Reflections: November 2019

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 24 November 2019, the Christ the King Sunday, by the Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12, Philippians 2:4-11, Mark 10:42-45.

Today is the last Sunday in the current liturgical year. According to Church traditions, it is the Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday.

What is the best way to celebrate this Sunday? I think one of the best and most effective ways is for us to decide to become like Jesus the Christ. To put it simply, we should try to live a Christ-like life – to reflect Christ’s Compassion and service in our daily life.

How did our Lord Jesus Christ live his life? To begin with, Jesus Christ came NOT to be served, but to serve with utmost humility. In order to demonstrate this, he washed his disciples’ feet. (Jn 13)

Christ came to be the Savior of the whole world, yet he never forgot to care for the weak and the young. He helped those in special needs: the sick, the hungry, the down- trodden…. As the Gospel of Luke recorded, Christ came for all human beings, but especially for the marginalized – the people who were suppressed, exploited, isolated or discriminated against. In those days they were the women, the non-Jews, sinners and tax-collectors as well as the poor. Christ came not only to connect people to each other, but more importantly connect people to God: that is to connect people to the reality of life as all life is given by God. Christ lived his God-given life to the fullest and taught: “For whosoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whosoever loses his life for my sake (i.e. for the sake of others) will find it.” (Mt. 16:25)

So this was the Christ way of life: he came as a servant; conquered the whole world not by force; but by his sacrificial love. He gave up his life on the cross to redeem many people, “the greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.” (Jn. 15:13)

I know most Christians are familiar with all this. But Christ did not only expect us to know and believe; he commanded us to follow his lifestyle: “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross and follow me.” (Mt. 16:24 / Mk 8:34 / Lk 9:24)

Today, most Christians are believers – believing Christ is their personal Savior and Lord; but few are committed to be Christ’s followers.

We must stay away from being nominal Christians. We must learn from Apostle Paul, one of the earliest and most serious Christians ever: “I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:19b-20). Was it Martin Luther who said that Christians are the little Christs. It is hard to be a genuine, self-giving Christian. Christ is not only our example, but our enabler too. Only if we have faith in God, that is in Christ, because God was in Christ, all is possible. For as Christ once said, “Everything is possible for the person who has faith” (Mk. 9:23), “This is impossible for man, but not for God, everything is possible for God” (Mk. 10:27).

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, November 24, 2019

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