Christ the King Sunday

Although it’s not an official feast day in our Prayer Book yet, for over 75 years, the last Sunday before Advent has been known as Christ the King Sunday. Now, as an American in the 21st century, I’m not very familiar with monarchies, with the relationship between citizens and their kings. So I did some research about kings throughout history. What I discovered was patterns of complicated personalities and incredible displays of power.

Take Khosrow I. He was king from 531 to 579 CE in the last Persian imperial dynasty of Iran. He was known for his social reforms and his military might. These two traits came together in an unlikely way in the year 540, when Khosrow sacked the city of Antioch, in modern day Turkey. After completely destroying the infrastructure and capturing all its citizens, Khosrow built a new and improved city for the captives just three miles away. He named it "Weh-andīōg-husraw," or, “Khosrow’s Better Antioch.”

Then there’s Ludwig II of Bavaria, who ruled from 1864 until his death in 1886. He was known for his eccentric costumes, his obsessions with cultural icons of his time like Richard Wagner, and most famously, his castles. Around 1871, he withdrew from politics altogether and spent the remainder of his reign meticulously designing and building extraordinary castles and filling them with lavish furnishing and stunning art. He is often referred to as Mad King Ludwig, but personally I think it’s just unfortunate that he was born before the age of ComicCon.

According to the internet, the regent that tops the list of wildest monarchs in history is our very own King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, 604-562 BCE. Although he was certainly a real historical figure, scholars recognize that the story about him in the biblical book of Daniel is an ancient work of historical fiction. Nonetheless it is a powerful story. For those unfamiliar, chapter four of the book of Daniel details Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, in which he loses his human mind and lives with the mind of a wild animal. The dream comes true and he lives in this way for seven years until somehow, he is able to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and has his faculties restored to him. King Nebuchadnezzar is the inspiration for the concept of the “mad king” in most Judeo-Christian literature.

All of these fantastical stories about kings gives us glimpses into the lives of wealthy men with unlimited resources, men who have the ability to act on their whims and affect the lives of others for personal gain, and men who struggle with mental health and self-actualization. While this might be a realistic description of kingship on earth, it’s hard to believe that this is the kind of king we are proclaiming Chris to be today. So what can it mean that Christ is our King? What do we learn about Christ’s kingship in our scripture today?

Our Old Testament lesson this morning contains the traditional last words of King David. This is actually an extremely ancient poem that compares the one who rules over the people to the sun. It is filled with rich language to describe a holy king. “The anointed of the God of Jacob,” “the light of morning,” “he has made with me an everlasting covenant.” These lines tells us that the king is anointed by God, a vessel for God’s Word and God’s work, that he is the light for the people, revealing the way in which they should go, and that he is in a covenantal relationship with God.

Today’s Psalm is considered a royal psalm that has to do with the holiness of the house of David and of Zion, and the fact that God rests there. From this ancient hymn we learn that the king is divine and worthy of our praise, and that the king dwells both with God and among us, and this is rightly ordered. In our New Testament Reading from Revelation we hear of “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

Finally, in our Gospel reading, we see an almost comical game of telephone, in which Pilate is going back and forth between Jesus in his cell and the Jewish religious leaders outside. He’s trying to understand what Jesus is accused of and who he is to the people. Pilate is determined to get a yes or no answer about whether or not Jesus is or claims to be a king. He means king in a traditional sense. He means king like Khosrow or Ludwig or Nebuchadnezzar.

But Jesus refuses to talk about his kingship, he talks instead about his kingdom. That subtle shift moves us away from the earthly power of a ruler and towards the way of life within the ruler’s otherworldly realm. As believers who know what happens next in the story, we know that the otherworldly realm is very real here on earth as well. And so we understand from Christ’s words that the king is not like other kings. The king testifies to the truth and ushers in a new world.

What a powerful reorientation our scriptures offer us today. Whereas traditional kings are powerful because they are self-serving, wealthy in the things that are passing away, and in a complicated relationship of competition with God, Christ the King is powerful because he is the light of the world, because he is in right relationship with God, and because he brings about a realm of love and hope and abundance for all people. He does not rule over, he sacrifices for, lifts up, ushers in, dwells among.

As the final Sunday of the liturgical year, Christ the King and his reorientation of kingship is what our story of faith leaves us with. This is our example of power, of leadership, and of what is godly. How will this affect your own leadership and which leaders you follow? As we move into Advent, the season of preparation for Christ to come into the world, let us hold fast to the vision of true kingly power that Christ orients us towards, and prepare ourselves to welcome not just a king but the whole Kingdom of God. Amen.