Christ the King
Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:19-20.
It’s Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian liturgical calendar. The First Sunday of Advent next week will begin a new year!
Unlike some of our Christian holidays, which have ancient roots, Christ the King Sunday was instituted less than a hundred years ago, by Pope Pius XI. Subsequently, many Protestant denominations have observed the Sunday, too. The day reminds us of Christ’s Lordship, not only in our personal and congregational lives but throughout the world and the universe!
Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a well-known passage. In the future (Jeremiah’s future), God will write his law upon the hearts of the people. God will rule over his people, but with compassion, remembering their sins no more. The phrase “new covenant” connects us to the New Testament (“covenant” and “testament” mean the same thing in this context). Christ’s Lordship is a new, wonderful kingdom.
In my own experience, it seemed like the folks who most appreciated the image of Jesus as King---as Authority----were themselves rigid and authoritative. It’s a comfortable way of envisioning Jesus---the fierce Jesus of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment----if you yourself are inclined to want to shape people up and push them out or around. Those of us are less authoritarian but who are still passionate about certain justice, religious, and political issues are also likely to see things in rigid, all or nothing ways.
Thinking of Christ as king can potentially free us from a common human failing: the need to be right. When we're anxious about things, after all, we implicitly think we know best. But we can trust Christ to have authority over areas of our lives that cause concern, fear, and vexation.
In our scripture from Jeremiah 36, Jehoiakim is king of Judah. He was the second-to-last king before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the people of Judah. Jehoiakim was the son of the righteous king Josiah, who was eager to please the Lord, but in this family, the apple fell a long way from the tree.
God instructed Jeremiah to write all his prophetic words onto a scroll and read them at the Lord’s house. If you leaf through the book of Jeremiah, you can appreciate the prophet’s daunting task of pronouncing God’s many warnings to the people. Because Jeremiah was under confinement, Jeremiah’s associate Baruch did the reading. Later, Baruch also read the scroll at the king’s house, to all the princes and scribes.
Once the king himself heard the words, he took the scroll and calmly cut it up and burned the pieces in his fireplace.
Remember that Jehoiakim is a king in the line of David! Needless to say, he thought he was right and had little regard for God’s Lordship, or for God’s warnings. His contempt reveals how far gone things had become in Judah.
It’s a Christian truism to say that Jews expected a great Davidic king, but that Jesus is a different kind of king. Jesus’ followers realized that his kingship encompassed impossible things, like sin and death and all of creation.
Our scripture from Luke reads:
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Normally, if a king dies, he is replaced by sometime else. Jesus' death, on the other hand, confirms and extends his authority and brings reconciliation with God, so that there is no more uncertainty and fear among his disciples. God's love is poured out for all!
Jesus’ kingly role is a wonderful message for uncertain times such as these, giving us strength and confidence as we seek to do Christ's will, and to proclaim Christ's good news.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to look to you more humbly and completely. Give us grateful hearts. Give us renewed joy for the upcoming Advent season. Amen.
(My devotion written for our church, to complement the sermon.)
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