Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.
Christ the King is a relatively new feast in the life of the Church. It was instituted in the year 1925, by Pope Pius the Eleventh in his first encyclical. Pius the Eleventh’s reason for starting this feast was that he concerned about the increasing denial of Christ as King in his time, and the rise of secularism throughout much of Europe. At the time Pius wrote this encyclical, many Christians began to doubt Christ’s authority, and even existence, as well as the Church’s power to continue Christ’s authority.
It seems to me that some things never change. We, like Pius, live in a time of increasing secularism, a time where the terms facts and truth have become debatable. Our Gospel reading ended today with Pilate asking the King of creation this question; what is truth? In November of 2016, the Oxford Dictionary editors chose the word, “post-truth,” as the Oxford Word of the Year. The definition of post-truth is this, “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
We are living in a time that is said to be the one of the most divisive in American history. No matter what side of the aisle you may side with today, the fact of the situation is this: if you are on this side, you are afraid of the people on that side, and believe the people on this side will save you from them. And if you are on this side, you are afraid of the people on that side and believe the people on this side will save you from them. Celebrities, politicians, sports stars, kings and queens, will never be our saviors. We only have one savior, Jesus, and it is our job as The Church to bridge the divide we are currently living in, by being brave enough not to fear and hate those who disagree with us, but to reach out to them in compassion and love. No one comes to God through anger, fear, and argument. People come to God when other people show them God’s love.
The words of Pius the Eleventh in his first encyclical would be an excellent resource for all the people of our country to read today. Pius says this: “If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all people, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all people, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.”
When thinking about how to make our society great, what we should be thinking about is how we can spread the love of Jesus to all whom we encounter? And most especially, how we can trust in the love of Jesus to enable us to enter into relationships with those for whom we are afraid of or disagree with? The love of God transcends any barrier we create, and if we trust in that love, and boldly proclaim its transformative power, we will no longer have to look to anyone but Jesus to be our savior. His power, working through each one of us, is the transformative catalyst that will work through us like it did when the Church was being established, allowing us to break through the divide we currently find ourselves in, and transform our society.
Jesus Christ did not come into the world, take on human flesh, wave his hand, and fix all the problems of society in the first century.
Jesus Christ came into the world and made deep personal relationships, deep transformative relationships, with a group of people we call his disciples, but he called his friends.
Jesus changed all reality when He defeated death and sin.
But the disciples, whom he changed personally, they, and all who came after them, were the ones who changed the world. Through the blood and sweat of the martyrs and saints, the church was built. The recognition that Christ is King has enabled so many people to change the world for the better in so many ways.
It is our bold proclamation that Jesus is Lord of all, and King of Creation, and that’s what drives us here at Redeemer to have the bold faith to represent Jesus like we do in our community.
Do you want to make the world a better place?
Do you want to end the conflicts we are in today?
Do you want more people to accept Jesus as their King and their savior?
Are you ready to trust fully in Jesus, and not in the constructs of man?
Then go out there, and be bold – bold enough so that Jesus reigns in your body and soul, and enables everything you are and have to be given for His glory, for His kingdom, and that His reign would come so that we all might be made perfect in His sight.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Christian M. Wood
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Christ the King Sunday
25 November 2018