Reign of Christ Sunday
Reverend Lucy M. Alexander
Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43
Who is He?
Who is He? You’ve just heard the answer. And it’s full of questions. And that’s just as it should be. Marcus Borg, theologian and author, talks about two ways of thinking of Jesus: the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Jesus. He prefers this way of speaking of Jesus to thinking of the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. He doesn’t want to separate the living, breathing, historical man, from the Resurrected One who has pierced the hearts of so many down through the centuries. Except for one or two mentions of Jesus in historical texts of his time, there is no historical record of Jesus except through the gospels. And those gospels are permeated by the faith of those who recognized in Jesus a particular view of reality and of God. So where does that leave us?
Today, I think, we are offered three distinct ways of approaching – not answering – but approaching the question of who Jesus is. The first has to do with the fact that today is Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the Christian year. It is in many ways the culmination of the Christian year. It is a grand view: Jesus reigning in our lives, in the world, in the cosmos. For those for whom such a view might seem too hierarchical, maybe even too exclusive, perhaps a circular image might work. Today we celebrate Jesus as the center of our lives. Our Colossians text for today says this: “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Eugene Peterson describes the Christians in Colossae in this way. He says that these Christians are surrounded by a polytheistic culture. He says that, “most people of that day believed the air around them was thick with unseen spirits that humans ignored at their peril.” He says that, “we may think at first that this sounds strange and outdated, but
don't we live in fear of many powers ourselves? Don't we fear the power of greed, and war, and violence, and addiction, and commercialism? Doesn't it feel sometimes like the Powers That Be influence our lives more than our own careful plans and preparations, let alone the power of God? Who is He? Who is Jesus? Jesus is the One in whom all things are held together, in whom all the parts of our lives can be channeled towards an integrity of body, mind, and spirit.
Our second way of approaching who Jesus is comes with the end of the church year. Here we are today, as the Colossians text asserts, celebrating “all the strength that comes from his glorious power.” Tomorrow He won’t be here. It’s like looking over the top of a great mountain and seeing deep into the gorge on the other side. There is a sense of dizziness, maybe even of nausea. Tomorrow, we will be plunged into Advent, into the waiting with longing for a Messiah. We will be plunged into darkness, not being able to know what is to come, having no idea that there is a Mary who has felt some movement deep in the core of her being.
And yet this journey too is how we begin to get a sense of who Jesus is. We walk with Him, year after year. We wait. We watch Him be held tenderly in Mary and Joseph’s arms. We travel with Him as disciples, not really knowing where we’re going, but knowing this is the journey we must take. We fear the Romans and the increasing antagonism of the religious authorities. We sense what will happen if we go with Him to Jerusalem. And we do try to go, even as we want to flee. The anguish of His crucifixion is more than we can bear, even as the joy of His resurrection is also more than we can bear. We don’t know what to make of either one. And yet we walk, we try to walk with Him. Increasingly we know that He walks with us. One day we wake up and we know who He is, even in the midst of our not knowing.
Our Third way of approaching who Jesus is comes to us with today’s gospel text. It is this text that took my breath away as I was going over the lectionary texts for today for the first time. We are taken abruptly from the glory of reign of Christ Sunday directly to the crucifixion. As the text tells us, “when they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left….(and) the leaders scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!' The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!'”
Save yourself! How many of us know all about that. When we are faced with a small bump in the road of our lives, we don’t need to save ourselves. We can turn to God for help. When we have a friend who is in trouble, a friend who is not too close to us to give us too much grief, we don’t need to save ourselves. We can turn to God for help.
When our lives feel fairly secure, we don’t need to save ourselves. We can turn to God for help. But what about those times when we, like Jesus, are on the cross? Can we turn to God then? What about those times when our very lives are in jeopardy, those times when we feel utterly doomed? Can we turn to God then? What about those times when we simply can’t get out of bed because of the blackness of the world around us?
Can we turn to God then? Or are we in such extreme circumstances that God seems to have lost all power. We have no choice but to save ourselves, because God couldn’t possibly do it. We have only ourselves.
This third way of approaching who Jesus is has to do with relationship: his deep, abiding faith in God, even at the depths of his life. We begin to approach who Jesus is, not by seeing Him alone. We begin to see who Jesus is, only by seeing how intertwined He is with God. It’s not that He doesn’t question God. It’s not that He doesn’t get angry at God. It’s not that He never becomes afraid, even as He knows God is with him.
It’s just this. God is at the core of who He is and that relationship transcends all.
Download this sermon (PDF)
Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43
Who is He?
Jesus.
The Christ.
Saviour.
Word.
Of God.
Born in human flesh.
Healer.
Redeemer.
Drunkard.
Drunkard?
Oh Yes, Jesus had a reputation. Matthew tells us: The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
Rabbi.
Monarch.
Refugee.
Refugee?
Indeed, for Jesus’ family fled to Egypt when he was born.
Seated at the right hand of God.
Maker of heaven and earth.
Yet he was homeless, a wanderer.
Homeless?
