Anxiety and Anticipation

Today is the last Sunday in the Christian calendar.  It is also referred to as an observance of Christ the King.  Next week we begin the season of Advent, the four weeks of preparation for the birth of Jesus.  Our readings from the Prophet Jeremiah and the gospel of Luke can enable us to imagine the anxiety and anticipation of the people of God in Israel and Palestine. 

And today, for us as citizens of the United States it is also a time of anxiety and anticipation.  Our country is divided and in need of healing and reconciliation.  Many people who count on government services like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps or shelter, and those who are immigrants seeking security and a hospitable path to citizenship are particularly anxious.

The observance of Christ the King dates to 1925 during the time of Pope Pius XI.  Following World War I he deplored the rise of class divisions and unbridled nationalism, and held that true peace can only be found under the Kingship of Christ as "Prince of Peace."  The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden, however, had a different designation; they called it the “Sunday of Doom.”  

So, here we are at the beginning of the week anticipating the celebration of Thanksgiving.  It will be a day of parades, a festival meal of turkey and an afternoon of football. The daylight hours are shorter as Christmas lights are turned on in stores across the country and holiday shoppers are backoned.  In our appointed scripture lessons we read about a time of anticipation from the prophet Jeremiah and a gospel account about the crucifixion of Jesus.  What does this day represent for you, is it a celebration of Christ the King or “Sunday of Doom”?

The prophet Jeremiah announced: “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”  The people of ancient Israel longed for a new sense of security and a place they could call home.  For a long time they had the idea that the reign of God was something very different from all the governments they had known. 

God’s reign would be characterized by total concern for the common welfare of the people.  There would be special consideration for the rights and needs of the poor and powerless, the homeless, the widows, orphans and strangers, the people who had to mortgage their lands, and those who had been sold into slavery.  God’s reign would cure every kind of oppression and mend the problems of injustice and suffering.

In the new age God will carry out his will among the people through a new person in the lineage of David.  Unlike many of the past kings of Israel and Judah, the new leader will behave in accord with God’s will.  A harmonious and responsible pattern of relationships will be created.  The king will uphold the ideals of Israelite society as set forth in the Law, but not yet realized.  The justice he administers will affect human relationships that are characterized by responsibility, peace, mutual concern, compassion and kindness.

A few hundred years later the Gospel of Luke told about the end of the life of Jesus.  Jesus and two criminals were executed.  “The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God.’...One of the criminals who were hanged [with him] ...said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”

Luke portrayed Jesus as one who proclaimed God’s justice and righteousness.  Jesus was concerned for the poor, people who were marginalized and Gentiles, those outside the Jewish community.  The outreach of the gospel was to women and men of all nations and all conditions. 

In Luke’s account of Jesus’ death there is a deep sadness.  Jesus’ kingship, the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews” was a betrayal of human hope.  Only a criminal, crushed, despised and executed along with Jesus, recognized in him the ultimate source of reconciliation.

Imagine a world free of all fear and tyranny, free of being victimized by the rich and powerful, free of anxiety over family and property, free of violence, free of the loss of sons and daughters to drugs, suicide, and war.  The name of a leader who will ensure this possibility according to Jeremiah is “the Lord is our righteousness.”

God is forever seeking to enter our lives with peace and reconciling love.  We are to be alert, to light our candles in the darkness, to make ready and to watch that we might respond in joy and with thankful hearts when the new day comes. 

When we present our offerings this morning we shall sing a hymn written by Walter Russell Bowie.  It speaks to the pathos of the cross and hope for a new creation.  One of the hymn’s verses says:

O awful Love, which found no room in life where sin denied thee,/ and, doomed to death, must bring to doom the powers which crucified thee,/ till not a stone was left on stone, and all those nations; pride, o'er-thrown,/ went down to dust beside thee!

As though in response to Jeremiah and Luke our epistle reading from the Letter to the Colossians provides a word of hope and encouragement for the early Christian community and for all of us: “May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light…. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”  Amen.