John 18:33-37; Revelation 1:4-8
You do not have to be an avid consumer of global news – or be following in detail the nominations for the incoming US presidential administration – to realise that the phenomenon of the strong and populist leader is on the rise. The inevitable march of democracy, which was assumed to be the norm until the turn of this century, has been checked by a growth in leaders who seek to exercise significant power on their own, by force of personality or office, without many of the checks and balances that hold such power to account.
It is worth remembering that while almost all of these leaders hold non-monarchical titles – President or Chairman or the like – the way they are exercising power is what used to be associated with the ways of the king. If you are enjoying Wolf Hall season 3 – The Mirror and the Light – you will know the way King Henry VIII exercised power with a word here and gesture there. As Thomas Cromwell will find out (spoiler alert), the King could raise up – and he could bring down.
This week at Durham Cathedral we shared the news that next year we will be displaying our three Magna Cartas in an exhibition from July through to November. And among other things we will be telling the story of how Magna Carta was a key moment in holding the unchecked power of the king to account. It drew on a Judeo-Christian tradition includes a fairly frank recognition that kings and kingship can often go fairly badly wrong. And it pointed forward to a US Declaration of Independence was written on the premise that the power of kings was to be eschewed – hence the checks and balances present in the US Constitution.
So what are we to make of the claim that Christ is King? That is what this Sunday is called, but are we to take from the this the language of unchecked power or unaccountable authority? Surely that is the last thing the Church needs at this time – let along a watching world.
Can I suggest that we tread carefully and be quite clear how we are seeing Christ as King. I think we can and indeed must recall that Christ is not any King, in at least two ways
First, I think we can recall Christ as the King of Kings. Let us go the scene depicted in our gospel reading, where Jesus is before Pontius Pilate in the praetorium, the Antonia Fortress buttressed against the Temple precincts. This is Pilate’s headquarters, and everything points to him being in charge. He summons Jesus. He poses the questions. He holds Jesus’ fate in his hands.
But Jesus turns the tables. Not by breaking his bonds and running away – although he had the power to do that – but by challenging Pilate’s understanding of who is in charge. Jesus does not deny the language of kingship, but he says his kingship is not an earthly one of a religious or national grouping, in this case the Jews. It is – to use a phrase from later on in the conversation – ‘from above’. Jesus is not one ruler among many in a global constellation of empires. His kingship comes from God himself.
So it is that in our first reading from Revelation that Jesus is described as the ‘ruler of the kings of the earth’. It is a sentiment that is repeated a number of times in that final book of the Bible, written at a time when the Roman Emperor seemed to have total control and was persecuting the early Christian church. But Jesus is described again and again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is in a category of his own. He reigns over all.
One of the pieces of the Coronation regalia used in Westminster Abbey last year is the orb, a sphere atop of which is placed a cross. It is there to show those present – including the king himself who hols the orb - that Jesus rules over all the world and all monarchs.
I think it is a great gift of the Christian faith to the world that it says that no king, no queen, no president, no ruler, holds ultimate authority. Their power will fade. They will be held to account by God. For Christ is the King of Kings.
Second, I think we ca recall Christ as our King. The naming of this feast – Christ the King - can I suggest make Jesus seem a little remote – as distant as a monarch we have heard of but never seen. But the extraordinary thing about the New Testament is that it depicts a Jesus who is King, but a very different sort of king to one we might imagine.
Our reading from Revelation ch 1 makes the most extraordinary move straight after it has described Jesus as ruler of the kings of the earth. This is how it continues.
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father…
Our King loves us. This is a King who does not serve himself but loves others. It was the norm then for those in power to work for themselves. I am afraid it hasn’t changed. Our King is not like that. Our King taught and touched and healed and washed feet and in every act showed his love – for others, for us.
Our King frees us. One of the things most dreaded of monarchs then was that they would make you their slaves. They would make you fight for them. Our King is not like that. Our King frees us - from the penalty and power of sin though his death of the cross. Our King gives us liberty of life without shame and guilt.
Our King calls us. We are all given the role of priests in his kingdom, people who called to be holy and set apart to serve. What an honour! We are serving in the temple courts of our King. And so our allegiance is ultimately to our heavenly King, under whose banner we live and serve.
Our King loves us. Our King frees us. Our King calls us. We serve Christ our King not out of fear but out of love, not to earn his favour but in response to his grace, not as a pleasant pastime but with our whole lives.
So today, the Feast of Christ the King, I think we are invited to see rulers differently. The populist leader is not going to disappear any time soon, but what can give us courage as Christians to keep going, stand up to power and fight for those without voice or power is the belief that Christ is the King of Kings, and no leader is permanent. Christ the King calls us to work in the structures of the world, but to remember that they are not everything.
And to feed that belief we are invited to respond to Christ our King. As we gather round the Lord’s table we are invited to respond to the King who loved us by shedding his blood, frees us from sin and calls us belong to him. We are invited to respond in worship by joining the author of Revelation in proclaiming ‘to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever’. And we are invited to respond in service, as we take our place as priests in his kingdom, serving him before all others, called to holiness and shining his light in the world. Amen.