Christ the King: The Last Sunday after Pentecost
Woe to shepherds who destroy and scatter my people! Through Jeremiah, God is upset at corrupt kings in Israel and tells of Jesus to come as a good king, a righteous Branch, who will be wise, who will save and bring safety. Not long after this King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. He took most of the city captive and moved them far away to exile in Babylon.
As under Pharoah in Egypt and under Caesar of the Roman empire in the time of Jesus and the early church, the biblical story is of people under the oppression from both inside and outside. We see this in the world and experience it more now with our wannabe king as they seize power and wealth and oppress the vulnerable.
For the Colossians, the image of Caesar – understood to be the son of God – was everywhere, and imperial power kept the peace by military force including through crucifixion.[1] In his letter, Paul gives not a simple poem but rather subverting empire by saying Jesus, not Caesar, is the image of God and Lord of all.[2]
That community was saturated by images of Caeser being all-powerful. Paul proclaimed Jesus is all-powerful. Jesus is over all things, including thrones, dominions, rulers, powers, empire and scattering shepherds. Jesus is “before all . . . and in him, all things hold together.”
Paul wrote both to subvert and claim who Jesus is encourage how to act. He prays just before today’s text that the believers will “lead lives worthy of the Lord . . . bear fruit . . . and growth in knowledge” (Colossians 1:9-10). Later, Paul describes the alternative to empire, a community who acts like Christ: “as God’s chosen ones, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, and peace” (Colossians 3:13-14).
To people under oppression, amid pain, act with compassion. Amid hatred, be kind. Amid power hoarding, share with those who have little. Amid immediate gratification, be patient. Amid hurt, forgive and love. Amid threat, protect. Amid violence, peacefully resist.
Humility and meekness are similar and from the same word in Hebrew. Humility is a lowliness, not thinking too highly of oneself. Meekness is a gentle, strong patience waiting and seeking justice. It is trust with a long view like the psalmist says: “For the power of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous” (Psalm 37:8).
When Israel was in Babylon, God said to build houses and live in them, plant vineyards – which take a long time to grow – and eat their fruit, and to seek the welfare of the city there in exile. Be meek, be strongly patient and seek justice in captivity.
Scott Bessenecker wrote: “the meek . . . are naturally disposed to use power in the way it was designed by God to be used – as a guard for the weak and to preserve the common good – in contrast to those with MONOPOLYTM power, who consolidate wealth and status in a single set of hands at the expense of everyone else.”[3] The gentle, strong patience of the meek is a way of using power, often choosing restraint and downward mobility, for good.
We see this in Jesus who saves by coming down as a poor, minority, refugee baby. Jesus led with meekness including by teaching and healing the poor, entering Jerusalem on donkey instead of stallion, and washing feet. Jesus did not seize control.
Though scoffed and derided on the cross, Jesus showed sovereignty saying: “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). Jesus spoke with authority to political power. “My kingdom is not from this world. . . . For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:36-37).
Jesus carried his own cross, hanging from it cared for his mother and beloved disciple. With compassion and forgiveness, Jesus said: “you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus announced: “It is finished” and was buried with spices befitting a king. The Good Shepherd slaughtered for the sheep, executed by the empire, reconciles all and reigns through the cross.
Amid images that saturate us with and by oppression, Jesus is the good image, the image of the invisible God who rescues us. Jesus reigns through the cross holding our past, our present, all that breaks our hearts, and our future. In Jesus, all things hold together. All ultimately has and further yet shall be reconciled in Jesus.
We are image-bearers, embodying Jesus’ reign, seeking the welfare of our cities, protecting the poor and vulnerable, welcoming the immigrant and refugee, cultivating compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, and peace.
Jesus reigns! As we shall sing: “Let Love’s unconquerable might your scattered companies unite in service of the Lord of light.”[4]
[1] B. J. Walsh and S. C. Keesmaat, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire (Downers Grove, IL, 2004), 83-84.
[3] S. A. Bessenecker, How to Inherit the Earth: Submitting Ourselves to a Servant Savior (Downers Grove, IL, 2009), 15.
[4] “Christ is the King! O friends upraise,” The Hymnal 1982, no. 614; text by George Kennedy Allen Bell (1883-1958).