Holy, Holy, Holy, God of Power and Might!

Heaven and earth are full of your glory!

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest,

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

Today is Christ the King Sunday, which marks the end of our church year. We begin a little differently by singing this tune. Jesus begins his ministry at the age of 30 years old and by 33 years old he is facing Pilate in our scripture today. In those 3 short years, Christ comes into the world, shakes things up and changes things. “Blessed is the One, who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Jesus has been arrested. The Jewish political officials are very fearful of Jesus’ actions and words. Throughout his ministry, people have threatened to take his life. As an infant, he was under threat by Herod when the order went out to kill all the first born and his parents took him to Egypt. Twice in the Gospel of John, people threaten to stone Jesus for his actions. There was a time in the synagogue when he preached on the Old Testament and the people wanted to run him off a cliff at the end of the service.

The high priest want to condemn him and have him killed but they don’t have the power. So they have turned him over to Pilate, telling him that Jesus says he is a king, which is a charge of high treason. There could be no other king but Caesar.

One commentator writes, “The question of belonging is at the heart of this conversation between Jesus and Pilate.” (Feasting on the Word; by Rodger Noshioka; Westminster John Knox; 2009; p,. 332)Pilate goes back and forth with Jesus. He is trying to make this a political conversation but Jesus will not get caught up in this. Jesus keeps coming back with the theological basis for why he is here on earth. He is not from this world. He belongs to God. Jesus is a king but not the kind of king, Pilate or the chief priest can understand. His focus is not on himself or power but on service and glory to God.

Pilate finds himself in a difficult situation. He does not really know what to do with this man Jesus. It is interesting that Jesus points out that if he was from this world, his followers – his friends would be fighting to keep him from being here in this predicament. Where are the disciples at this point? They have fled in fear.

I think we can relate to how Pilate and the disciples are feeling. Jesus had a very different view on how society and community should behave and interact. This concerned the people of his day and may even make us a little uncomfortable.

One of the things the church officials got upset with Jesus was how he dealt with the Sabbath. When he came upon the man, who had been crippled for 38 years, he healed him even though it was the Sabbath. He said pick up your bed and walk. The man went off carrying his bed throughout the streets of the city. When the high priest stopped the man to tell him he could not carry his bed on the Sabbath, he told him that this man had healed him and this is what he was told to do. They asked who this man was and the man did not know. They later find out that this man was Jesus and they are angry!

I recently listened to a lecture on this given by John Bell, a minister in Scotland. (10 Things They Never Told Me about Jesus; by John L. Bell; GIA Publications, Inc.; 2009) He says, Jesus teaches that Sabbath keeping is about liberation not about bondage! Jesus liberated the man from his illness. We are not required to put chains on the swing sets on the playgrounds! It is about liberating ourselves from what burdens us! Even the earth is given rest, when we observe the Sabbath and we use less of its resources. In Biblical times, the animals would receive liberation from their hard grueling work when their owners took a day off to rest.

A group of 98 college students agreed to do an exercise which was conducted by their professor. They were not permitted to use their cell phones for 3 days. Only 3 students were able to do this! We are tied to our electronics. My 24 year old daughter sleeps with her phone. How many of us could go a week without Facebook? I think I would have a tough time going a week without television. God gives us the Sabbath so that we can give up those things that hold us in bondage and we can be free.

This past week the congregational renewal team met for the first time. The role of this team is to oversee the part of the Sabbatical grant that our congregation received, which is a part of Frank’s grant. We were given $15,000 from the Lilly Endowment. A large part of the focus will be on Sabbath Keeping. We will be learning and observing Sabbath along with Frank. Even though he will be gone for 4 months, we will be reflecting on the same things. Our plan is that when he returns we will both share about our experiences. My prayer is that we will truly use this gift.

Going back to the disciples, they witnessed Jesus taking Sabbath and doing things very much out of the ordinary. He ate with tax collectors, who were considered thieves. He stood up for prostitutes. He interacted with many different types of people. He offered the Samaritan woman living water and she brought the whole village to meet him. He crossed cultural boundaries. He surrounded himself by people needing to be healed of all kinds of illnesses and diseases. He even allowed these people to touch him. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He calmed the storm and walked on water. He said and did things that were totally new to the disciples back then just as they are to us today. How do we learn from him when everything he does is so out of the box for us?

When I was at Rockville Women’s prison several weeks ago, I had a lesson in this very thing. The first night, we were assigned one prisoner or participant to get to know and greet with hospitality. The following day we are then divided up into 8 family tables and the person we host is not at our table. So as the 41 women begin to arrive on that first night, I am watching them come in and looking for the one I am to host.  In this group, I spy a rather peculiar looking gal. She had no hair. She looked big and tough. I am thinking to myself, “Why would this person not have any hair?” Honestly, I am thankful that she is not my person to host. But I had this strange feeling that God was about to show me something. So the following day, I find that God put her at my table and not only that but God put her right next to me! I am thinking, “God, you are a real stinker!” God knew I needed a lesson in humility and unconditional love. I learned that this girl is a beautiful human being. She was just a big teddy bear. She was a true leader and very affirming to all the participants. I learned that I should never judge someone by their appearance. By the end of the weekend, it was not only her, the Spirit had transformed, but me as well!

Christ testifies to the truth of God and those that hear this truth listen to Christ’s voice. May we see Christ as the true king, who comes into our world and shakes us up so that we can transform to be of his world. May we belong to the kingdom of God! “Blessed is the One, who comes in the name of the Lord.” Amen.