Based on Revelation 1:4b-8, preached at Tualatin Presbyterian Church on Sunday, November 24, 2024
Christ the King Sunday is an odd celebration in my way of thinking.
I personally don’t relate to Jesus as a King –
the Prince of Peace maybe –
but that mention of royalty conjures up someone more like
The Little Prince – a small fair-haired boy
who falls in love with a rose and is gentle in spirit.
Of course, this is problematic as well
because the historical Jesus was likely not fair skinned,
like the blonde cherub we meet in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s tale.
The placement of Christ the King Sunday is curious also,
for next week we will walk into Advent,
the season of waiting for the birth of the Christ child.
Today Christ is triumphant,
but in just a few weeks, we’ll sing happy birthday
to a baby boy born into very modest circumstances.
None of this makes much sense to me.
But then faith doesn’t make much sense generally anyway – does it?
Hopefully this line of thinking offers a decent segway
into the book of Revelation, from which I just read.
Some Evangelical Christians, not to mention lay people
(who only know the barest of facts about the Bible),
view this last book in our Holy Tome,
as a prediction of an apocalyptic end to our earthly realm.
And, at least on our worst days,
the state of our world might make this seem quite plausible.
If one’s attention is focused on world politics,
environmental disasters,
the widening economic gaps between people and the like –
it is easy to read into this common understanding
of the book of Revelation.
But, it is not accurate.
And you could take this as very good news, couldn’t you?
I mean unless you want the world to end, that is.
Look at this –
I’m bringing out the Good News early in my message today –
diverging from my usual method.
That alone is good news in and of itself – and slightly earth shattering! 😉
But, back to my statement denouncing a common
misunderstanding of the book of Revelation …
a thinking of it as prescriptive or prophetic of what is to come …
as in a fiery end to everything we know.
Some context may help …
the book of Revelation is commonly known
to be written by an apostle named John,
which is almost assuredly not John the disciple
who knew and loved Jesus in the flesh.
This particular John seems to have known, and been known by,
the communities to which he is writing …
the seven churches of Asia.
These communities are mentioned by name in the book of Revelation
and so this is a particular message, not a global one.
And yet, it is also symbolic …
the number 7 is used more than 50 times
in the book of Revelation alone and is representative
of divine wholeness …
being WHOLE, as in complete, healthy, actualized.
All of this is certainly a strong underpinning
of the message John wishes to convey.
In actuality, none of us humans know how to predict
what will happen in the future.
Of course, our worldly cultures encourage us to work toward that goal.
It’s what higher education is all about,
and the people who are well educated,
while occasionally mistreated in their early school years,
are ultimately lauded in our adult world.
You know:
- The Doctor always KNOWS best, … knows what our ailment is, how it formed, and how to heal it.
- The Attorney KNOWS how to proceed through the legal morass we’re in, or could be in some day (I’m thinking of Estate Law, which guides for our wishes beyond this lifetime).
- The Building Contractor KNOWS how to build a structure so that it is safe and on budget (he or she sure better know how to do that anyway).
- The Politician KNOWS how to guide our government so that he or she can lead and defend and take care of the country’s people (hopefully with a mindset inclusive of the entire world).
- Even the Weather Man (or Woman) KNOWS what Mother Nature is planning to send our way on any given day … and for a week or so in advance?!
Yes, we humans build cultures that insist
on all of us predicting how life is going to unfold,
so it makes good sense that the book of Revelation
has been understood (with its seemingly ominous message) in this way.
The only problem is that’s not correct,
which maybe isn’t a problem at all …
Human beings as a general rule are an antsy, anxious bunch,
for understandable reasons.
Once we reach about 10 years of age or so (?) –
most any of us with any learnedness at all,
understand that we aren’t getting off this planet alive
and so we can be rather curious about how things are going to go down.
When’s the next shoe going to drop,
for surely shoes have dropped in the past, and they will again.
Whether we are fearful of our mortality or just vaguely aware of it,
most of us want some assurances of how our lives will unfold …
how things will go.
And, stepping away slightly from this most heavy topic … our DEATHS …
we all face little deaths continually as well, so we want to know:
- When is the job going to vanish? Or my clients? vendors? customers?
- When is the relationship going to fail … my marriage? With my best friend or family members?
- When will my money run out? My health insurance? My resources of all kinds?
- What illness or accident will I succumb to in the coming years?
All of this probably speaks to why this Sunday
we celebrate Christ as a King.
We NEED one!
We need someone with Royal authority to author and govern our lives.
Doesn’t it seem so?
I dated a man in college who was convinced
that Karl Marx’s statement commonly translated as
“Religion is an opiate for the masses”
– was all that religion was –
just a pipe dream for weak individuals.
You know, people who couldn’t make things happen
through their own smarts or capabilities.
My dear beau figured that religious people needed a savior
who would come to their rescue … because they were inept.
Suckers, I think he thought such folks were –
his girlfriend included.
Come to think of it, this might be why that relationship didn’t last 😉
But back to the book of Revelation … as I’ve said several times now,
it does not predict how things are going to go.
No rather it describes what is already happening –
which for us in this particular case is what happened in the past
for these churches, to whom the apostle John is writing.
John speaks a word of honest truth
about the troubles these communities are already facing –
including violence and persecution.
He wrote during the time of the Roman Empire
when Christians were persecuted for being followers of Christ.
Most scholars seem to think the particulars to which John is referencing
are likely local conflicts versus
a more generalized and widespread Roman campaign.
Just last week our dear pianist, Evan, expressed his concerns
for people in his community.
And surely these concerns, even fears, are based in a reality that
he has known personally
or witnessed in the lives of people that he deeply cares about.
This is something we should all be aware of and attentive to –
Christ, King or otherwise, calls us to this time and time again.
In response to similar and most reasonable fears
within the communities John is addressing,
(John the author of the book of Revelation),
he reports to a fear-struck people … from the heavenly realm
where the view is much larger and more hopeful.
While things might look bleak here on Earth,
they appear quite different from on high.
Even as suffering goes on all around us,
the victory of the saints (those who have gone on ahead of us)
is already accomplished in the heavenly realm.
Which is why it’s lovely that our first taste
of who this unstoppable King is
happens when John begins his greeting to his recipients
… in the name of the God, Christ Jesus,
who is and who was and who is to come.
This is a God who presides over all of time (past, present, and future)
and thus has a strong, capable handle on all things.
As such, John hopes to provide reassurance and thus confidence
to those who have fallen or are in fear of their current circumstances.
That is a King that would be helpful … a King from a different realm.
And that King is also the Christ Child who we still await,
yet again this year.
Jesus is the first born and, in his life, here
he brought heaven and earth together for all eternity.
A word about the Heart Banner hanging from the pulpit.
This piece of ‘art’ has the names of your personal saints,
living still and no longer among us.
The dear souls who have loved you into being,
maybe some with a hard edge to them,
but who have formed you all the same.
This banner is not particularly beautiful to the eye, but actually it is,
for woven into it is the cloud of witnesses significant
to those of you gathered here at Tualatin Presbyterian Church,
and so it is exquisite.
And the One who is and who was and who is to come,
Christ the King, holds all of them, and all of this life
in his very capable hands.
Thanks be.
Amen.
