Your Love Is King (Christ the King Sunday C)

Text: Luke 23:33-43

Pastor Dennis Sanders looks at Luke 23:33-43 for Christ the King Sunday.

Christ the King Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays of the Church Year. It’s a rather young church holiday. It was founded a century ago in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. He was Pope during the interwar period, during the rise of totalitarian ideologies. Pius saw communism on the rise with the establishment of the Soviet Union and saw the rise of fascism all around him with Benito Mussolini becoming dictator in Italy. The creation of this holiday was to remind Christians that in a world where there were ideologies and people who were asking for their allegiance, we believe that Jesus is the one who is our King and Lord.

These days, there are some who feel uncomfortable with calling Jesus king and talking about the kingdom of God. Kings were and are anti-democratic and it reminds us of things like colonialism. We might think this is something new, but it isn’t. Colleague Robert Myallis reminds us that even in Jesus’ time, people knew how kings operated and usually it wasn’t great. In a few weeks’ time, we will be reading from Matthew 2:13-23, where King Herod, the king appointed by Rome to rule over Israel, decides to have all the boys under the age of 2 killed because he fears another king that could usurp his rule. This is the way kings have ruled. We might not have many kings today, but we do have leaders who love to lord it over other people. David Brooks reflected on the characteristics of leaders of what he calls of the authoritarian global wolfpack. They are performance artists creating their own reality, warriors over bureaucrats, formentors of chaos and unpredictability.

But that’s not the way of the king we find in Jesus. In Luke we find a king that is being put to death on a cross, a tool used for criminals and revolutionaries. This king forgives those who seek his death. He chooses to sacrifice his life instead of seeking to save it, even though he has the power to do so. He is the King who offers salvation to a common thief by telling him even as he is dying, he will join Jesus in paradise- he will not be forgotten.

There are kings out there now that seek to rule through fear and oppression, just as in Jesus’ time and just as in the time of Pius XI. But we worship a King who gave up his life for our sake. That’s why we call Christ the anointed one King. He alone is the one who rules with justice and mercy. He alone is the one, true king.

* Several times in the text, people mock Jesus by saying that he saved others; he should save himself. What is the significance of those sayings?

* Why do you think Jesus asked God to forgive his killers?

* Why do you think one of the criminals was mocking Jesus? Why did the other one ask to be remembered?

* What did Jesus mean when he said to the criminal, “Today you will be with me in paradise?”

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to [e-mail]. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

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