The Feast of Christ the King ​(Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43)

Today is the last Sunday of our liturgical year. This, of course, means the season of Advent is right around the corner. We probably have a similar experience of taking the last day of school easy and just letting it pass. It’s challenging to pay too much attention to your teacher. I bet the teacher herself would have a hard time teaching her subject. No wonder why Fr. Bob asked me to cover for him! So, I do have a strong desire to take it easy today and let it pass.

Our gospel reading, however, does quite the opposite. We are given the picture of Jesus on the cross. He’s not just gently hung on the cross. He’s mocked, insulted, stripped, and tortured. This isn’t the right picture of the last day of school. This is more like a picture of the end days. And it is so ironic that we are celebrating today as the Feast of Christ the King. Jesus in the gospel reading does not show any typical image of a king. He’s really not like a king that we know of. Even if we want to somewhat make this feast contemporary, and call it the feast of Christ the President, this change doesn’t help us at all!

Another ironic thing about today’s gospel reading is that we are trying to wrap up our church year with the tortured, naked, and crucified Jesus, and begin our next church year with longing for the coming of Jesus! Isn’t it troubling to link between the image of the crucified Jesus and that of the baby Jesus?

Hans Urs von Balthasar, a theologian and a priest, once said, “...the whole life of Jesus should be perceived as a going to the Cross.” (Mysterium Paschale, p. 89) In this sense, we can actually see the last chapter and the first chapter of Jesus’ whole life that our lectionary reading shows. From the manger, he heads to the cross. And the Church sees his death on the cross as “the” King’s reign on the cross.

Jesus clearly shows he’s a different kind of king. He’s not a king who is powerful and wealthy. He’s not a king who has military and material resources to save all. As the king of God’s kingdom, he doesn’t show himself as almighty. Instead, he is helpless and powerless. This is the king who is betrayed and abandoned. The leaders and soldiers mock him, and tell him to prove himself. “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” One of the criminals who is hung on the cross next to him also mocks him and questions him, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

If Jesus were like one of those Marvel super heroes, we can sort of imagine he would simply unnail himself from the cross, and say to those who insult him, “Here I am. How do you like them apples?” And he would smack down all of them. But that’s not the case. Jesus prays for those who mock him, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Instead of proving himself and showing him the power that the world worships, he shows the power of forgiveness. He shows the power of not giving up on anyone, not even the ones who insult and curse him. He shows the power of God’s unconditional love to all, including those who murder him. He embodies the gospel.

There’s one message that is repeated three times. Can anyone guess what it is? It’s the message of “Save yourself!” This message is still going on in our time, and is a popular one. The world tells us we must save ourselves because no one else will and can. This belief in the doctrine of “save yourself because no one will” seems to be deeply embedded in our society. It creates functional atheists. The message is clearly anxiety-producing. I must be my own savior. We must either create or choose our own god. We choose what to buy, or invest, who to support and vote. We create our own idols that will serve us and save us. Capitalism, for example, seduces us to believe that money is what saves us. The more we have, the more we can save ourselves. Politicians trigger fear and anxiety by saying we are in danger, so we’ve got to save ourselves. The truth is the more we believe in this, the more we end up destroying ourselves, the less we become human, and the further we depart from God and our neighbors. A theological evidence of this self-saving phenomenon is lack of community in our society. It is self-serving, highly individualistic, and extremely divisive.

Jesus refuses to save himself. He completely gives up on saving himself. It is radically countercultural. In doing so, he shows us the way, and he himself becomes the way in which God saves the entire humanity. We talk about the resurrection, yet there’s no resurrection without death. Death is the only way to resurrection. Jesus dies on the cross to be saved by God and also to save all of us. Jesus dies on the cross to be raised by God and also to raise all of us. He shows the true nature of faith in God, that is, God alone saves us, not ourselves. And what Jesus shows us today is that God clearly doesn’t save us “from” suffering, but “in and through” suffering. God saves us as he suffers with us in our midst of darkness. As Jesus refuses to save himself from his own suffering, he willingly suffers with those suffering. This is the power of God’s unconditional love.

Don’t try to save yourself. Don’t try to prove yourself or accomplish something great as if that will save you. God does it all. God loves us unconditionally. When the Son of God doesn’t even try to save himself, why would we do that?

Now we’re to look at Christ on the cross as the king. Again, not just that typical power-hungry king… Let’s imagine Jesus and the two criminals on his sides. One who tells Jesus to save himself and does not see Jesus as the king of God’s kingdom. The other, however, confesses his faith in Christ as the king. He says to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (chanting?) He looks at Jesus’ kingdom. Which means he acknowledges Jesus as the king. What kind of king do you believe in? Which side of Jesus are you on?

I see the Church on the cross as the one who sees the crucified Jesus as the king. This is a new community that refuses to save herself and trusts in that paschal mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is indeed what it means to be baptized. In baptism, we are hung on the cross with Jesus, asking him to remember us in his kingdom. And we are risen with him.

The arms of Jesus on the cross are widespread to bring together what’s divided. His arms are stretched to free what’s enslaved. The 4th century Church Father, Cyril of Jerusalem once said, “...God in his suffering spread out his arms and gathered in the circle of the earth, so as to announce that, from the rising of the sun to its setting, a future people would be gathered under his wing.” (Ibid., p. 130) And our BCP has a prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hardwood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace…” (BCP p. 101)

As we partake his Body and Blood, we are once again embraced by God’s unconditional love, forgiven, restored, healed, transformed, and transfigured in God’s image. And as we receive his Body and drink his Blood, our hands are stretched and wideopen to live out that love and show that love to those who are still in the spell of self-saving magic. 

May we as the Church, the Body of Christ proclaim to the world that there’s no need to save themselves, because of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the King on the cross in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.