Christ the King

I find it fascinating that the readings for Christ the King Sunday have Jesus hanging on a cross being ridiculed and mocked by the leaders and the soldiers, and even by one of the criminals being crucified with him. Not a very majestic image. But it does show us something about the man we call our King. We really shouldn't be surprised to find him crucified among criminals. He was always going out of his way - but we can't really say that it was out of his way since it was precisely his way - to include the outcast and the forgotten. Of course, he will be there with the criminals in that shameful place of agony and humiliation. Of course, he will, because that's what he's been doing all along. It's not surprising to find him among criminals, but it is surprising to find the criminals being crucified along with the King of Heaven and Earth. Can you imagine being sentenced to death and as you go, carrying your instrument of torture on your back, you look over and there is the King of kings and Lord of lords, joining you there? What an amazing thing! What an amazing King!

Our King is not some high and exalted overlord who rules with power and force, rather, he is a King who cares so deeply about his world and the people who inhabit it that he will join us where ever we are, even if we are on a cross, to make salvation available to us.

When everything seems to collapse around us, when life is at its worst, when it seems like we are totally abandoned and isolated and alone, the King of Heaven and Earth is with us every step of the way. He meets us - down in the depths of our need - when we feel like we are being crucified by this world, mocked and ridiculed, when we are at the very bottom and there is no way out, when we feel like we have no hope left. There he is. He's joined us. He's on a cross too.

When we feel like everyone has abandoned us. When we feel like even God isn't there and we find ourselves crying out like the psalmist so many years ago, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” You know what? He joins us there too, he joins us in those very words – crying out with the rest of us.

Our King is not like other kings. Our King comes and rescues us by joining us, by standing with us, on our side, by joining us in our most cursed place - our place of deepest despair - and he transforms that place into a place of salvation.

The cross, that cruel instrument of humiliation and death, is no longer a symbol of shame, it is now a victorious sign that the King of Heaven will stop at nothing to make you his own - to make us his own - and to save us from our enemies.

What an awesome thing it is to be in relationship with this King. What an awesome thing to have him join us where we are. What an awesome thing to know that there is nothing we can do that will put us beyond his willingness to be there when we need him.

Over the next few weeks of Advent we will turn our hearts toward the coming King. As we begin to make our preparations for his arrival, for the advent of our Lord, let's make it a point to open ourselves to him fully, to open our hearts and our hurts to him. So that when he does come, he finds us ready to receive him - and to receive the salvation that he brings.