A Wee Blether

Adam J. Copeland

FPC Hallock

Nov 22, 2009

Christ the King

John 18:33-37

Today I begin with a confession: I love the HBO television series The Wire. It is extremely violent, offensive, glorifies drug culture; it has more than its fair share of drunken shenanigans, dead bodies, and police brutality. I missed the show while it was on television, so I’ve been slowly watching it over several months on Netflix and iTunes. I’m not quite addicted, but I’m pretty close.

The Wire is a show about many things, but its main plot centers upon the inner city drug culture in Baltimore, Maryland, and those who police it. Two drug lords in close partnership, Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell, rule a hefty portion of Baltimore drug corners. They carry a powerful reputation and even more powerful guns and strongmen to support them. What makes The Wire stand out among shows of its kind, is the complexity it affords such characters supposedly as lowly as drug lords and hit men. The viewer gets glimpses of ethical struggles — not quite the kind the we have in Hallock — but about how to give back to the community while you’re supplying its drug fiends with cocaine. In this culture, honesty, efficiency, allegiance, and honor are all upheld in peculiar but convincing ways.

I’m nearing the end of the third season now, and at this point the main drug dealers, Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell, have their reputation on the line. A young up-and-coming dealer has challenged their territory and imputed their honor. In inner city Baltimore, Avon and Stringer are king. Nobody disputes their power. If you do, you find yourself or your family killed. But this young upstart refuses to respect their muscle. I don’t know what will happen, but something must give in the next few episodes. Avon and Stringer above all must keep their rule in tact. With their guns and their money someone — many, probably — will be killed. And some dealer will remain on top; on The Wire in inner city Baltimore, the drug dealer is king.

Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, a day on which we declare that Christ is King and no other, that Christ rules every corner, that the reign of Christ is supreme. The problem with Christ the King Sunday, though, is we Americans aren’t used to the metaphor. Since we don’t have a royal family in this country we might think this Sunday doesn’t apply to us. But Christ the King Sunday is about much more than literal kings, it’s about who or what, ultimately, rules our lives.

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Today’s reading from John 18 finds us in the headquarters of Pontius Pilate overhearing a very strange conversation between Jesus and Pilate. The crowds are outside calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, but Pilate can’t seem to do anything but participate in the farce of justice. “Who’s in charge here?” we wonder. Pilate? The screaming crowds? Jesus? God? John leaves things a bit ambiguous.

Pilate asks Jesus, “So, are you the King of the Jews?” It’s hard to say if this is an honest question, or an obnoxious one. Maybe Jesus can’t tell either.

“Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Jesus responds.

Pilate dodges, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me.” What have you done?

Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world. For if it was, his followers would be fighting to keep him safe. But as it is, Jesus’ kingdom is not here.

Pilate thinks he’s got him: “So you are a king?” he exclaims.

“You say that I am a king.” Jesus retorts, “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.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asks. What indeed.

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Christ the King is a fairly new celebration for the church. While we’ve been celebrating Christmas for hundreds of years; Christ the King Sunday — or what it turned into — began in 1925. The Pope at that time, Pope Pius XI put out a fancy paper and instituted the new celebration. It made perfect sense, though, because at that time Mussolini was gaining popularity and fascism was gaining ground in Europe.

The Feast of Christ the King was supposed to affirm, once and for all, that Christ rules all, not Mussolini or Hitler. Christ is King over all creation.

As far as I can tell, most mainline protestant churches began celebrating the sunday in the 1980s when the Revised Common Lectionary became popular.

So the origins of Christ the King are simple enough — Christ is King not Mussolini, but the challenge doesn’t stop there. Christ is King, not consumerism or the free market. Christ is King, not death and violence. Christ is King and we ourselves are members of that kingdom, subject to Christ alone.

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What would our lives look like if we were truly subject to Christ alone? If we only pledged our allegiance to Christ our King how might our everyday actions be different?

Responding to Pilate, Jesus says “My kingdom is not from this world, for it were, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.”

Violence is not of Christ’s kingdom. Earlier in the garden when he was arrested, Simon Peter drew a sword and started fighting to keep Jesus safe. But Jesus immediately told him to put his sword back in its sheath. Violence would not solve anything. His kingship isn’t about that.

We celebrate this Christ the King Sunday while our nation has been at war in Afghanistan for eight years and the president is contemplating the war’s future. It’s hard to say what Christ’s policy in Afghanistan would be. It’s hard to know when non-violence allows for self-defense, but it’s safe to say that Christ’s ultimate will is for peace. His ultimate hopes for his followers is that they be peacemakers. In our sinful world, there must be those who uphold the peace through the ability to wage war, but we must never forget that the vision of Christ’s kingdom is one where peace reigns forever. And so I wonder, what would our lives look like if we were truly subject Christ alone?

As most of you know, I’m 3/4 time at the church and also work a part-time job at Eddie Bauer in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks. Well, the last few weeks have marked the beginning of the holiday flurry. Lights and decorations are up, fake snow abounds, and holiday sales are in full swing.

Did you know most retail stores operate at a loss until the last quarter of the year? Only between Thanksgiving and Christmas do they begin to make a profit.

The holiday season is also the most profitable for credit card companies. 1/3 of all Americans don’t payoff their Christmas credit card debt until the following summer, if even then. There’s nothing in today’s gospel passage about credit cards; they didn’t even exist when Christ the King Sunday was first instituted, but claiming Christ as King also means that consumerism is not king.

A remarkable thing has been happening in our congregation over the past few weeks. At the last Christian Education meeting, a member brought in a magazine from Heifer International, wondering if our Sunday School might want to learn about the The Heifer Project and support it with some small Sunday School funds.

The Heifer Project started when a midwestern farmer was handing out rations of milk to hungry children in the Spanish Civil War. Then it struck him, “These children don’t need a cup, they need a cow.” A while later, he organized a shipment of heifers to Puerto Rico. The children who received them had never even tasted milk before. And in a few months, the young cows gave birth and the families agreed to pass the calves on to another family, to continue the gift of life.

For a few weeks, the older Sunday School class has been collecting money to support Heifer International, now active in more than 125 countries. The Sunday School gift to Heifer will be sent off by December 4th so that our donation — of rabbits or goats or bees or ducks or a number of other sustainable animals — will be delivered by Christmas. Several families will receive the life-giving gift of animals this year. And when those animals give birth, the gifts will be passed on to other families. Heifer International is one of many organizations supporting alternative gift giving this holiday season, organizations which testify to Christ’s Kingdom reigning supreme.

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I mentioned earlier that The Wire is a complex television show where the gangsters have consciences and conform to an ethical code. In a recent episode I viewed, inner city Baltimore was up in arms because Avon’s hit men attempted to murder a rival on a sunday morning. Apparently this is beyond the pale because, get this — for as long as anyone can remember there’s been a truce on sunday morning. No violence during the church hour, even for drug dealers.

By no means are Barksdale and Bell bowing to Christ’s kingship at all times, but something in their sense of decency makes them give up their reign on Sunday morning to let peace prevail.

Christ is King, but not the king we expect. The King with a crown of thorns. The King with non-violent followers. The King of gifts of love. What would our lives look like if we were truly subject to Christ alone?