Christ the King
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
When I sat down to study the assigned Bible readings for today and I read what the Prophet Ezekiel proclaimed, I couldn’t believe how relevant his words are for our current situation as a nation, as a society, as a church, as a community, as families. Ezekiel uses imagery from the world of shepherding to describe what is amiss among the people of God.
The prophet speaks about the sheep being scattered. Rather than being together in one herd, they have been divided and chased into all different directions. What an apt description of the political landscape of our nation.
‘Divide and conquer’ is the name of the game. In today’s gerrymandered voting districts, politicians are rewarded when they play to the extreme ends of the spectrum on the right or on the left. Segments of the population are being scapegoated as the reason for problems we face, which has increased animosity towards immigrants, religious minorities, and others. Hot-button issues like abortion or gun rights or the green new deal are used to get people riled up about one thing, making them ignore all other policies a certain candidate might stand for.
As a result of all this, we are scattered all over the place. Some of us dreaded Thanksgiving, because conversations around the table might so easily become heated. Anymore, the attitude is that the person who disagrees with me is not just a person of differing opinions, but my enemy. Tensions run high. I have heard of friendships breaking apart because of political differences.
We truly are a nation scattered and lost.
Ezekiel also uses this wonderful image: Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide. In my inner eye, I see animals at the feeing trough, eagerly trying to get to the food, with the big, strong animals squeezing out the weaker ones.
So much of this is going on in our nation: the strong squeeze out the weak. This happens in economic terms, with current tax laws favoring the rich getting enormously rich while the poor are struggling to make ends meet. This happens in racial terms, with statistics demonstrating how much harder it is for people of color to achieve education, home ownership, or career success. This happens in terms of political power, as all the lawsuits about who gets to vote have shown, as has the way money and power influence what gets discussed in the halls of government.
Even in daily life we see this power play going on: bigger kids bully smaller kids; beautiful people make fun of less appealing ones; richer people look down on poorer ones; luxury cars are driven as if they come with a built-in right-of-way; high-end mansions are fenced in as gated communities to keep out the riffraff.
Ezekiel’s words ring so very true today. His complaints and accusations are still right on target.
Just as relatable is his yearning for God to do something about this, for a righteous ruler to bring about change. God will step in, Ezekiel proclaims, and take over the leadership. God will gather the scattered flock back together and unite them and have them graze in peace. God will make the fat sheep toe the line and make room for the lean ones; everyone will have equal access to food and power. God will create justice and peace. There will be a new ruler in the mold of King David who will save the flock, the people of Israel.
People in Jesus’ day clung to this promise with fervent hope. They envisioned this new King David, this messiah, to be powerful and mighty. He would gather the people together in order to fight and throw off the Roman oppressors. We can relate to this hope. Many voters support a candidate because he or she seems to have the power to do something about the current situation. There have been days when I dreamed of a king for a season who could rule with absolute power and clean house and right all wrongs, and then peacefully abdicate and let a healthy democracy resume. As I said, a dream.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ was the new King David prophesied by Ezekiel. Jesus did gather the crowds, not to fight but to teach and nourish and heal them: hundreds listened to the Sermon on the Mount, thousands were fed with bread on the hillside. Jesus did care for the lean and the weak, inviting children onto his lap, inviting women into discipleship, inviting foreigners into the kingdom of God, inviting the sick into his healing presence.
Jesus does indeed care for the scattered, bullied sheep of his flock. But he also cares about the systems and structures of society that create scattered and bullied sheep in the first place.
In our gospel reading, Jesus is described as sitting on the throne of a king and yet acting like a shepherd. When we hear the term “shepherd”, we tend to think of those pictures and stained-glass windows that show Jesus in a pastoral setting, with a couple of sheep by his feet and one lamb lovingly cradled in his arms.
However, the term “shepherd” in the Bible always has a political meaning, as well. Today, Ezekiel promises a new, good shepherd for God’s people. Right before our reading, Ezekiel lays into the bad shepherds, and they are the religious and political rulers of the nation. The psalms often describe the king as a shepherd. Even outside of Israel, the rulers were proclaimed as shepherds who, in the words of Hammurabi’s law codes, were “to promote the welfare of the people, to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil so that the strong might not oppress the weak.”
Another hint that our Shepherd King has a larger political context is the fact that he is judging the nations. The nations are gathered before his throne, and he separates them one from another. Our translation makes it sound like he is separating the people individually, but it is actually whole nations who are under his scrutiny.
When Pope Pius XI inaugurated the celebration on Christ the King Sunday in 1925, it was out of concern about the increasingly secular and non-Christian empires arising in the world. He, too, had whole nations in mind.
Imagine our nation, then, standing before the throne of Christ the King, being judged. How would we do?
This nation has accomplished many things we can be proud of: One of the oldest democracies in the world. Advancements in science. Productive economy. High literacy rate. And so much more.
However, when Christ the King judges the nations, what is his criterion? What does he look at when determining his sentence on any given nation? He looks at how they have treated the thirsty, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the imprisoned, the stranger. In these areas, I believe we could, in fact we should do better. As another run for the White House is about to begin, it is a great time to pause and discern: How would Christ the King judge this nation? What would he have to say about our treatment of the marginalized? Where do we need to improve, especially if we want to call ourselves a Christian nation?
Think about this. And then let your local, county, state, and national representatives know what you think.
When my husband and I arrived in Maryland to serve this congregation over 12 years ago, our mission statement read: “Bringing Christ to God’s children.” The idea was that the members of the Calvary were called to carry the presence of Christ to all God’s people. I thought that was a pretty good mission statement.
Since then, I have attended a number of seminars on effective outreach and evangelism and mission. I have learned about the “white savior” complex. It describes the idea that we who have more resources can go into underprivileged communities and help them. We bring them what they need. We are saving them. We bring them Christ. It’s quite condescending.
Effective mission rather seeks to become part of the community and look at what is already happening there. Where have people come together to make things better? Who are the born leaders who know what is really going on? Where do people gather for mutual support? Go there and become part of the effort, and together we can improve the situation.
We do not bring Christ anywhere. Christ is already there. That comes through loud and clear in our gospel today. Christ is already out there, in the poor and hungry and imprisoned. Christ the King is present on our streets, in our neighborhoods, in our prisons. Christ the Shepherd King is here, all around us, with us, in us and our neighbors. That is really good news.
Ezekiel proclaims that the coming Good Shepherd is a ruler who will unite the scattered, divided people. Christ the King calls us to recognize his presences in all the people we encounter. Imagine how united this nation would be if we all recognized Christ in that Democrat, that Republican, that militia members, that tree hugger, that homeless person, that CEO.
God’s reign provides justice for all. Imagine our justice system when we all recognize Jesus in the judge, the public defender, the accused, the bailiff, the victim, the district attorney.
God wants to end all bullying and oppression. Imagine our society when we all recognize Christ in the weak and the strong, the valedictorian and the high school drop-out, the day laborer and the company owner.
Christ is our King. Christ wants to shape our nation into one that reflects his reign of mercy and peace. He is shaping us not with power from on high, but rather from the inside out: by calling us to recognize his presence in everyone we meet, so we treat all people accordingly.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” For Christ the King Sunday, we can adapt that: “Live according to the reign of Christ the King that you wish would envelop the whole world.” Amen.