Sermon, Last Sunday of Ordinary Time: Christ the King

Christ is the King of all things. And He rules by restoring all things to a new beginning.  And he executes his reign in our hearts as we accept the truth that all things end, and begin, in Him.

“Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

Young and old, we all yearn for restoration, to be renewed in mind and spirit and flesh, to begin anew.  On this last Sunday of the Church year, we affirm that it is our Creator's will to restore all things.  And what God wills, God promises, and has already begun in Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation and the first fruit of the Resurrection.  But that restoration does not mean just returning to how all was before.  Restoration is not about getting back to “the good old days.”  It is not an exercise in nostalgia.  Restoration means renewal.  It means taking what was broken, what had failed, and making a new beginning, a fresh start.

That is why on this day when celebrate Christ as our King, as the restorer of all things, that we come back to the day of his death, to the encounter between the "King of the world" and the King of the universe.  In taking us here, the Church recognizes that for us, there is no resurrection without death, no restoration without destruction, no beginning without an end.  And this is as true for the Son of God as it is for us.

But Jesus trusts that His Father, and our Father, does not intend for any of us to die forever.  Resting on that faith, Jesus can speak to Pilate -- a man who claims to hold Jesus's life in his hand -- as an equal.  Are you a king, Pilate asks, ready to condemn Jesus if he answers yes.  But Jesus turns the question back on Pilate.  Who told you I was a king?  What do you think defines a king?  What sort of king are you, trying not to get into trouble with both these Jewish leaders and Caesar?  What kind of power do you think you have over me?

Of course I'm a king, but not in the way you define it Pilate.  Aha!  So you are a king, Pilate says.  Yes, Jesus replies, but not the kind that kills my enemies, then bides his time for the next battle.  I am the King in truth.  I am the King of your heart Pilate.  Look into your heart, and accept the truth that your striving for security through overpowering your enemies is futile.  My life may be ending today.  But that ending is merely a prelude to a greater beginning.  Can you accept the truth of your futile struggle to hold off that end and trust that with me you will have a new beginning?  To which, sadly, all Pilate can do is ask, What is truth?

We however, have heard the testimony.  We have the witnesses who saw Jesus risen, and who accepted their own deaths because they knew that time does not move from beginning to end, but from end to beginning.  When we let Jesus rule our hearts, then begins the restoration of all things.  After every end, every small death in our lives, comes a new beginning, the foundation of restoration.  Open the eyes and ears of your heart to that new beginning, for our world, for our Church, for our own land, and for ourselves.