Of Royal Blood
November 23, 2009
Christ the King Sunday
(Note: This was the last sermon I ever preached as a Lutheran pastor; I don’t believe that anything I said THEN could not be said by a faithful Catholic NOW. The lessons refered to were from the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A.)
“of Royal Blood”
It seems very fitting that the last Sunday of the Church year would be observed as the Sunday of the fulfillment, the Sunday of the culmination and consummation of all things – Christ the King Sunday. On this Sunday of the Church year we sum up all that has gone before, and affirm that ALL things are – and will be — summed up in the rule and reign of Christ.
Living in a democracy, (or, to be specific, a democratic republic), we aren’t used to the idea of royalty, of being subject to the rule of a king. And yet, Sacred Scripture affirms that just such an absolute monarchy exists within the Kingdom of God. Again and again, the evangelists and apostles bear witness that Jesus is Lord, that Christ is King. The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday provides an excellent example of this witness. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory… He will sit upon His glorious throne… then the King will say to those on His right… ‘Come… inherit the Kingdom…’ ” St. Paul also affirms the absolute monarchy of Christ in our Second Lesson this morning:
For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.
(Sounds pretty “absolute” doesn’t it?)
The whole of the NT bears witness to this truth: the Angel Gabriel, announces to Mary that she is highly favored with grace, and will give birth to the Savior, “and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians, “… at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” Again, St. Paul, writes in Romans (15:12), quoting Isaiah the prophet:
The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.
The Revelation to St. John affirms again and again the reality that Christ rules the universe, even now, and that the saints in heaven continually proclaim His kingdom.
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!” (15:3)
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them,
for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are
called and chosen and faithful. (17:14)
In the middle ages, a certain theory of monarchy began to take hold; the theory that earthly kings ruled “by divine right” , i.e. they were kings and had the right to the throne because God had chosen them to be king. In truth, there was – and is — only one king who could claim a throne “by divine right.” And that king was Jesus, born of the house of David, the legitimate “King of the Jews.” But Jesus has the divine right not just to a temporal throne, not just to an earthly throne, but to an eternal and heavenly throne. He rules by divine right because He IS divine – He is God, and the very Son of God. He is not a creature – God did not create Jesus. Jesus is God, and all things were created by Him and through Him. He has the right to claim kingship over the entire universe because He made it all. He has the right to claim kingship over us, because He created man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into the very breath of Life.
But this king also has another claim on us. For this king laid aside His divine glory, willingly put aside His divine right, and took on the form of a servant, and was made man. And being found in the likeness of man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death – even death on a cross. This king rules by divine right because this King has mounted a throne of shame and death, and on that throne suffered agony, and bled, and died, in order to ransom us from bondage to Satan, from slavery to sin and from the grip of the grave. This King, and this King alone, has the divine right to “first claim” on our lives, because this King, and this King alone, has created us and redeemed us, has breathed into us of His very Spirit, and has brought us back to life.
And there’s more. For this King not only died for His subjects, His servants – but by His victorious death and glorious resurrection, this King has adopted us as His own, claimed us as His very sons and daughters, made us to be of royal blood! As St. Paul writes in Ephesians, the very passage prior to our Second Lesson: “In love the Father predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
What astounding love! What amazing grace! It would have been enough to have been freed from bondage, to have been given a new life… but to be taken into the King’s palace, to be cleansed and robed in royal robes, to be brought into the throne room and seated with Him… to be called no longer servants, but sons and daughters… to be made of royal blood… it should cause us to stand in awe, and to bow in adoration.
This King, and this King alone, has the right to rule over our lives. This King, and this King alone has the right to claim the throne of our lives. This King, and this King alone has the right to command us to kneel, and to make us royal knights in His service, to proclaim His glorious and gentle rule of justice and peace throughout the world, by our words, and by the very lives that we live in loving service to others: “as you have done it to the least of these…”
In a recent movie entitled, “The Kingdom of Heaven”, a young man, the illegitimate son of a noble knight, is claimed by his father, and at his father’s deathbed, is knighted and proclaimed as his father’s rightful heir, and given his father’s title. This young knight ultimately is left to defend Jerusalem against Sala’-hadin and his army of Saracens. It seems a hopeless task. The bishop of Jerusalem, the patriarch of Jerusalem, expresses that hopelessness to Balian, the young knight.
Bp: “My Lord… How do you intend to defend Jerusalem without any knights? We have no knights!”
Bn: “Truly?” He surveys the armed peasants that surround him, his eyes lighting on a tall boy, barely a man. “What is your condition?
Boy: “I am a servant to the patriarch.” The bishop nods in agreement, “Yes, he is one of my servants
Bn: You were born a servant?” The boy nods.
Bn: “Kneel.” (Again, surveying the peasant crowd.) “Kneel. Every man at arms, or capable of bearing them, kneel! … On your knees!
Be without fear in the face of your enemies.
Be brave and upright that God may love thee.
Speak the truth even if it leads to your death.
Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong.
This is your oath.”
He slaps the young man across the face. “And that is so you remember it. Rise - a knight.” He then turns and proclaims to all the men gathered, “Rise - a knight!”
The bishop, scandalized at this indiscriminate “mass knighting” of ignorant and low-born peasants, protests: “Who do you think you are? Will you alter the world? Does making a man a knight make him a better fighter?” Balian, turning to the bishop, says emphatically: “Yes”
And so, I call on each one of you, each one who will hear the call of the King, each one of you willing and able to bear His Word to the world… kneel. In this moment, in your heart, go to your knees!
Be without fear in the face of your Enemy, THE EVIL ONE.
Be brave and righteous for the sake of the One who loved you.
Speak the truth of His Word, even if it leads to your death.
Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong.
This is your oath.
And this (X sign of the Cross) is so you remember it.
Rise… a knight of the Most High King. Go forth in the power of His might. Fight the good fight. Finish the course. Keep the Faith.
In the King’s Name, and for His sake… Amen.
Saints ALIVE!
November 1, 2009
There stands in Arlington National Cemetery a monument — a large white tomb — which is so hallowed and revered that it receives an honor guard that stands watch 24/7, an elite honor guard whose members are chosen from only the very finest, an honor guard whose sense of duty to that hallowed monument will cause them to stand that watch in the face of blistering heat, bitterly cold winter winds, and torrential rains — even when their superiors give them permission to seek shelter. The monument is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and it honors all those soldiers who have died in service to their country, whose remains could not be identified, and whose names are known only to God.
The Feast of All Saints, which we observed this Sunday, is just such a monument for the Church. From the early centuries of the Church, a day was set aside in which all those who had died in the Faith — most of them martyrs, having been put to death for their confession of Jesus as Lord, and most of those unknown by the Church, but known by God – a day in which these saints would also be honored by the Church. In the Church of the East, the day was observed on the Sunday after Pentecost. There is a certain logic to that — the thought being that Pentecost is the “birth” of the Church, and the Church grows, in spite of persecution, because of the faithful witness of many who will suffer death before they deny the Lord who died for them, redeemed them by His blood, and rose again. As one early Church Father wrote: “The blood of the martyers is the seed of the Church.”
In the West, the Feast of All Saints is traced to the foundation, by Pope Gregory III (731-741), of an oratory in St. Peter’s for the relics “of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world,” with the day set for November 1st. While “All Saints” is meant to honor those who have passed from this life, it would be a mistake for us to misunderstand or mis-interpret the word. When we speak of saints, we automatically think — almost unconsciously — “really holy” and “dead.” But one of these ideas needs to be re-examined.
One day, not long after Jesus had entered Jerusalem for the Passover — His “Passover” — He was teaching in the Temple. On that day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. Now there were seven brothers among us, the first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, whose wife will she be in the resurrection, since all of them were married to her?”
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead — have you not read what God said to you, ‘I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, BUT OF THE LIVING.”
St. Matthew tells us that when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. And it is pretty astonishing — the declaration that God is no a God of the dead, but of the living; that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob — the holy patriarchs, having long passed from the earth, are NOT dead, but alive!
So what’s the connection to “All Saints”? Simply this: the saints who have gone before us, who have passed from this life, are not dead — they LIVE. They live IN CHRIST, who is LIFE. The saints LIVE, the ones known to the Church, and the ones known only to God. But unlike the honor guard keeping watch at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the saints — known and unknown — keep over us, a never-sleeping, ever-present, always watchful, honor guard.
“… since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, … let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…”
