Sermon of the Month
November 2009
This sermon was preached at Bridlington Priory Church by Rev Adrian Cragg,
on 22nd November 2009, the Sunday before Advent.
| Common Worship | |
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| Epistle | Revelation 1:4b-8 |
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| Gospel | John 18:33-37 |
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This is the last of the Sundays before Advent - the kingdom season – today we celebrate Christ the King.
Last week’s gospel emphasised that earthly kingdoms and empires do not last, unlike the kingdom of God which lasts forever.
Today, this question arises: ‘What kind of king rules over God’s kingdom?’
Like an earthly king?
In Jesus’ time this is what an earthly king would have been like: he would have had a throne to sit on, had great wealth, ridden on a chariot, worn fine robes, had slaves, wielded power over others and exacted taxes from his people.
Perhaps it was this sort understanding of a king that Pilate would have had in his mind when Jesus was under trial.
Pilate asks Jesus: ‘Are you King of the Jews?’ It was a mocking question.
Jesus had no throne to sit on, he was poor, he rode on a donkey and he worked to earn his living.
He had followers not slaves.
Instead of burdening people with taxes he set them free from their sins and afflictions.
Pilate is sometimes portrayed as a feeble figure who washes his hands of responsibility by handing Jesus over to the crowd.
He may well have been, but I think he would have been contemptuous of the figure of Jesus standing before him.
This was no king in the accepted sense of a king, powerful and dominant.
To Pilate Jesus must have seemed weak and powerless.
How wrong he was.
Jesus was indeed a king, but not as Pilate understood a king to be.
Servant King
So, if Jesus wasn’t like an earthly king, what was he like?
Well, in a sense he was an amalgam; a mixture of two elements.
Both Jesus the Servant on earth and Christ the King in heaven, combined together.
As Jesus the Servant on earth, he was born as a helpless human baby.
Like us he knew temptation, he cried, he was angry, he bled, he died.
When he was accused falsely he didn’t defend himself.
He came to earth once as a man and was cut down in his prime, aged 33.
As Christ the King in heaven he is the only Son of God the Creator of the entire universe; he is divine, one with God, without sin, having defeated death, alive forever and ever.
He could have called on angels to save himself but didn’t; he is the Alpha & Omega, the beginning and the end, existing before time began and after it ends.
He came to earth once as a man and he will come again as a king in clouds descending.
The amazing truth is that Jesus the servant and Christ the King are one in the same.
Jesus Christ somehow amalgamates both servant-hood and kingly leadership together in one person.
Jesus Christ the Servant King; the Servant Leader.
What should the Church be like?
Christians are called to follow him; to be like him.
So then, what should the Church that bears his name be like?
It seems to me that the Church constantly struggles with these two extremes: servant and leader.
In the Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic Church in England acquired all its wealth, it was seen very much in the leadership role.
There was very little about it which could be classed as "servant", and certainly not as servant of the poorest.
The Reformation in the 16th century was a protest against all that, and all signs of wealth were stripped from Church buildings, and a new, Protestant spirituality took hold.
Today, the Church of England, although it has considerable assets, is actually quite poor, struggling to pay its way.
It's also less dogmatic and gentler in its approach than once it was, so perhaps it is being more servant-like.
But along with its poverty and its servant-hood, it's lost almost all respect from those in positions of authority and from the media and from many of the people.
Because, even after 2000 years of Christianity, it's still kings and leaders who are respected, not servants.
Follow him
How is possible to have a king who washes feet and who cares nothing for earthly power?
And how is it possible to follow him?
Perhaps the secret lies in the crucifixion.
For Jesus, only one thing mattered - to remain in the most intimate and perfect relationship with God.
Against that, nothing else was important.
He was prepared to give up his life, to die, rather than move apart from God.
But it was through that death that Jesus really came ‘into his own’.
He discovered a new and different and glorious life; a kingdom life.
And that's what he promised again and again for all who follow him.
"Don't worry about earthly power or wealth or anything else," he urged.
"Do as I have done. Be prepared to let go of your safe, comfortable and secure life, in order to stay close to me.
Take up your cross and follow me, for those who lose their life will find it, while those who try to cling onto wealth, power, comfort and security and all those other very human things, will lose the only thing that matters - the kingdom."