Christ the King Sunday
John 5:19-29
King Charles recently visited Australia. A few protested, most were happy
about the visit. No one was too worried. There would be castles sieged, no jousts were held in his honor, no one was sentenced to imprisonment in the tower. The reality is that modern kings are very different to kings in the ancient world. Modern kings serve mostly a symbolic function. They open and close parliaments, reassure the people in times of difficulty, and support charitable projects. Kings in Jesus’ had no parliaments. Their advisors did not get a vote. The ruled by absolute authority. And no one every asked them what their favourite charity was. The king, quite simply, wielded absolute power within his realm. A good king was much loved by the people, a bad king much feared.
All these images of what it means to be a king swirl about in our heads when we hear that this Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year, is Christ the King Sunday.
Just was does it mean that Christ is King? And why do we finish the Church year on this note?
In Jesus’ time many wanted to proclaim Jesus king. The crowds on the shore of lake Galilee wanted to do this after he fed them. But he slipped away from them. He has not come to be that kind of king.
Pilate asked Jesus bluntly if he were a king. Jesus did not deny it. In fact, he admits as much, but also tells Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world. He was not the kind of king Pilate was thinking of.
Jesus is indeed a king. And at the end of the church year, when we traditionally focus on that which is to come, we remember that Jesus is king and will come again to rule on earth and in heaven.
But Jesus is no ordinary king. He is king of kings. He is the king to whom all earthly rulers are subject. Jesus is king not just of a particular land or people. Jesus is king of all creation. And he is not just king in the past, bu tin the present and future. There are no limits to his reign; there are no borders to his kingdom.
In today’s text we learn some things about Jesus and what kind of king he is.
Jesus makes three statements in today’s text that begin, ‘Very truly,’ or in more traditional language, ‘Verily, verily.’ Or in Aramaic/Hebrew ‘Amen. Amen.’ It was Jesus’ way of saying, ‘Listen closely, I am going to say something very important.’ And in each one of them there is a focus on the life that Jesus brings us as king.
The first of these ‘Very truly’ statements is about who Jesus is in relation to the Father. Jesus is not just a representative of the Father. He is the Son. Jesus is not king because he has won an election. He is king because he is the Son. And what the Father is, the Son is, and what the Father does, the Son does.
But what work does the Father do?
- The Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father and all those who follow him. (verse 20)
- The Father gives life, the Son gives life (verse 21)
- The Father who is judge of all, give the role of judge to the Son (verse 22)
- Just as the Father is honoured, so the Son is to be honoured (verse 23)
This is who Jesus is as king. He is loved by the Father and loves, he is given all authority to sit in judgement and rule, and he is honoured just as the Father is honoured. These truths given under Jesus’ first ‘very truly’ statement in this text are at the heart of Jesus’ kingdom and at the heart of Christian belief. Under king Jesus there is a unity of divine love, glory and life.
But the main point Jesus makes is that he does what the Father does. And the Father raises people from the dead and gives life. And in the same way, the Son also give life.
In the second ‘Very truly’ statement (in verse 24) Jesus says what he does for those who follow him. Jesus says that those who hear his word and believe in him will be rewarded. This sounds very much like an earthly king, who promised those who will follow him land, or freedom, or riches, or high office. But Jesus promises none of these things. He promised something much bigger. He promises eternal life. So once more, the theme of this second ‘Very truly’ statement is life.
Jesus says that the one who believes in him ‘has eternal life, does not come under judgment, and has passed from life to death.’ It looks like Jesus is promising us three things. But he has promised us one thing, in three different ways. In typical Hebrew fashion, he has said the same thing, but in different ways. If we have eternal life, we will not come under judgement, or condemnation. And if we are not condemned, we have eternal life. And if we have eternal life, and are not subject to condemnation, then we have already passed from death to life, even though we have not yet experienced physical death.
So, Jesus as king promises those who follow him life. We have it by virtue of being gifted eternal life. We have it by virtue of not being subject to judgement and condemnation, which leads to death. And we have it by virtue of already passing from life to death.
In quick succession we have had two ‘truly, truly’ statements. Now comes yet a third. ‘Very truly I tell you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear him will live.’
Once more, the theme is life.
Jesus is not only the king. And he is not only the king who promises life. He is the king of the future who delivers on his promise. In this passage Jesus talks about the end of days and the resurrection of the dead. And he tells us that while this time is yet to come, it is also already here. In the kingdom of king Jesus what he has promised is already a reality. Jesus takes us into his own divine time. Our time, in this present life, becomes something different in in Jesus, it becomes the time of God. And the time of God, the time of King Jesus, extends to all times. Jesus gives life in the future, but also already now.
And here is the big reveal. Jesus can do this because just as the Father has life in himself, so does Jesus have life in himself (verse 26). That means that he can give us life because he is lord and giver of life. Jesus and the Father are one. Only God has life in himself. And only the one who is life can give life.
Jesus indeed in no ordinary king. He is king of kings and lord of lords. He is Creator and giver of life. He is the long-promised king of Hebrew prophecy. He is the present king who rules in a kingdom not of this world. And he is the future king who will give life everlasting to all who hear and believe him and will establish his unending kingdom on earth as well as in heaven.
Even so, come, king Jesus.
Amen.
Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie