Luke 1:68-79, Luke 23:33-43, Colossians 1:11-20
Introduction
With: a picture of a NZ passport, coins and stamps.
If a person turned up with these items in their possession what might we conclude about this person? They are all things that might give an indication of a person’s nationality. This person would probably be a New Zealander. If you met someone with a French passport, a pocket full of euros, and some French stamps in their wallet, you might expect them to be French.
What are some other ways in which you might identify what country a person is from? (Some answers might be their language, the way they shake hands, the clothes they wear.)
Jesus often speaks about the kingdom of God — but there’s no passport for it, no coinage and no postage. How will people know if we are part of the kingdom of God?
Our theme today is Christ the King and the kingdom of God. How do we understand that today?
Expectations of a king
How do we use the word ‘king’ in our culture, today? here are some examples: Elvis — ‘The King’; King Kong; The Lion King; King Cobra; kingfish; kingfisher; Stephen King (writer); Martin Luther King; King Tut; King Henry VIII; King George VI. These show the many different uses of or meanings we put on the word ‘king’.
What do you think a king is or does?
Most of us now live in countries where if there is a monarch, he or she is little more than a figurehead. They don’t do much, and certainly don’t command the same kind of awe, reverence and fear that a king would have done in Jesus’ time. The word ‘king’ is used widely by people and organisations today but in Jesus’ time people had a much more specific understanding of the concept of king.
Expectations of a king in New Testament times
The notice above Jesus’ cross proclaimed, ‘This is the King of the Jews’ (Luke 23:38). Herod, who was supposed to be the ‘king of the Jews’ and Pilate, who served the Roman emperor, wanted to mock this man who had none of the trappings of kingship.
It is the reading from Luke 23 that mentions Jesus being king. Zechariah’s description in Luke 1 is of a Saviour but also Lord. Lord and King are very similar in that both have meaning of one in authority over others. I’m sure it would be this allusion to power that made it quite provocative for Jesus to be called ‘king’. He was up against all the expectations people would have had and they only knew of one kind of king. Kings like Herod. Please note that there are three ‘Herods’ mentioned in the Bible: Herod the Great, who was ruling at the time of Jesus’ birth. He’s the one who ordered the killing of the Bethlehem boys. He it was who adorned the temple making it ultra grand but didn’t live to see it flattened later. Herod the Great’s son, Herod Antipas, was active during Jesus’ adulthood; and Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, met Paul at the start of his imprisonment. What would the Herods expect a king to do? Herod the Great was a ruthless bully. To them the king was there to rule, not to be nice.
What would Pilate expect a king to do? He was rather bloodthirsty, himself. In fact, when he was trying Jesus, he’d had orders from the Emperor to tone it done or he would have been fired.
What did the Jews expect that a king would do? The Jews never liked being under any government but their own and many were hoping and looking for someone who would lead a successful rebellion that would free them from Roman rule. Of course that leader would then become King of the Jews. All these ideas of kingship were largely based around understandings of ‘king’ involving violence and war-leadership and there was a number of people who thought they should be in charge! No wonder then that a new person calling himself a ‘king’ would convey fear or uncertainty in that context.
Expectations of Jesus, the king
As Christians, we call Jesus the king, but we do this knowing that he is different from all other ‘kings’ — not big and strong like King Kong, and not a hugely popular star like Elvis. He was not the biggest or the expert and his name was not King. He was not aggressive, ruthless or warlike.
Instead of using his power with violence to oppress or control, he uses it to liberate and redeem. His concern is not to protect what he has, but to ‘save others’ (v 35), even at the cost of his own life. He lived a hard, travelling life, sometimes hiding from those in authority. He suffered and died on the cross. Kings had been killed before but the world had never before seen a man who would pray for the forgiveness of his enemies even as they tortured and killed him (v 34). This is truly the King of Love.
And his ‘kingdom’, too, is different. God’s people were initially nomadic (see the Old Testament) and only settled down later. Their concept of kingdoms was much less focused on land ownership than is our Western understanding of the word following several hundreds of years of feudal rule. The word ‘kingdom’ in both Hebrew (malkuth) and Greek (basilea) was more about a group of people who were led by a king rather than an area of land owned by one. The physical ‘kingdoms’ are based on who or what the king can control; the spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of God, is based on who will willingly follow this king and therefore requires us to respond, to enter into the kingdom. Also, the kingdom is unlike any other kingdom the world has seen, because in this kingdom the king serves his subjects as well as them serving him!
One of the criminals crucified with Jesus shows some key characteristics of those who would belong to God’s kingdom. He acknowledges his own guilt (vs 40, 41). He recognises that Jesus is a King, despite all the seeming evidence to the contrary, and asks to be remembered when he begins his reign (v 42). He models the repentance and faith we all need.
Our readings today make it clear that anyone can be a part of God’s kingdom, by following Jesus. Paul describes ‘the kingdom of the Son [God] loves’ as a ’kingdom of light’ (Colossians 1:12,13), and his emphasis is on God’s action in allowing us entry. God has ‘qualified us’, when we could not hope to qualify ourselves; he has ‘rescued us’ from a pit we could not climb out of; and he has ‘brought us’ into his kingdom: like an asylum seeker entering a new country, we live under new authority. Set free from the past, with all our wrongdoings forgiven, we certainly have every incentive to ‘joyfully give thanks to the Father’ (vs ll,12).
Even someone as wise and as devoted as Paul is not part of the kingdom of God by his own efforts — he counts himself among those whom God has ‘rescued’ and ‘brought in’ (Colossians 1:l3). Even the thief on the cross, about to die, and with no opportunity to do anything at all in the few remaining hours of his life — is welcomed into the kingdom (Luke 23:43). Paul’s statement that ‘all beings in heaven and on earth’ can be brought back to God by Jesus’ love and sacrifice (Colossians l:20) suggests that we can look forward to a time when there will be no doubt about Jesus’ glory and power and authority. This is what we mean when we pray, ‘your kingdom come’. Jesus is our king now, if we trust in him, but the full glory of his kingdom is yet to come.
Jesus is ‘The Lord our Righteousness’, a king who reigns wisely and brings us salvation (Jeremiah 23:5,6). One day soon he will make all wars cease as he is exalted among the nations (Psalm 46:9,10). Our privilege is to bow the knee (submit) to him now, although he is despised by the world, and to start living now by his values of justice and love even before his kingdom comes in its fullness.
As Christians we should use every opportunity we have (in worship, in prayer, in talking to others about Jesus) to celebrate Jesus’ special and different ‘kingship’ and praise him for it.
For you this week
Our coins are issued by the New Zealand government. This week, each time you use a coin, think about what in your life shows that you are part of the kingdom of God, a follower of Jesus.