Crown Him with Many Crowns
Christ the King Sunday
20 November 2016
St. Paul’s, Kansas City
Today is Christ the King Sunday, the
last Sunday of the seemingly never-ending season of Pentecost, and the Sunday
before we switch from “Ordinary Time” green, with frequent use of Pentecostal
red to commemorate martyrs to our nation’s gun culture, to a sedate Advent
blue, with hopefully no reasons to switch to red.
The lessons for today present three very
different visions of Christ the King. Three different crowns, if you will. But
that’s not the way we humans work. We like to allow Christ to be King over some
parts of our lives, but not others. My suggestion to you is that we cannot pick
and choose which vision we will follow; we must follow all three.
In Paul's Letter to the Colossians, his
picture of Christ’s kingship is a spiritual one. He is “the image of the
invisible God,” Paul writes, “the firstborn of all creation.” He was before all
things, and in him all things in heaven and earth were created.
I think everyone here can accept Jesus
as God-king without hesitation. After all, that’s why we’re here today. We can
gather together weekly as a congregation and worship the king on his heavenly
throne, maybe even engage in Bible study and say Grace as a family before
meals. We have great celebrations on Christmas and Easter, when we see people
we haven’t seen since last Christmas or Easter. That is the stuff of genteel
Christianity. But do we allow Christ’s kingship to impact our everyday lives?
In our reading from Jeremiah, the
prophet is condemning political leaders of the southern kingdom of Judah. Advisors
to King Zedekiah were urging him to rebel against the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar,
which the prophet considered to be fairly stupid. It turns out Jeremiah was correct, for the
result of counsel was the conquest of Jerusalem and what was known as the
Babylonian Captivity.
However, Jeremiah promises God will
raise up new shepherds for the flock, new political leaders who will gather the
dispersed people back together and issue in a period of new prosperity, who
will make Judah great again.
Jeremiah also promises a new king. We tend to see the Old Testament through
Jesus-colored glasses, but to the people for whom Jeremiah was written, this
was an actual earthly ruler, a descendent of David who would execute
righteousness in the land.
Have we crowned Jesus as our secular King,
our liege lord, to use the medieval political concept? Do we live our everyday lives as if we were
not in charge of them, but Jesus is? Do
we view our possessions, our time, our talents, not as fruits of our own labor,
but as if they were given to us, to be used as our King desires them to be
used? Does Christ follow us into our work places, our recreation, our relationships
with other people? On this past election day, did Christ follow us into the
voting booth, or did we leave him outside?
Back in March, our presiding bishop,
Michael Curry, said, “If we who are Christians participate in the political
process and in the public discourse as we are called to do . . . the principle
on which Christians must vote is the principle, Does this look like love of
neighbor?"
On election day, 81% of white
evangelical Christians voted for a candidate who, over the course of his
campaign, denigrated Mexicans, Muslims, refugees, the handicapped, prisoners of
war, women, LGBTQ citizens, please fill in any I may have left out. Lest we
feel too smug, 60% of all white Protestants followed suit.[1]
And there’s more. In Missouri, voters
approved a constitutional amendment that threatens to disenfranchise 220,000 Missourians,
mostly the poor the elderly and minorities.
Professed Christian politicians have resisted settling refugees in their
states and communities, ignoring the fact that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were
refugees. Does that look like love of neighbor?
And I get it. There are many reasons for
voting the way we did. The American ayatollahs of the religious right have used
several hot-button issues to convince their followings that the only hope for
the moral life of America is to vote for Republicans, no matter how repulsive
they are. And a lot of people just
couldn’t bring themselves to vote for either candidate and stayed home. I’m
sure that the vast population who voted for the president-elect didn’t vote for
him because of all the intolerance he demonstrated in his campaign, but that
intolerance did not provide enough justification to not vote for him. The sad thing is, using our presiding bishop’s
criteria, this election, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated were better
Christians than white Christians were.
