The Feast of Christ the King – B: November 26, 2006

Daniel 7:13-14
Revelation 1:5-8
John 18:33b-37

Dear Jesus,

How many times does it take before I’ll get it right? How many times will I have to make this journey before I understand? Will I exhaust your patience? Or do you smile and nod when I make small advances even as you wince as I stumble?

I heard you say, Behold, I make all things new! And this week, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty! Why is it that those words ring in my consciousness as if I were hearing them for the first time? Maybe it is because so much seems to be in shambles personally and on the global scene. Nothing has gone as I expected it to. Failure is much more in evidence than success, dying than rising.

I know that I am not as perceptive as many others are. I struggle because I think that with the reign that began at the first Easter’s dawn should also have begun evidence of the new order of things. But here we are so many centuries later and wars still rage. Women and children are still exploited, objectified, abused as sexual diversions. Gang wars are carried on in our streets. Senseless acts of violence make headlines in each day’s news. Shouldn’t everything be different by now because of your reign?

The Church celebrates this weekend The Feast of Christ the King. With joy I proclaim you as my king. My desire is to live in your kingdom. But then I have to ask you what does kingship mean for you? In the gospel, you stand before Pilate in your passion, powerless, about to be condemned to death. What kind of king is that? I can think of other gospels that would seem more appropriate for this feast. You walked on water, after all. You commanded the winds and the waves and they obeyed you. You commanded the paralytic to stand up and walk. You took the hand of the dead youth and gave him back to his mother alive and well. But we don’t hear any of those moments this weekend. We see you the lamb being led to the slaughter!

Are you the king of the Jews? Pilate asked the question and you did not answer. Is that because we cannot ask about your being king for anybody else, just as we cannot impose your reign on anybody else? We can only ask about your reign in our own lives. That’s it, isn’t it? What would you have said had Pilate asked, Are you my king?

Those for whom it is true give evidence of your reign through the things that they do, the love they live in their lives. You make all things new and in the process change accepted meanings into whole new concepts. This is a new Genesis, a new first day of Creation. Nothing is as it used to be. You are king because you are willing to shed the last drop of blood and water from your pierced side. You are king because you serve. You wash feet.

What did I expect that day I decided to accept your invitation to follow you? It’s so long ago it is difficult for me to remember. But I wonder, was I expecting success, a degree of prestige, a position of respect and power in the community because I belonged to you? I cringe even as I write those words because I never wanted power to be associated with me, my name or my memory. Did I delude myself? Was I expecting the trappings of success to follow as a result of my service done in your name? Is it because none of that happened that I wonder about the reality of your reign?

I remember sitting at the bedside of a child whose head was swathed in an outsized bandage because of the huge tumor that was ending his all too brief life. Or was it when I watched my father on the dialysis machine, knowing how he hated that process? Or maybe it was when I knelt in the street next to the woman who had been thrown to the ground when a thief pushed her out of the way as he grabbed her purse. Anyway, do you remember that one of those times I cried out to you in my heart’s anguish and asked you why? Do you remember that I pleaded with you to do something to change things? And nothing happened. It was only my surroundings that staunched my rage.

Why are the tears welling and flowing down my cheeks? Is it because now I remember how they witnessed your reign, witnessed to me that you were Christ their king? I held his hand and the little tyke with the huge turban smiled and told me something important was happening, he was going to God. My father said it was time to stop the dialysis so that he could go home. The woman in the street wept as the blood flowed from her head and told me to pray for the desperate person who had done this to her. She wanted him to know that she forgave him because you said she must forgive those who would do evil against her.

Your reign has begun but it is not the type of kingship some of us might have expected. Please be patient with me. I still want to learn the lesson. I still want to know that you are my king.

You do make all things new. I have to find the new meaning here. And as each person in this faith community we call church struggles to be Church, as we dare to put the Eucharist we celebrate into action by allowing ourselves to be broken and poured out in service of others, we will come to know your reign, that you are our king. Then we will take our place with that white-robed throng in heaven who rejoice because you love them and have freed them from their sins by your blood and made them into a kingdom. I want to be in that number. Then I will rejoice because you love me and have set me free to reign with you forever.

Thank you for your patience with me. Maybe I’ll get it right next time as I make the journey through the new Church’s Year with Luke’s Gospel. Maybe this time….

Sincerely,

Didymus