Bethany Sermons: Christ the King Sunday Sermon: "Jesus: Born this Way"

November 25, 2012, Christ the King Sunday

John 18:33-37

“Jesus: Born This Way”

Preacher Carrie Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

It’s pretty clear that Pilate didn’t “get” Jesus at all. Faced with an unusual prisoner who was known for his preaching and his miracles, rumored to be a prophet, but whose own followers had willingly given him up and who refused to fight for his life, the best Pilate could come up with was, “You’re not from around here, are you?” Pilate was desperate to make sense of Jesus, to give him a title, a category, and ultimately a role he could recognize in his tightly-controlled world. “So…you’re a king, right?”

Ever since Jesus was born, people have been trying to corner him, label him, sanitize him, bend his message to fit an agenda or a culture, or use his authority for economic or political gain.

Take just a moment to consider all the different organizations, clubs, political movements, preachers, and kings who have elevated Jesus as their spokesperson in order to justify their actions, to lend credibility to their causes, or to gather new members for their particular group.

Jesus has been heralded as the reason to uphold slavery and to denounce it, to put women into their place and then to give them the vote. Jesus has been honored by the right and the left, quoted by presidents of every party, and had his name affixed to churches with varying levels of adherence to what we would recognize as the Gospel.

And at this time of year, it’s the retailers who claim Jesus as king. Now, I know that some believe our culture has become devoid of its supposed Christian heritage, and that we are somehow on a slippery slope to an atheist existence because we attempt to allow for some measure of equality in public places: allowing a menorah alongside a nativity scene, for example.

But I’ll tell you that I feel far more frustrated with the way Jesus is co-opted, confused, and manipulated for purposes that have nothing to do with the Gospel, especially at this time of year.

“Don’t forget: Jesus is the reason for the season!” We see this little motto everywhere, starting about the middle of October (apparently, Jesus is the reason for Halloween, too!) This catchy phrase is pulled out every year in the attempt to get me to buy, buy, buy, to show my allegiance to Jesus. The thing is, I do, in fact, believe Jesus is the reason for the season. But I don’t need Jesus to be on my wrapping paper. I don’t need Jesus and Santa to magically show up together in nativity scenes. I don’t care if checkout girls wish me a Merry Christmas, as long as they ring up all my coupons. And as far as I’m concerned, it will be a happy day when we have a Charlie Brown special for the end of Ramadan—because everybody knows, you can never have enough Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

It’s fun to laugh at these things, but on this Christ the King Sunday, it would be good for us to do a little soul-searching about what we believe. Is Jesus the reason for the season, or is he the reason for our existence? Is Christ the mascot for the month of December, or is he the king of our lives?

Just to be clear, when Christians say “Christ is King”, we aren’t saying “Our religion is better than yours” or “My prophet can beat your prophet to a pulpit.” “King” is also not just an honorary title or a sign of respect. Proclaiming Christ as King is an audacious, dangerous claim.

Even the history of Christ the King Sunday in our liturgical year is an audacious one. This is in fact a relatively recent commemoration, having been instituted by the Catholic Church in 1925. When the calendar first included Christ the King Sunday, state control over the church was increasing in many countries. Stalin and Mussolini were names in the news, and Hitler had just published Mein Kampf. It was a gutsy move for Pope Pius XI to declare to the people of the time that Christ is King, over and above any dictator! Christ the King Sunday was to be a reminder to people both inside and outside the church that our allegiance is to Christ.

Theologian John Dominic Crossan has said that this is the entire message of the Gospels: “Not Caesar, but Christ.” If Jesus is king, then Caesar can’t be. But if Jesus’ followers were subject to him, then it was a threat to the current administration. If Christ is King, then it’s time for a regime change. Pilate himself was so eager for Jesus to name himself a king because, if he would only admit it, then it would be much easier to sentence him to death and silence him forever.

And Pilate was happy to have a reason to silence Jesus, because Jesus had been doing what he was born to do. Jesus, son of a carpenter, born of a virgin, of no royal heritage whatsoever, had been testifying to the truth…and the truth hurts.

The truth of the Gospel hurts those in power. The truth of the Gospel hurts the rich. The truth of the Gospel hurts all who would use, ignore, or oppress the weak, the poor, the widow, the orphan, the sick, and the outcast. This is a truth that is not easily made into a campaign slogan or reduced to a retailer’s sale flyer.

As we enter the Christmas season in our culture, and the Advent season in our church, the excitement and thrill of expectation is all around us. We can feel it: Jesus is about to born again, in our hearts, in our homes, and in the world! This is a perfect time for Christians to consider once again what Jesus, our king, was born to do.

Sisters and brothers, Jesus was not born to be our favorite character in this Christmas special. For this he was born: to testify to the truth!

Christ our King said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)