Luke's vision of the King of Kings is
totally different. Jesus hangs upon a cross, between two other criminals. The
only signs of his kingship are a crown of thorns and a sign hanging over his
head saying, "This is the King of the Jews."
Those watching him die mock him for his
apparent powerlessness. "If you are
King of the Jews, save yourself." One of the other criminals agree with
that sentiment, “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, get us out of this mess.”
I confess that my initial reaction to
our national electoral disaster was the same; to call on God to fix the mess
our own failings had made, and to save us, and the world. At times I’m still
there, despite having doubled my dosage of antidepressants.
The second thief in John’s gospel rebuked
the first, and confessed that the two of them deserved what they were getting,
what they had brought about through their own failings. The United States has
already started reaping the rewards of choosing a path paved with xenophobia,
racism, misogyny, of intolerance of all who do not look, believe, or love like
us. Hate crimes are rising, inclusive churches have been desecrated, and the
president-elect of the United States is filling his cabinet with white
supremacists and xenophobes.
Like the second thief, we deserve what
we will get in the years to come, but it is the most vulnerable among us who
will suffer most. The elderly will face cuts to or abolishment of Medicare and
Social Security. The poor will face cuts
or abolishment of the social services that make their lives livable,
abolishment of Medicaid and the Affordable care act, and enforcement of minimum
wage standards that will assure they continue to be poor. Women will face
reduced healthcare options as old men in power seek to defund Planned
Parenthood and other providers, continued substandard salaries for female
workers, continued objectification by men engaging in “locker room talk” and
sexual assault, because, after all, “our president did it.” African-Americans,
Hispanics, and other minorities will face continued disenfranchisement as state
legislatures successfully gerrymander them out of the electorate, will face
increased discrimination in employment and housing as federal guarantees are
weakened or removed, and will face continued threats to their very lives,
because too many in our society believe, “Black lives don’t matter.” American
Muslims will be faced with continued harassment discrimination from those who
blame entire populations for the actions of a few, and instead of protection
from the federal government, could be forced to register, as Jews were forced
to register in the Third Reich. LGBTQ citizens will have to fight for hard
earned gains and face further discrimination through so-called “Religious
Freedom” laws. Our children and grandchildren will reap the results of the
destruction of our environment in pursuit of material gain. The list of who will pay the price for our
failure goes on and on.
We, as a nation need to emulate the
second thief. We need to hang on the
cross with our Lord and Savior. We need to confess our failings as the people
of God, and renew the promises we make in our Baptismal Covenant to seek and
serve Christ in all persons, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to strive for
justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human
being.
Last week, Mother Megan told us:
“That commitment to follow Jesus right now has
to include a commitment to stand with those of our community who are scared and
grieving. Who are vulnerable right now. Whoever you voted for on
Tuesday, the truth remains that this election has unleashed elements of racism,
sexism, intolerance and bigotry that we have not seen in a long time.
Right now, the marginalized in this country are more at risk than ever,
and if we want to follow Jesus, we have to stand with them. We have to
listen to them. We have to side with them. There is no alternative.”
My wife Linda accuses me of being a
social media geek, and she’s right to a great extent. One campaign that has
started since the election is a call for people of good-will to wear a safety
pin to notify those threatened by the surge of intolerance in our society that
you are an ally. Almost immediately, though, people were saying it was just a
way to make white people feel better, without doing anything to correct the
situation.
Wearing a safety pin is not meant to be
just a symbol, but a pledge -- a pledge to step up and oppose intolerance and
oppression wherever one encounters it, a pledge to fight for a just society,
and to strive to bring about the Kingdom of God. The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu
once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the
side of the oppressor.”
The wearing of a safety pin is a
reminder to me that I cannot remain neutral, remain silent when confronted by
oppression and injustice, that I must pick up my cross and follow Jesus, as my
God, my King, and my savior. I must crown him with many crowns.
If you wish to join me, I have a safety
pin for you. Wear it with pride.
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