Christ the King

Have you ever had the privilege of meeting our Queen?

I have to say I haven’t but I did sing to Princess Ann once when I was at school.

She was visiting the school I was at and we put on a great show for her, from the Army group putting on a display to the music school showing off with the madrigal choir – which I was in – to a sumptuous lunch with all the great and good of the school.

Royalty in this country is something which many people are still terribly proud of and it comes with it a sense of awe and wonder, putting on our best for them.

Why start with this – well today is the day in the Church's year when we celebrate Christ the King.

And it seems that we have a lot of expectations about earthly kingship which we bring into our understanding of Heavenly Kingship.

And earthly Royalty or Kingship holds with it a pattern of behaviour and expectations, we are not really worthy to be part of it so we put on our best show, royalty is far away from US as normal people or subjects of their realm.

And yet when we think about Christ as King we need to think beyond our understanding of earthly monarchy to think of Kingship in a different way and of our responsibilities of being part of a heavenly Kingdom.

Christ as King urges us to see our King Jesus beyond our human understanding,

A King who although perfectly God was also perfectly able to relate to humanity.

Who made his home not with the high and mighty, not with the powerful but with the poor and outcast of society.

Who surrounded himself not with great scholars and educated leaders and statesmen but with fishermen and tax collectors.

Who was educated not in the great schools of the day but at the bench of his earthly father the carpenter.

And yet we see Jesus, – this Jesus as King- having all power and authority that have been given him by God.

So it is not surprising therefore that when we look at his Kingdom – the priorities and guiding principles,  will be vastly different from those of the world.

And todays gospel reading speaks clearly to us as we celebrate Christ the King today and as we think about what it means to us to live as part of his Kingdom.

So I want to look at this briefly this morning to see what it can teach us about priorities in the Kingdom of God and living under the rule of Christ as King.

Well firstly when we look at this reading we need to see clearly how it follows on from the previous parables in Matthews gospel – the parable of the talents and before this the parable of the ten virgins waiting with their lamps for the bridegroom.

These perhaps are unsettling parables which speak to us about being ready for when the Lord returns but also of ensuring that we work diligently for the Kingdom in using the gifts and talents that we have been given.

And in culmination of these parables now Matthew gives us some teaching of Jesus on judgement and this wonderful story about the King.

So I want to look at it firstly in terms of judgement – which is something not many of us like thinking about.

Then secondly in terms of what we will be judged against and how this may help us think about our priorities in living as part of the Kingdom.

Firstly, then judgement.

The idea of judgement day was a common feature of first- century Judaism, and it was also an expectation amongst the early Christians.

We now a days don’t emphasise it too much in mainstream churches- and often the idea of judgement is parodied by those who we probably see as not quite normal wondering around Oxford st with sandwich boards declaring the end of the world and judgement on the world.

So what relevance is judgement today.

In this story Jesus uses the idea of judgement and the story of the sheep and the goats to bring home the fact that we are all being judged all the time by the response to our fellow human beings especially when they are in need.

According to John 3: 17 God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Then he goes on to describe judgement in terms of light and darkness: “This is judgement that the light has come into the world……..read John 3: 19-21

When we read this we realise that God’s light exposes all the darkness of our lives.

It’s a bit like the sun shining through your windows.
If they haven’t been cleaned the bright light will show up all the dirt and grime/

So we see from John’s gospel that when Christ came into the world he didn’t intend to condemn the world, but that the light of his goodness and truth actually had the effect of showing up all the sin and darkness in the world.

And the effect of seeing this light leads us then to repentance to a realisation that our lives are not as God intended.

To repent, to ask forgiveness for the bits our lives which are shown up as grimy and unclean by the bright light of God’s presence.

In this way we see judgement clearly as not something which we wait until the end of time for- though of course in some way we know there will be a final judgement as we are told elsewhere in the bible.

But this sort of judgement happens even daily as we continually assess our lives in the light of God’s light.

This is a continuous kind of self- assessment of our lives and we assess ourselves against the rule of Christ the King, the King who brought light into a dark world.

So what in this passage does Jesus teach us when he tells us what we will all be judged against.

And here we see clearly how we will be judged against the ways that we show love to others.

Jesus said: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

And they said – well when did this happen – we didn’t do that for you King,

But Jesus continued- the King will reply “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine you did for me”

I think these are very challenging words of Jesus to us in a culture which is out for self and all one can get for oneself.

It’s easy to help those who we want to help isn’t it.

It’s easy to help those who look like they need our help- who are responsive, who might even say thank you,

It’s easy to help those who are like ourselves, who are part of our congregation, who we generally are comfortable with.

But Jesus here is not saying that - he is saying that we will be judged not against  how we are with our friends and our neighbours, those who are like us,

But Jesus is here saying that we will be judged against how we are with the “least”,

Those who we are not comfortable with, the person on the street, the homeless, the single mum struggling to bring up her  children in a small flat, those who are in prison, the jobless, all those who society somehow condemns as irresponsibly getting themselves into a situation of poverty.

The modern day outcasts – the equivalents of the leper, the tax collectors, the sinners who we saw Jesus regularly meeting and caring for.

And when we look at this story like this it is indeed a challenge not only for us as individuals but as a Church.

Because how Jesus says this happens is something that is completely natural.

It should be our norm to offer help and care for the least of people.

Example of seaside parish – the priest who made himself up as a drunk and then walked into the church and got up to preach.

I wonder what our reaction would be – it’s quite a challenge for us to think about that question I think.

The marks of the Kingdom of Christ the King is a genuine concern for all in our society.

It’s not difficult to look back through history and find so many examples of Christians who have had this and therefore changed the world in their own way: Wilberforce with his work on slavery, countless saints who have been recognised for their self giving to those in need.
They are useful stories to look at but perhaps more useful is to hear the challenge for us as Christians here in Poole.

To look at Jesus life and in the light of this judge ourselves as to our willingness to help and care for those who are the poor needy and outcasts in our society and world:

          Do we as individuals and as a church show a concern for those who are not like ourselves and support us.

          If the answer to that question is maybe or no or sort of then we need to pray for this in our lives to grow.

          What is our reaction to those who are different from us – how do we respond to them and show God’s love and care.

          Who are the people in our communities who represent Jesus’ hungry, thirsty, sick or in prison – the least of God’s people and how can our lives make a difference to them.

When we come today to celebrate Christ as King, at one level it brings to praise and worship to think about him as King over the world.

But at the same time his kingship of light and life shows up our lives – it’s a bit like the sun shining in to our French windows – and what does it do it exposes all the dirty spots.

And then being part of his Kingdom puts play to the earthly measures of greatness and values of prosperity.

Because being part of his Kingdom requires us to draw alongside all people to show his love and care and concern for the world.

So this Sunday as we celebrate Christ the King let us be drawn back to our knees in prayer:

Giving thanks for his greatness,

Repenting of our unworthiness,

And committing our lives to serve him by having a genuine concern for others and putting our faith in to practise.

Amen.