"Juxtaposition" - The Reign of Christ C

Saint Luke 23:33-43

The year was 1925. 
 

On February 26 Adolph Hitler was released from prison.  He was charged with planning  a propaganda march through Munich to gather support for a coup against the local German government. 
 

On February 27, the very next day, the Nazi Party was allowed to publish its newspaper once again.
 

The “Roaring Twenties” were in full swing and the world seemed to be in the midst of a period of uninterrupted economic prosperity.  There was a certain social, artistic, and cultural dynamism to the times.  Jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined modern womanhood, and Art Deco peaked.
 

Juxtaposed between a great economy, the high times of what the French called Annes folles, “The Crazy Years” and the possibility of another world war stood Pope Pius XI.  He wasn’t trying to be a killjoy he was merely pointing that many people caught up in the spirit of the day began to doubt the need for Christ. 
 

In December of that year The Holy Father would write:

Since the close of the Great War individuals, the different classes of society, the nations of the earth have not as yet found true peace . . .  the old rivalries between nations have not ceased to exert their influence . . .  the nations of today live in a state of armed peace which is scarcely better than war itself, a condition which tends to exhaust national finances, to waste the flower of youth, to muddy and poison the very fountainheads of life, physical, intellectual, religious, and moral.1

 The Pope then instituted a feast day, Christ the King Sunday, to remind everyone that their only allegiance was to Christ alone rather than to any earthly supremacy.  In doing so he juxtaposed Christ’s kingdom against the kingdoms of this world and invited us to take note of the differences.

Our linguistic sensitivities and social realities have caused us to change the name of this Sunday to “the Reign of Christ” rather than “Christ the King” mostly because  Americans began our life together as a nation in rebellion against a king and we proudly point out that ours is a democracy not a monarchy. 
 

But we may be a little delusional if we begin to buy into the notion that one scholar, whom I respect a lot, expressed when he wrote: “We elect our leaders. We aren't ruled by people simply because they were born into the right family or right social class -- they still have to be elected.”2

That may be the case but there is still a definite advantage to being a part of the “ruling class.”  MSN Money reported:  

About half of all U.S. senators are estimated to have a net worth of at least a million dollars. 

Forbes magazine did some research into the wealth of those currently running for the highest office in our land and discovered:

There were some surprises. Bernie is a millionaire. So is “middle-class Joe” Biden. Elizabeth Warren is richer than both of them, worth an estimated $12 million. [Not counting Michael Bloomberg or the current office holder both of whom claim a net worth in the billions.] The median net worth is $2 million. The poorest is Pete Buttigieg, who has an estimated $100,000.3

 Clearly while some may have entered politics to do good others have done very, very well.
 

There is a paradox here: We want representatives in government who are like us, who share our values, beliefs and traditions but the people we elect couldn’t be more different from us than the sun is from the moon.
 

I mention all this to underscore the strangeness of this day.  It is a paradox that we claim to be under the reign of a different kind of leader, one who was not wealthy but who certainly was wise.  The one we claim as King is vastly different from the kind of rulers Americans claim they want.

Robert Farrar Capon, in his classic book, Hunting the Divine Fox, paints a wonderful picture of the kind of messiah Americans would create for themselves and it doesn’t look anything like Jesus on the cross.

 “Almost nobody,” Capon writes, can resist the “temptation to jazz up the humanity of Christ  -- gentle, meek and mild, but with secret, souped-up, more-than human insides. 

The human race is, was and probably always will be deeply unwilling to accept a human messiah. We don't want to be saved in our humanity; we want to be fished out of it. We crucified Jesus, not because he was God, but because he blasphemed: He claimed to be God and then failed to come up to our standards for assessing the claim. It's not that we weren't looking for the Messiah; it's just that he wasn't what we were looking for. Our kind of Messiah would come down from a cross. He wouldn't do a stupid thing like rising from the dead. He would do a smart thing like never dying.4

  Jesus got nailed because he wasn’t the kind of messiah his people were looking for and he may not even be the king or ruler many people in our day would gravitate to either.
 

