Thanksgiving Turkey and Christ the King Sunday

For all those who were wondering, yes, the turkey was fine. Actually, the turkey was dead - but it cooked up fine! It even looked like a Thanksgiving turkey! I was quite proud of myself considering I had never even cooked a chicken before.

This past Sunday was Christ the King Sunday according to the church calendar. The lectionary reading was the account of Jesus before Pilate found in John 18. It seemed a bit strange to be preaching from a text associated more with Holy Week, yet Jesus' comments about his kingdom not being of this world made it appropriate. The passage is a visual picture of two kingdoms coming face to face with each other - one kingdom represented by Pilate and the other by Jesus. I think Jesus gives us a clear picture of how we are to respond to evil people and evil systems. What he taught in Matthew 5 he lived in the closing pages of John.

At least twice the people tried to make Jesus their political messiah or king (John 6 and 12). In both cases it says that Jesus withdrew and hid himself. Apparantly he felt that there was a better way to deal with evil than occupying positions of power. I think that's what he calls the Church to as well. The Church - and only the Church - can confront evil the way Jesus did. He stopped the cycle of evil not by punishing it, but by forgiving it. When we punish we put the consequences of someone's sin back on them. When we forgive we let the consequences of their sin rest on us. This is why it is harder to forgive than to punish.

As I pictured Jesus standing silent before Pilate I was reminded of Paul's words in Ephesians 6:13 -

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

That is what Jesus did. He did not conquer ('My kingdom is not of this world') and he did not resist. He stood. And three days later he demonstrated that the way of mercy, grace and forgiveness is the way of victory. In fact, it is the only way that death and all the related evil could finally be destroyed.

Where is the church that is willing to live by the Sermon on the Mount? Where is the church that has the courage to proactively confront the evil of the world by inviting the world to live under the reign of God? Where is the church that, having done all, will stand?

Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. The reading will be taken from Luke 21 where Jesus' speaks about his future return. I find it facinating that the Christian calendar begins not with the first coming of Jesus, but with his second coming! The call is to watch and pray. More about that next week ...