Christ the King! 1 Samuel 8 & Matthew 25, 11/26/23
1 Samuel 8:4-20; 11:14 & Matthew 25:31-40
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only, you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots, and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And on that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.” But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! We are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
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Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal.
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“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’”
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Today is Christ the King Sunday! I hope you’re looking forward to your Christ the King dinner and that you stay safe during your Christ the King travels.
Just kidding! Christ the King Sunday isn’t a big holiday for most of us. In fact, some (most?) of you probably weren’t even aware that it is Christ the King Sunday, as this celebration was added to the liturgical calendar as recently as 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Christ the King Sunday is now the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar, because the first Sunday of Advent, next Sunday, is the first Sunday of the liturgical calendar.
And that’s everything you ever wanted to know about the liturgical calendar, right?
The reason I told you all of that is that today I conclude our months-long walk through the Old Testament. I’ll begin a new series next week for the first Sunday of Advent from the New Testament Gospel of Luke.
Admittedly, we didn’t make it all the way through the Old Testament, which would take years instead of months. But we looked at many of the stories from Father Abraham until the period of the kings. And instead of summarizing our journey today, I’ve decided to let the Apostle Paul do so.
Early in Paul’s ministry, he and Barnabas were speaking to some fellow Jews in the synagogue in Antioch. Listen to how Paul connects their history from the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible to this “Jesus” he’s telling them about from the book of Acts 13:16-23:
Fellow Israelites and others who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. After he had destroyed seven peoples in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, “I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.” Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
Last week I mentioned that Israel was a theocracy throughout the early part of its history (theocracy meaning “God as king”). As they were settling into the Promised Land, God gave them judges, like tribal leaders (including Deborah, whom we discussed last week). In the passage I read earlier, we meet Samuel—the last of Israel’s judges and the first of Israel’s prophets.
And the people of Israel once again sin against God by demanding that Samuel appoint a king over Israel to unite the tribes to become a United Kingdom of Israel. They’ve had enough of “God as King.” Theocracy isn’t good enough for them. They want to be like all the other nations around them. They want a monarchy. They want a king (and I quote) “to fight our battles.”
The people wanted a warring king. So they got one. In fact, they would get many warring kings. In fact, most of the kings of ancient Israel are largely known for the wars they waged.
· Think about how tragic that is, to be remembered mainly for war.
· Think about the profound human cost of conflict.
· Think about the missed opportunities for peaceful progress.
· Think about how war consumes a leader’s attention, how it obscures their potential for fostering positive change and contributing to the well-being of their people.
· Think about countless lives lost and dreams shattered.
Yet the people of Israel wanted a warring king.
Let me ask this: are we so different?
It seems that we still live in a world where “might makes right.” From schoolyard bullies to the leaders of the world’s most powerful militaries, homo sapiens are a warmongering species. And warring people want warring leaders, so that’s what we get.
But there’s a better way . . .
In Matthew 25, we read about a different kind of kingdom, and a different kind of king, quite opposite from the kingdoms of this world. Jesus is teaching his followers using a parable; he paints for them a mental picture of God’s dream for the world, finally realized at the end of days. All the nations are gathered around the Son of Man, the King, who is seated upon a throne. And this King is determining who will “inherit the kingdom” from among all the peoples of the world. Here’s a list of what doesn’t matter at the end of days when the King is separating the sheep from the goats:
· Wealth isn’t the ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
· Power isn’t the ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
· Status isn’t the ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
· Military prowess isn’t the ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
· Fame isn’t the ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
· “Knowing the right people” isn’t the ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
· It’s not good looks or a body mass index of 20 or perfect teeth that gets you a ticket into the peaceable kingdom.
If it’s not all of these things, then what’s the ticket?
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
Then Jesus suggests those given a pass wouldn’t understand why they’d been given a pass into the peaceable kingdom. (Notice their humility!) The King answers them this way:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to
one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine,
you did it to me.
To quote from a famous Saturday Night Live skit, “That’s the ticket!”
This Christ is a different kind of king. What does this mean for us? It means that you and I better be different a kind of human.
On a frigid winter’s day, January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy stood on the steps of the United States Capital to take the oath of office and deliver his inaugural address to the American people. The 35th President of the United States, Kennedy assumed leadership over the U.S. government in the midst of significant geopolitical tensions and in the middle of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Kennedy used his inaugural address to emphasize the need for unity and collective action in facing these global challenges. Kennedy sought to inspire a sense of duty and public service; he encouraged Americans to contribute to the well-being of the nation and the world. And one line, more than all the others, served to help usher Americans toward a radical new way of approaching their relationship with their country. Do you know the line?
Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
This call to civic responsibility and selfless service to the greater good is not dissimilar to Jesus’ teaching about serving “the least of these” as a pathway to the kingdom of heaven.
Both expressions underscore a profound shift in perspective, urging individuals to move beyond self-centered interests and actively engage in the well-being of others and society at large. Both messages challenge us to a radical new way of life, to a transformative shift of perspective:
· From self-interest to others-interest.
· From “might makes right” to “right makes might.”
Another great American once used this phrase, “Right makes might,” in a speech that would set him on course to the presidency . . . Abraham Lincoln. In a speech delivered at Henry Ward Beecher’s church in Brooklyn, New York—a fiery, compelling speech against the spread of slavery westward—Abraham Lincoln closed with these words:
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith,
let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Right makes might. Always has. Always will. The great people throughout history have always known this.
Back to the ancient Israelites.
They wanted a king to “go out before us and fight our battles.” That’s exactly what they got . . . for centuries. Some battles, they won. Some battles, they lost.
And so by the First Century, Israel was no longer a monarchy. The Hebrew people had become subjects of the dominant Roman Empire.
And then one day, a baby was born—a descendant of an Israelite king, King David. Born in an obscure village—the same little town in which King David was born. This baby was born in humility, among livestock. He was no earthly king. In fact, it would be heresy to even think such a thing. No, Caesar Augustus was king. No one dare speak of the notion of some other king—there was no king but Caesar.
As this baby grew up, he taught a different kind of power. A power that comes not through might. A power that comes through right. This alternative kingdom would have a King not born to princes, rather, this King could be found among the poor, the indigent, among the hungry and imprisoned.
This King would not call this world his home. In fact, his kingdom, would be entered only through a shift of perspective, a second birth, a downward progression, a gentle opening of the heart as opposed to an aggressive grab for more. This kingdom is esoteric—it’s not a place, it’s a perspective.
This king is Christ the King! For this King, right makes might and mercy rules!
Seeing this humble servant, who would be publicly shamed and executed on a Roman cross—seeing this suffering servant as a King requires a radical shift of perspective. And so, the challenge I want to issue each of us this week is this: shift your perspective, like these great men have challenged us to do:
· From Abraham Lincoln: “Right makes might.”
· From John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
· From Jesus, the Christ: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”
My mom and I did something really stupid on Friday. We went shopping. At the mall. On Black Friday. Now, if you go shopping at the mall on Black Friday, you get what you deserve, right? Lots of people, barely room to walk, and long lines at checkout. And so, after waiting in a long line at checkout, we stepped up to the cashier. Next to us, another customer stepped up to another cashier. He started barking about the long line and being really ugly to the cashier. And I thought to myself, “Dude, YOU’RE the one who chose to go shopping on black Friday!” I mean, unless you’ve been living under a rock, don’t you expect to deal with long lines on Black Friday?
What might that scenario have looked like if that man had undergone that radical shift of perspective espoused by Lincoln, Kennedy, and especially Jesus? “Ask not what the cashier can do for you, ask what you can do for the cashier.”
About that time, I noticed my mom complimenting our cashier about her jewelry. I could tell it was adding a bit of joy to our cashier’s rather challenging day. Because of this simple kindness from my mother, the cashier told us about her mother’s recent death, and about how the necklace and the scarf she wore had been her mother’s. This small act of kindness, prompted by my mom, brought a warm smile to our cashier’s face, even though she had 50 customers in line after us.
What I witnessed right there in J.C. Penney made something crystal clear—there are two very different approaches to life:
· One perspective is self-centered, placing self-interest at the center of the universe (and imagines there should be no line at checkout on Black Friday!)
· A second perspective seeks to uplift others, oftentimes in small, subtle kindnesses that cost absolutely nothing. (This is kingdom of God perspective!)
What I love about this church is that you already have that kind of “alternative, kingdom of God perspective.” But we can always grow more aligned with these ideals! So, my dear friends, are you ready to shift perspective? Then try these experiments:
· Ask not what your server can do for you, ask what you can do for your server.
· Ask not what your spouse can do for you, ask what you can do for your spouse.
· Ask not what your neighbor can do for you, ask what you can do for your neighbor.
· Ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church.
· Ask not what your God can do for you, ask what you can do for your God.
And by so doing, you might just find yourself with one ticket to the kingdom of heaven.