Preached at St. Martin’s in-the-Field, Severna Park
November 24, 2024: Proper 29, Year C: Reign of Christ
Good morning. And welcome to the last Sunday of the church year—the last Sunday of Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary, the last Sunday before our year begins again with the first Sunday of Advent.
Yes, today is like New Year’s Eve for churches that follow a liturgical rhythm. Only rather than a countdown and ball drop, we get Jesus preparing for capital punishment via death on a cross, we get a few triumphant words from John’s revelation at Patmos, and some people in the church like to call it “Reign of Christ” or “Christ the King” Sunday.
What does all this mean, anyway?
You may know that the feast we call “Reign of Christ” is only about 100 years old. It is a feast that Pope Pius the 11th introduced in 1925 in response to growing fascism and communism in Europe following WWI. It is a feast that is meant to remind the church and the world that our loyalty is to Jesus, and that our king is the Prince of Peace, no matter who is in power.
This concept may be a little foreign to us who do not live under monarchical rule, or it could be a little uncomfortable to us in a time when Christian Nationalism is a threat to our identity as Jesus followers.
But I hope it will be a helpful reminder to you and to me on this day that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God before anything else; and no matter where in the world you are, God is your home.
Let me say that again: you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and God is your home.
This, friends, is why we pray for our civic leaders in the Prayers of the People every Sunday—no matter who those leaders are or what we think about them. Because we belong to the Kingdom of God. And we believe Jesus when he says: the Kingdom of God is near.
This is why the celebrant introduces the Lord’s Prayer each week proclaiming that we are “bold to say” words like: “thy kingdom come.” Because we belong to the Kingdom of God. And we believe Jesus when he says: the Kingdom of God is near.
Take a look at who is the “ruler” of this Kingdom of God—the ruler is love incarnate. The ruler is God who chooses to make Godself vulnerable (both as a baby and on the cross) for the sake of love. The ruler is not a king with an army, riches, or worldly power—but the Prince of Peace.
In our Gospel story today, the ruler is not the one sentencing a rabi to death, but the one willing to suffer humiliation and death in order to conquer death with something much more powerful: love. Love!
Not the sappy saccharine love of Hallmark cards or the soon to come Lifetime Christmas movies. But real love—the kind of love that inspires us to sacrifice for one another.
Love like the couple hosting 35 refugees in their home for a Thanksgiving meal—love that runs out of chairs to go around the table.
Love like the daughter who loses a night of sleep to keep vigil with her mother drawing ever closer to God as she nears death.
Love like the mom working late hours at her second job to ensure her children have what they need to grow up to be healthy, loving adults.
Love like the child rushing out the door in the cold with no shoes on just to tell his dad one more time that he loves him before his car pulls out of the driveway.
Love like the person of Jesus who frees us from our sins by dying at the hands of Pilot so that we might become a kingdom that serves God and serves Christ in one another.
Love is powerful because it seeks to give what we have away rather than to cling to what we have as we cling to the illusion of control. And that kind of power is heroic in its humility. That kind of power is valiant in its vulnerability. That kind of power is commanding in its compassion.
It is so, so different from everything we are inclined to seek in this society we find ourselves in, amassing more knowledge, more influence, more money, more autonomy… more, more, more. No wonder it feels like we’ll never have enough—or never be enough.
But Jesus—Jesus the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus the beginning and the end, Jesus “who is and was and is to come,” Jesus loves you with a love that knows no beginning or end. Jesus loves you with a love that not even death can put a stop to.
And if you believe that truth and belong to that truth, then you will always have enough, even and especially as you give your love away.
Let your life be ruled by love. Let love reign supreme. Don’t be afraid to tell people that you serve a God of love… not a social construct or political party. You are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and no matter where you are, God is your home.
lauren laughs 