A wanderer?
Yes. Jesus said that the Son of Man had nowhere to rest his head. Even foxes and birds were better off than him.
Good shepherd.
Sovereign of all the world.
Crucified.
Crucified?
Dead?
Alive!
Alive?
Within and among us even now.
In you?
And me?
In all of us.
Jesus.
Christ.
Saviour.
Alive forever!
Alive forever!
(Seasons of the Spirit curriculum, Year C, Sunday, November 25, 2007)
Who is He? You’ve just heard the answer. And it’s full of questions. And that’s just as it should be. Marcus Borg, theologian and author, talks about two ways of thinking of Jesus: the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Jesus. He prefers this way of speaking of Jesus to thinking of the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. He doesn’t want to separate the living, breathing, historical man, from the Resurrected One who has pierced the hearts of so many down through the centuries. Except for one or two mentions of Jesus in historical texts of his time, there is no historical record of Jesus except through the gospels. And those gospels are permeated by the faith of those who recognized in Jesus a particular view of reality and of God. So where does that leave us?
Today, I think, we are offered three distinct ways of approaching – not answering – but approaching the question of who Jesus is. The first has to do with the fact that today is Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the Christian year. It is in many ways the culmination of the Christian year. It is a grand view: Jesus reigning in our lives, in the world, in the cosmos. For those for whom such a view might seem too hierarchical, maybe even too exclusive, perhaps a circular image might work. Today we celebrate Jesus as the center of our lives. Our Colossians text for today says this: “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Eugene Peterson describes the Christians in Colossae in this way. He says that these Christians are surrounded by a polytheistic culture. He says that, “most people of that day believed the air around them was thick with unseen spirits that humans ignored at their peril.” He says that, “we may think at first that this sounds strange and outdated, but
don't we live in fear of many powers ourselves? Don't we fear the power of greed, and war, and violence, and addiction, and commercialism? Doesn't it feel sometimes like the Powers That Be influence our lives more than our own careful plans and preparations, let alone the power of God? Who is He? Who is Jesus? Jesus is the One in whom all things are held together, in whom all the parts of our lives can be channeled towards an integrity of body, mind, and spirit.
Our second way of approaching who Jesus is comes with the end of the church year. Here we are today, as the Colossians text asserts, celebrating “all the strength that comes from his glorious power.” Tomorrow He won’t be here. It’s like looking over the top of a great mountain and seeing deep into the gorge on the other side. There is a sense of dizziness, maybe even of nausea. Tomorrow, we will be plunged into Advent, into the waiting with longing for a Messiah. We will be plunged into darkness, not being able to know what is to come, having no idea that there is a Mary who has felt some movement deep in the core of her being.
And yet this journey too is how we begin to get a sense of who Jesus is. We walk with Him, year after year. We wait. We watch Him be held tenderly in Mary and Joseph’s arms. We travel with Him as disciples, not really knowing where we’re going, but knowing this is the journey we must take. We fear the Romans and the increasing antagonism of the religious authorities. We sense what will happen if we go with Him to Jerusalem. And we do try to go, even as we want to flee. The anguish of His crucifixion is more than we can bear, even as the joy of His resurrection is also more than we can bear. We don’t know what to make of either one. And yet we walk, we try to walk with Him. Increasingly we know that He walks with us. One day we wake up and we know who He is, even in the midst of our not knowing.
Our Third way of approaching who Jesus is comes to us with today’s gospel text. It is this text that took my breath away as I was going over the lectionary texts for today for the first time. We are taken abruptly from the glory of reign of Christ Sunday directly to the crucifixion. As the text tells us, “when they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left….(and) the leaders scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!' The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!'”
Save yourself! How many of us know all about that. When we are faced with a small bump in the road of our lives, we don’t need to save ourselves. We can turn to God for help. When we have a friend who is in trouble, a friend who is not too close to us to give us too much grief, we don’t need to save ourselves. We can turn to God for help.
When our lives feel fairly secure, we don’t need to save ourselves. We can turn to God for help. But what about those times when we, like Jesus, are on the cross? Can we turn to God then? What about those times when our very lives are in jeopardy, those times when we feel utterly doomed? Can we turn to God then? What about those times when we simply can’t get out of bed because of the blackness of the world around us?
Can we turn to God then? Or are we in such extreme circumstances that God seems to have lost all power. We have no choice but to save ourselves, because God couldn’t possibly do it. We have only ourselves.
This third way of approaching who Jesus is has to do with relationship: his deep, abiding faith in God, even at the depths of his life. We begin to approach who Jesus is, not by seeing Him alone. We begin to see who Jesus is, only by seeing how intertwined He is with God. It’s not that He doesn’t question God. It’s not that He doesn’t get angry at God. It’s not that He never becomes afraid, even as He knows God is with him.
It’s just this. God is at the core of who He is and that relationship transcends all.
Jesus.
Crucified.
Crucified?
Dead?
Alive!
Alive?
Alive!
Within and among us even now.
Download this sermon (PDF)
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