i.e. we can open the door or not. This king does not force his
will upon us ----- he loves us too much for that. This king submits
himself as he says in the book
Submission is not about authority and it is not about obedience it is all
about relationships of love and respect. And why does this king submit
himself to us, why is he a servant king? The answer is that he does not want
slaves to his will, he wants brothers and sisters who will share life with
him. He doesn’t want automatons. Christ
the King wants us to share his life and he wants to share, be part of our
lives ---- it’s up to us to open the door for him to come in so that we can
have a relationship with him and be brothers and sisters. When
we do open the door for him to come in AND we allow him into EVERY room in
our house, without reservation, then we allow him to be king in our lives. We
have a living relationship with Christ the King. Amen. Mel
Fancy: Reader, Anglican Chaplaincy of Midi-Pyrénées & Aude To return to main Thought for the Week page, click X at top right to close this window. |