For those who want a change from the Gospel

Christ the King – Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Christ the King is my very fave Sunday of the year. The idea of Jesus Christ reigning over all the universe is one which I find profoundly exciting and hopeful. But the first commentary I read on todays passage was from America, and the writer admitted that this Sunday meant nothing to him, and that the idea of kindship was a completely alien idea, which encapsulated a patriarchal power figure, which seems odd in our modern lives. He goes on to ask ‘When was the last time you saw a King in real life?’ Last night on the telly, mate.

Here in the UK we love our Royal Family, or at least most of us do. And now, for the first time in most of our lifetimes, we have an actual King, difficult though it still is to remember to sing the National Anthem right. But of course to project from Charles III onto God is never going to work, any more than we can get an accurate picture of God as Father by thinking about our human fathers. It’s meant to work the other way round. Fathers, and Kings, are meant to understand their roles by looking at God, and how he handles it, and then try to perform like that. So what does today’s passage tell us about God as King, and how does Jesus fulfil that role?

First of all, let’s set this passage in context. Judah is in exile in Babylon, and the people are far from home, both physically, culturally and theologically. There are huge questions in the air. How did we get into this mess? How can we spirit God without a Temple? Has God given up on us? Will we ever get home again? These were the sorts of questions and anxieties which people were trying to make sense of. It seems that there was a felt crisis of leadership. The leaders, or shepherds, had failed to protect or nurture their people. Therefore, says Ezekiel, God himself is going to step in and do the job properly. Human leadership had failed, so there was only one option: for God to take over. So how would he act as their leader? I think three points come strongly from this text and beyond.

The first doesn’t really come from this passage, to be honest, but I love it so you’re getting it anyway. The first characteristic of Jesus’ Kingship will be majesty. I once heard Jack Heyford speak, and he told us the story of his famous worship-song Majesty. He happened to be in Britain in 1977 when the nation was preparing to celebrate our late Queen’s silver Jubilee, and he was struck by the British sense of majesty. Unlike my commentator he was deeply moved by the way Brits celebrated majesty and royalty, the reverence we had for our monarchy, and how as a nation our ‘redemptive gift’ to the rest of the world was an awareness of God’s splendour. His song was written out of that experience. We’ve seen it again recently with the two events of the Queen’s funeral and the King’s Coronation, and I can’t be alone in feeling an all too rare tear of pride come to my eye as I reflected that nobody does these occasions better than Britain (and the C of E specifically).  In an age when Church is becoming increasingly informal and all about me and how I feel, Christ the King is a good reminder that as well as being my chum, he is also the splendid King of Kings and Lord of Lords, ruler of the universe and ‘potentate of time’. It’s a good week to remember that in our oh-so-trendy worship.

But now let’s go back to the text, and the first thing we see is this great and mighty king as a shepherd. This is such a nurturing, healing view of leadership, particularly when previous leaders have been abusive and self-serving. See how bang up to date this is? The hope of our coming King is one of healing from what other human leaders have done to us, or allowed to happen to us. How we need that hope!

But alongside that picture of a loving, caring King is the more familiar one of the King as Judge. We’re actually not used to this either, since our monarchy doesn’t actually have that much real power, can be lied to deliberately by politicians, and have to sit and read a speech much of which must have been said through gritted teeth. Not so Jesus our King. He is more than just a puppet or figurehead, and when he comes those who have treated his people harshly will be called to account. And of course as with any pictures of judgement, we need to think first about ourselves before gloating over the fate of others.

In a world where leaders have lost the trust of their people, and where conflict and suffering are the result of the decisions of evil leaders, I can’t think of any Sunday which inspires as much hope as Christ the King. Enjoy, and pray for that King to take up his reign soon, as we will next week. And pray too for those shouting ‘Not my King!’

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This post completes three years of OT Lectionary blogs (which remain archived on this site), and I feel it’s time to move on, having gone round the three-year cycle. I decided to look at a part of Scripture even more neglected, in my experience, than the OT, so from Advent Sunday next week I’ll be beginning a series on the Lectionary Psalms. See you next year!