Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on 20 November 2022, by Rev. Judy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43.

Your Kingdom Come

Good morning.  Back in the 1970s, a seminary professor was teaching a class on the life of Jesus. There were around 30 students. He gave each a blank index card. Then he asked them to write down a word or phrase they thought captures the essence of Jesus’ teaching and ministry. What’s the one absolutely essential thing we need to grasp to understand the gospels?

The most popular response was “Love”. Then “Forgiveness”. One bright student even wrote “Justification by Faith.” But only 3 students gave what the professor said was the correct answer. And that was: “The Kingdom of God”. (Did any of you have that in mind?)

The professor was Gordon Fee, a renowned N.T. scholar. He justified his answer by telling us to look through the first three Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke. There we find more references to the “Kingdom of God” than anything else. It is central to Jesus’ message. 

But why is the Kingdom of God so important? Some Christians would say the term is too male-oriented and imperialistic. So, they take out the letter “g” to make the word ‘kin-dom’.  Kin-dom reflects the kind of society God intends, where all are equal and related to one another. We’re all kinfolk, so to speak, not by blood but as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ and as the people of God.

Kingdom or Kin-dom: I think both words are good. But since today is Christ the King Sunday, let me focus on the original term. I want to explain what the Kingdom of God means in the biblical context and why it’s so essential to the mission of Jesus Christ. 

In biblical times, the word “kingdom” was easily understood. After all, that’s the political reality most people lived under as subjects of Kings and Kingdoms. If a ruler’s territory expanded to several countries and cultures, you could call him an Emperor with an Empire. 

When the Bible speaks of the Kingdom of God, however, it’s something completely different. Kingdom in this case is not defined by geography. It’s not a category of space or place. The Kingdom of God, says Gordon Fee, belongs to the category of time, specifically the time when God will reign over the whole earth and the affairs of humankind. A time when God will crush the enemies of Israel forever and restore justice and peace to all creation.[1]

This coming of the Kingdom of God was promised to the people of Israel and throughthe people of Israel from the very start. It’s what gave every faithful Jew hope in the midst of despair – that a godly Jewish ruler would come at long last to usher in the Kingdom. And when He comes, He will triumph with power, majesty and glory. From East to West, North to South, everyone will bow down to the King of Kings. Everyone will know that our God reigns!

Does this kind of language sound familiar? Yes, it’s the way Christians talk about God and the Kingdom too. So, let’s not be so quick to judge the people in Jesus’ time. Because if you really think about it, Jesus of Nazareth was the opposite of everything anyone would expect of a king. And when I say anyone, that includes the Jewish leaders, the Roman authorities, the man or woman on the street, and sometimes even the followers of Jesus themselves. I mean, if Jesus really was the King of the Jews, why didn’t His own people recognize Him? If Jesus really was God’s anointed, why didn’t He overthrow the powers that oppressed God’s people? If Jesus really was the long-awaited Messiah, why did He die a failure instead of a hero?

Why? Because the very things that offended people most about Jesus were actually the very things required to bring forth the Kingdom of God. Scholars call it the “great reversal”. We see it in everything Jesus was teaching and preaching and living out since Day 1. The first shall be last, the last shall be first; the rich shall be made poor, and the poor rich; prostitutes are closer to the Kingdom than the righteous, to live one must first die, to be great is to be the servant of all.  The Great Reversal.

And it all comes to a climax on a hill called Calvary. That’s why we read the story of the Crucifixion today on Christ the King Sunday. It might seem strange to go back to the passion of Jesus on the last Sunday of the church year. But what better place to view the ultimate reversal of reversals?  As theologian W. Paul Jones says, here we have “the king fit for a palace ‘reign’ over a garbage heap called the Skull. His entourage … criminals on each side; his finest wine … vinegar; the court games … dice for his own garments; his ‘adoring’ courtiers … scoffers and mockers; his throne is a cross, his coronation is his death” [2] and to complete the humiliation, a homemade sign overhead saying ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

This is the King of the Jews…and this is how God became King – in and through Jesus Christ. And, funny enough, it involves all those answers the seminary students gave at the beginning of the sermon – namely, love, forgiveness and yes, justification by faith.

Isn’t it ironic that the first person to recognize Christ as King was a condemned criminal in his final moments? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is the upside down Kingdom of God.  But how exactly did it happen? How did the least and the last in that society become the first to receive the promise of salvation?  Exactly the same way you and I receive that promise.  

How? 

1.    Through Jesus, who was willing to be condemned with the guilty even though He himself was blameless. 

2.    Through confession that we deserve our punishment and turning to the only One who can save us.

3.    Through Christ the King, who even from the Cross, had royal authority to pardon and set us free for eternity. 

Through Jesus, through confession, through Christ the King. 

As I said, that’s exactly how you and I also receive the promise of salvation. Now we may think: surely, we’re a bit better than convicted criminals! Maybe, but remember entering the Kingdom of God not only requires repentance and faith. It also requires that we be crucified with Christ. The Kingdom of God not only requires repentance and faith. It also requires that we be crucified with Christ. 

I think whoever designed this church building believed that too. One of the most striking things to me about our KUC sanctuary is this Cross mounted front and center. Have you ever really looked at it? What do you see? There’s the Cross of Christ of course. And then there’s a crown, a royal crown of thorns for our King. And then you can see there’s not just one cross but two others, one on each side in the shadow. I don’t think that’s just an artistic touch. That’s the way it should be.

Episcopal preacher Barbara Brown Taylor tells a marvelous story that makes the same point. She says she used to regularly drive by a hill in the countryside in the springtime. The first time she passed that highway, there were three upright poles in the ground, the middle one around 10 feet tall, with two shorter poles on either side around 6 feet tall. The next time she drove by, the crossbeams had been added. A few days later, they were painted white, and finally a purple cloth was draped over the center cross. Yes, the three crosses of Calvary. But she thought what a lot of work for someone! Why didn’t they just stop with one cross – it conveys the same basic message, doesn’t it?

Then she realized, no, that’s not true. One cross is not the same message as three crosses. “One cross makes a crucifix; three crosses make a church.”  In other words, the Savior hangs on the middle cross. But we are all hanging on the other two.[3]   And how we respond to the ‘man in the middle’ makes all the difference in the world.

So, on this Christ the King Sunday, let us never forget we follow a crucified King. And if we follow a crucified king, that means we must also become a crucified church. Are we ready for that? I don’t know about you, but that’s scary to me. To suffer is one thing, that’s inevitable in life. But to be crucified for the sake of the Kingdom and the kin-dom of God is something else.  I confess, Lord, I am not that holy!

So where does that leave someone like me? Not just at the foot of the Cross, but on the Cross by our Savior. On the Cross by our Savior with the only words He needs to hear: ‘Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom. Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.’ This is a sinner’s only hope today, tomorrow and finally at the hour of our death. Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom. Say it, sing it, again and again, and let it be your prayer and mine now and forever. Amen.