Some seem to gravitate to rulers who advocate a “you hit me, I hit back” philosophy. We should have a hard time juxtaposing that against what he taught in his life and teaches, even from the cross, where he somehow finds a way to say, “Father forgive.”
 

Others seem to be attracted to leaders that promise them everything:  the earth, the moon and stars not to mention bread and circuses!  Wait!  Isn’t that desire juxtaposed over and against the very same temptations King Jesus faced down in the wilderness?
   

Giving up on those two extremes we may be inclined to look for leaders - this time state and church - who simply stay out of our way and allowed us to make their own decisions, in their own time, in their own way.  But even this is juxtaposed over and against the way of Jesus.  He wants to be involved in all aspects of our lives keeping our hearts, and minds, and strength focussed on him and his teaching.
 

The biggest juxtaposition of all is what is going on when he is hanging from the cross.  The crowds are mocking him, and as if to underscore the difference between the kind of reign Jesus would usher in and the kind of Roman rule that he was up against Pilate orders that a sign be hung over his head.  “The King of the Jews.”

Here juxtaposition and irony are displayed in full force for all to see. 
 

Successful kings don’t get themselves crucified.  If they are killed at all it is as gallant heros on horseback in some great battle.  When kings die it is in a royal bedroom, propped up on pillows covered in the finest of linens.  When good rulers die the world mourns, when terrible rulers die the people heave a sigh of relief under their breath.  As Jesus is dying some are taunting.
 

Even so  Jesus is still teaching, still reaching out, still redeeming even in his dying moments. 
  

Luke alone speaks of the two being crucified on either side as “evildoers.” Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington remind us that whoever they were and whatever they had done, they had stories, and families — and hope in Jesus. It’s not about deathbed conversions, but the way Jesus welcomes any and everyone in any and every circumstance into the life of his heart and hope.5

Just as one thief is mocking Jesus inability to save himself Jesus is being about the business of saving them both, us, and the whole world.
 

One of the thieves reaches out and only asks to be remembered.  That is a huge request for a condemned man to make because from the criminal’s viewpoint the resurrection was probably not a settled issue.  All the criminal has faith in is that Jesus will remember him.  And in return Jesus offers him “paradise.”
 

No earthly leader would dare to offer us paradise.  None of those who reign or wish to reign can offer us a life free of troubles but Jesus is showing us that his rule can even extend to death’s door with the offer of paradise. 
 

We have come to believe that what we receive from Jesus is a place as if our eternal address will be 3000 Paradise Lane. It’s not a place but it is a restored relationship with God.  That’s what the thief received that day and it is what we can receive every day that we claim Christ as King and enter into his reign.

Jesus has not come to take the world by force but rather to invite people to enter into a relationship with him.
 

Today we have two distinct views of what it means to reign and rule juxtaposed over and against one another.
 

One view uses riches to gain power not for the good but for more earthly gain.  Here authority  used to dominate and rile up the people even if it leads to the death of an innocent. 
 

The other view is the one we have of Jesus who uses his power to heal, forgive and save.
 The question this juxtaposition  of Christ the King Sunday and the ways of those who wield earthly power puts before us is whether we will follow the kings and kingdoms of this world or a different kind of King.
 

It’s a juxtaposition  worth pondering, don’t you think?

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1.  Pope Pius XI. Ubi arcano Dei consilio, December 1922.

2. Brian Stoffregen,  “Luke 23.33-43 Christ the King Sunday - Year C.” Luke 23.33-43. Accessed November 23, 2019. http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke23x33.htm.

3.  Dan Alexander, “The Net Worth Of Every 2020 Presidential Candidate.” Forbes Magazine, November 22, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/08/14/heres-the-net-worth-of-every-2020-presidential-candidate/#60618f5837c5.

4.  Robert Farrar Capon, Hunting the Divine Fox; Images and Mystery in Christian Faith. New York: Seabury Press, 1974.

5.  James C. Howell, “Weekly Preaching: Christ the King Sunday,”, November 18, 2019. https://www.ministrymatters.com/preach/entry/9952/weekly-preaching-christ-the-king-sunday.