When you "imagine" Christ - when you think of Jesus - what image or metaphor do you come up with for him? I am rather fond of calling Jesus my brother and my friend, and thinking of him as one who walks the journey of life with me, sometimes beside me - sometimes ahead of me and always as someone who talks with me - and counsels me on the way, someone with whom it is comfortable to be with - at least most of the time.
When you “imagine Christ” - when you think of Jesus - what image or metaphor do you use most often? Some people think of Jesus primarily in terms of the song that the Choir sang - they think of him as the good shepherd as one who guides and leads as the gentle saviour - who seek out the lost and injured sheep and carries the wounded and the lame on his shoulders till they are safe back in the fold. And I am partial to that image to.
What image do you have of Christ? What metaphor are you partial to? I would wager that the image of Jesus as a King is not one that would win the most votes as the most common image among us here today. Yet it is for claiming to be a "King" that Jesus is brought before Pilate in today's Gospel reading, and even though Jesus is clear to Pilate that his Kingship is not from this world and that the Kingdom which he claims does not function like the kingdoms of this world; and even though Pilate believes his claim and finds no fault in Jesus - or should we say he finds in Jesus no direct threat to his power - for political reasons he ultimately condemns Jesus to death and places over his head the record of the charge that was brought against him - that he had claimed to be the King of the Jews - a charge that Jesus never denies.
When you think of a king what do you think of? What does the word "king" conjure up for you? I came up with a few images: from childhood: - fairy-tale kings: benevolent, often dead, with a wicked queen - king of the hill: the game where the strongest pushes everyone else off the hill - "king me": draughts/checkers king jumps in all directions, taking over and winning . From adult years: - "the" King - Elvis Presley - of which no more needs to be said - the King in the "Wizard of Id" - a self-centred bumbling dictator - king o' the road - a wanderer with no cares - A chess king - one of limited movement and power to protect.
What about you? What do you think of when you think of the word King? Or Kingdom? Do you, like some, think of folk like Pilate? Caesar Augustus? George the III, or Louis XIV? Figures like Saddam Hussein? President Obama? Men of immense power who are unafraid to issue orders and compel obedience, are unafraid to ask others, no - to command others, to die for their causes? Makers of Law whether by democracy or by Order of Cabinet or Council or Decree and enforcers of their own wills and the will of the State they command? Sometimes with popular approval, but often without?
The simple fact is that lots of folk have difficulty with the concept of Jesus as a King and difficulty with the whole idea of the Kingdom of God. When we think of Jesus - our favourite image of him, despite Sundays like this one, is not likely to be that of Jesus as King: more likely is Jesus as a shepherd, Jesus as a teacher, Jesus sitting with the children gathered around him. And when we do declare Jesus is King - when we declare he is the Messiah, the chosen one of God, I think we have a hard time wrapping our minds around what it is we truly are confessing.
But, having said all that, I think that the real problem with talk about Jesus as King is that we know that Kings are people who issue commands that others are supposed to obey - that they are people that their subjects are supposed to be loyal too and whom they are supposed to serve - no matter how they might feel about it. And we, in this age, perhaps even more than in some other, do not like that. We do not like the idea of obedience. We do not like the idea that someone can "command us" to do something, that someone has authority over us.
The real issue of behind the image of Jesus as King is this: Do I want someone other than myself to be Lord of my life? When we imagine Jesus as our friend, as our shepherd, as our brother, as one who comes to us a healer, teacher we accentuate in our minds the love and the grace and the goodness that he had and still has, it makes Jesus - "user friendly". It makes Jesus - first among equals. Jesus states to Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world and that, in effect, his kingship is not like that of the kings of this world.
As our King - Jesus is not in our face. He gives us our freedom. He treats us as equals - he treats us as his friends. We can slip and slide around the throne feasting when we like the fare, and we can dine out when it's not so palatable. And so we loose track of the fact that doing what he wants us to do really might be good for us, - and the fact that not doing what we want might not be so good for us. We loose track of the fact that obeying his commandments might be helpful to us and our world - and not obeying them might be harmful to us and to our world. In other words we sometimes grow too comfortable with our images of Christ. We sometimes resist too much the full consequences of calling him, as we do at Christmas - while thinking of a him as a baby, King of Kings and Lord of Lords We sometimes resist too much the implications of naming him, as our reading from the Book of Revelation did this morning: The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the ruler of the Kings of the earth, the one who was, and who is, and who is to come....
In a discussion on the name for this Sunday, Christ the King, my friend and I had this conversation and our roles as ministers: I'm sorry, Kim, but the Christ "demanding respect, awe and obedience" sounds like a Christ of law, not of gospel. For me, obedience means to follow laws and rules whether I feel like it or not. It focuses on outward behaviour regardless of my relationship with God through Christ.
I replied: I am an OLM, not because I "obeyed" the call of God, but because, though I thought it was a crazy idea, I didn't want to disappoint the God who had been incredibly faithful to me. My experience says "obedience" is not the essence of Christian faith. "Relationship" is. I hope my experience is not opposed to the gospel. And I really want to agree with my friend - I know that obedience means doing things whether I feel like it or not; and I know that the unconditional love of God, not obedience, is at the heart of the Christian faith - - but then I keep on thinking that this unconditional love comes to us because of obedience, because there was one who was obedient - even to death upon a cross.
And I keep on remembering that we are called to be like him, to be like the one who came not to be served, but to serve, to be like the one who listened to his Father and kept his commandments and who told his disciples that if they loved him, they would listen to his voice and keep his commandments.
Our faith is indeed based in relationship - a relationship of love. But obedience really does seem to be a part of what we should be about. And while we can all agree that Jesus redefined what Kingship means, while we can agree that his kingship is not in fact from this world or like that of the kingships of this world there is still in fact some measure of power that we should ascribe to Jesus - a power over our lives. A power - not of coercion - but of respect, and love, - a respect and love that has as its fruit willing obedience to God in all areas of our lives. The law, as the New Covenant says, is written on our hearts.
Can we imagine Jesus as a king? And does our image of Jesus as king - extend to making him Lord over even our plumbing whether that plumbing be that within our kitchen or within our bodies? Do we even bother asking Jesus about the little things that happen each day, seeking his help, giving him thanks, asking what he would like us to do next? Do we even allow Jesus to be in the situations we find ourselves in, good or bad?
Do we ask ourselves before speaking to someone who has ticked us off or talking to someone about what is happening in the house next door, or between us and our boss; "What would Jesus say and do here?" "What would Jesus want us to say or do here?" That is the issue at the heart of the Jesus is King language that the church employs. That is at the heart of the Kingdom of God language that Jesus employed.
Sometimes being faithful is a difficult thing. Sometimes loving someone or being dedicated to them means doing things we do not want to do, a kind of tough love approach, but when we trust in God and believe that he will be faithful to us, when we try to do what is right then, as Jesus says over and over again in the gospels the Kingdom of God is not far from us - indeed it is at hand - it is over us - and in us.....
Blessed be the name of Jesus – Christ the King - he who is our friend, our brother, our shepherd, our Lord, and our King, now and evermore. Amen
Questions:-
1. What image or Metaphor do you have of Jesus? What image or Metaphor do you have of Christ the King?
2. Do you regard Jesus as King in your life?
3. We are called to be like Jesus. How difficult/easy do you find this? How can we help?
4. Do you find having a relationship with Jesus easy or difficult? How can we help you to keep going?
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