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Welcome to Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday in the lectionary year! This year is the 100th anniversary of the first Christ the King Sunday. Started in 1925 by Pope Pius XI as a response to growing Secularism and Fascism in the wake of World War I. It was designed to remind Christians of Jesus’ sovereignty and authority over all of creation. In more recent years, Christian leaders have chosen to focus on the kind of King Jesus is: the King of Peace we all long for, one who came to ‘reconcile himself to all things (Col1:20) and who came not to be served, but to serve. (Matt 20:28)
I often wonder why the people who put the lectionary together chose to put particular readings together on a given Sunday. Why choose these two texts, one from before Jesus’ birth is even announced, and the second which speaks of his ignominious death on the cross and place them together to end the lectionary year? Perhaps it is to draw together all of the themes of Luke’s in one final crescendo – a great, bright, brash, high note to end on……. before we begin the perpetual cycle again with another of the gospel writers, with their different themes and audience, and slightly different take on the life and identity of Jesus.
The readings from Luke’s gospel for today invite us to look at the big picture themes of the gospel – who is Jesus? What is his relationship to God? What are the titles of Jesus used in the gospel all about?
So what kind of King is this crucified Jesus? As Tom Wright sums it up: “Here is the king who embodies the justice, the loyalty, the salvation of God: praying for those who nail him to the cross, mocked as a false king, taunted as Jeremiah taunted Jehoachim as one who [failed to care for the sheep.] a mere sham, an impostor. Here he is, fulfilling God’s promise to bring in his kingdom of justice and mercy, rescuing those who turn to him and his kingdom only when all other hope is exhausted.”
