Christ the King 2016

Christ the King 2016

1. Today is the last Sunday of the Church year. Next Sunday will be the 1st Sunday in Advent.
Traditionally, on the Last Sunday of the year Christians celebrate the feast of Christ the King.
Last Sunday I invited all of you to come to the Eucharist for healing and reconciliation, after the ugly and
divisive electoral campaign we have just been through.
I did that because it is my duty as your pastor to call this congregation together and to keep it united in spite
of political divisions.
This initiative to heal, reconcile and work together, however, is not a way of whitewashing or glossing over all
the horrible things that this election has unleashed.
The truth as been so totally disregarded that the Oxford English Dictionary has sanctioned a new word posttruth to describe the situation in which truth has become irrelevant, people accept lies without questions.
Prejudices, racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and bigotry have been around a long time, but some
people now act as though they have become legal. This election campaign seems to have done away with
political correctness and has legitimized some of the worst instincts that had been repressed. Innocent
people are made to feel rejected, alienated and in danger simply because they hold different views.
We are now seeing KKK literature appearing here in New Jersey, we are now seeing swastikas painted on walls.
We see people openly insults and threaten African Americans, Jews, Muslims, Immigrants gays and lesbians,
disrespect for women, and berate anyone who disagrees with them.
Today, as we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, I want to remind you that to be Christian and to be
Episcopalians is to stand for something, as Jesus did. Even though the politics of his day were against it. We are
Christians when we believe in Jesus and follow his teaching and his example.

2. Some people demand that the laws will be changed to restrict the rights of some people. We hear
some state that it is time to return to morality.
No one knows what the future might hold, but just because something is legal it does not mean that it is moral or
Christian: apartheid was legal in S. Africa, slavery was legal in the US, Concentration camps were legal in Germany,
internment camps were legal in the US. But these things were deeply immoral and totally un-Christian.
The Pharisees were the champions of legalism at the time of Jesus, and Jesus fought them all the way.

Christ the King 2016

Jesus in his life, ministry and teaching stood up against the Pharisees who rejected, exploited and
oppressing people who disagreed with them. He told his disciples that, at the final judgment, he
would judge people based on what they had said and done to the least of his brothers and sisters.
Think about this for a moment if you feel like insulting or threatening someone. At the end of your life
Jesus will look at you in the eyes and tell you, you insulted and threatened me personally

2. I hear people call for a return to morality. Great, I am all in favor of morality, but what
do these people mean by morality? bigotry? Legalism? condemnation of anyone
different from them?
The Pharisees has a notion of morality that based on strict observance of a legal system that had
nothing to do with Gods law. But the legalistic morality of the Pharisees was rejected by Jesus.
The foundation of Christian morality is equal justice for all, and mercy. Not legalism, but justice based
on respect, love and care for all, regardless of race, creed, national origin or sexual preference.
In the Gospel of John we read the story of a woman caught in adultery. According to the morality of
the Pharisees she should have been stoned to death. They asked Jesus opinion, he looked at them in
the eyes and said, Let he who has no sin cast the first stone
I am not about to cast any stones. Is anyone here willing to be the first to cast stones against
anybody else?

3. Pauls letter to the Colossians reminds us that Christ rescued us from the power of
darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have
redemption and the forgiveness of sin.
Regardless of your political persuasion, dont let the power of darkness overtake you. You are
followers of Jesus. He rejected the immoral legalism of the Pharisees and reached out to all those who
were rejected: the poor, the sick, the women, the publicans, the lepers, the sinners, and welcomed
them into his kingdom.
He told us that they would be recognized as his disciples by how we love and care for each other.

Christ the King 2016

What makes us righteous, justified and acceptable to God is not political ideology, or who is in power at
this time, but a faith in Jesus that is made real by a commitment to obey his words and follow his
example.

3.The Gospel is Luke describes Jesus at the moment of his crucifixion:

Pilate had placed a mocking sign on the cross that said: Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. The Jewish
leaders protested and asked him to change the sign to he claimed to be king of the Jews. But Pilate
refused. Why do you think that the Church gives us is this passage to read on the feast of Christ the
king?
When his disciples were arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven,
Jesus scolded them and taught them that the role of leaders was to serve, not to be served.
How did Jesus do that? Through his life of total obedience to the mission that his Father had given him,
Jesus un-did Adam and Eves sin of disobedience and reconciled humanity with God.
That was his leadership and his service: he was willing to sacrifice is life for the benefit those who
depended on him. By this act of self-sacrifice he became the ultimate leader, the righteous king that
Jeremiah had dreamed 6 centuries earlier.
4. So, Jesus is the king. Thanks to him we are adopted children of God. But, what about us? Do we have a
part to play in this? In todays Gospel, the interaction of Jesus with the other two men who were crucified
answers these questions.
Both men who were crucified with him were criminals. They were equally exposed to Jesus and to his
words. Jesus death offered them both a chance for Salvation: one of them mocked Jesus and refused to
believe in him, while the other believed, and asked Jesus to remember him when he reached his
kingdom
The difference between the two criminals was not merit, worthiness, goodness, but faith. Faith saved
one and lack of faith damned the other.
Salvation, or the opportunity to be children of God and to inherit a share of Gods kingdom, is contingent
on our faith. Jesus has earned access to the kingdom for all us by being totally obedient to God. We will
enter the kingdom by believing in Jesus.
We will enter the kingdom if we believe and if we strive to express our faith in our actions by obeying his
commandment to love God with all our hearts and love ALL our neighbors as we love ourselves..