Today in the Spirit: Proper 29B (Christ the King)
Compared with other major festival days in the life of the Church, Christ the King is a relative newcomer. The feast itself was only added to the ecclesiastical year by the Roman Catholic Church in 1925, and its placement at the end of Pentecost came in 1970. In Year B, the assigned Gospel reading out of John 18:33-37 is the narrative in John of the awkward conversation between Pontius Pilate and Jesus of Nazareth just before the latter’s Crucifixion. To the question of Pilate, “‘So you are a king?’”Jesus, without answering directly, declares his ultimate authority in the world: “‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice’” (37).
The assigned OT reading takes us for a second consecutive week to Daniel. This time in an earlier part of the prophetic section of the book, Daniel 7:9-14 records a vision of the “Ancient of Days” (a title in Daniel for the One God), seated on his throne at the time of judgment and receiving “one like a son of man” (for us Jesus). “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (14). The appointed Psalm 93 is an ode to the majesty of YHWH as king, which we will recite in our worship with both the triune God in mind: “The Lord is King and has put on glorious apparel; the Lord has put on his apparel and girded himself with strength” (1, BCP New Coverdale).
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The NT readings on feast days during Ordinary time come off the usual course of tracking through a book and instead conform to the day’s theme. The assigned reading from Revelation 1:1-8 introduces Jesus in John’s opening doxology as “the ruler of kings on earth” (5) and, picking up on the language of Daniel’s vision, as One “coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (7). The Collect assigned for Christ the King Sunday designates Jesus, “the well-beloved Son,” the title “King of kings and Lord of lords.” The hope-filled petition is that under Jesus’ reign, which has already begun, “the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule.”
The Collect
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.
With the Clouds of Heaven…to the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9-14)
13 “I saw in the night visions,
Daniel 7:13-14
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Let’s focus on one detail in this extraordinarily difficult passage that may open our minds to the larger meaning. We will hear, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him’” (13). “The clouds of heaven” throughout the Bible represent the presence of God in his glory, but here we find the “son of man” coming “with the clouds,” not from heaven to earth but from earth to heaven, to the heavenly courtroom and the Father God.
This could be a picture of the first return of Christ to heaven (the Ascension), but many commentators point out that the term “son of man” may be a corporate term representing Jesus and all the saints. The interpretation of Daniel’s dream which follows our passage confirms this: “‘And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’’’ (7:27). Here then is likely the vision of a second return of Jesus to the throne of glory in the company of a multitude of his people. (After a rapture, or a millennial rule?–we leave that aside).
Devotionally, we are compelled to awe by the finality of it all: “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Here the vision ends for Daniel, and for us. Troubling? Yes. Perplexing? Most definitely. Faith inspiring? Oh, most definitely, beloved. He who comes with a cloud to us returns with us in tow. And there is nothing more to say.
Today, Holy Spirit, as you did with Daniel himself, take my confusion over the mystery of this vision and turn it into comfort by the clear and complete end it portrays.
The LORD is King (Psalm 93)
1 The Lord is King and has put on glorious apparel; *
Psalm 93 (BCP 2019 New Coverdale Psalter)
the Lord has put on his apparel and girded himself with strength.
2 He has made the round world so sure *
that it cannot be moved.
3 Ever since the world began, your throne has been established; *
you are from everlasting.
4 The floods have risen, O Lord; the floods have lifted up their voice; *
the floods have lifted up their waves.
5 Mightier than the sound of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, *
the Lord who dwells on high is mightier.
6 Your testimonies, O Lord, are very sure; *
holiness adorns your house for ever.
This psalm celebrating the majesty of YHWH is a feast for the imagination. How shall we imagine the kingship of the One God? His throne is old (“established”) before the beginning of time. “[God] is no parvenu pretender to another’s throne, here today and perhaps overthrown tomorrow” (Leslie Allen). He who sits on the throne is like the throne itself if the two can ever rightly be considered separately, equally, and immovable. “You are from everlasting” (3). The “glorious apparel” of the LORD is not decoration only, for God in his splendor is powerful beyond measure. Is there anything we can imagine that is “mightier than the sound of many waters”? For ancient peoples images of the sound of the sea will produce not only awe but fear. The psalmist will declare the One God “mightier” than that which is vast and that which is fearsome.
Now, in your reading this psalm in worship, let your own Spirit-inspired imagination of the glorious reign of our Father God have its way in the context of your own life circumstances. Without belittling the gravity of these circumstances to you, the psalmist will insist to your soul that they are well within your God’s capacity to sort them, even to employ them for his glory and your personal benefit. Hear the psalmist speak of your God’s “testimonies” that emanate from his throne. He stoops low to speak to you and to reveal himself to you in his word and, preeminently, in the face of the Son. So John the Evangelist, in our NT reading from Revelation, speaks of Jesus: He is “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5).
Today, in the Spirit, I drink in the testimony of this psalm and make my imagination of what the psalmist sees my declaration of faith.
Even So Amen (Revelation 1:1-8)
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:1-8
“Even so. Amen” (lit. “yes amen,” 7). Is this just a straight affirmation or a disclaimer? Is it “even so” it will be, or “even so” bad it will be? The language used to describe the second coming of Jesus is severe. The Jewish believers among his audience would have recognized the references to wailing from “even those who pierced him” from Zechariah 12:10-14. This passage (and you might want to look at it now) describes mourning in Israel “like the weeping of Haddad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo” (i.e., Armageddon, 10-11, NIV). The mourning of Haddad Rimmon recalls lamentation over the death of King Josiah during the battle with the Egyptians at Megiddo (2 Kgs. 23:29ff). It is pure sadness.
For John, mourning over the piercing of Jesus will be worldwide (maybe suggesting ongoing repentance over time), but—and this is the important point—not sad for believers in the churches. They will acknowledge the freedom from sins won “by his blood” but go on to take their place in a “kingdom” with Jesus as “priests to his God and Father.” This is the encouragement the people of the seven churches beginning to suffer persecution needed to hear.
We need to hear John’s opening message in Revelation for both the present, when we struggle to remain faithful, and for the future, when we will witness Jesus’s hard coming. As we approach Advent, let us hear that Jesus Christ’s comings (first and second) are victorious for the elect. There is mourning, which changes to hope. There is waiting, which gives way to satisfactory completion.
Today, with the Spirit’s encouragement, we say “Even so, Amen.” Here at the beginning of the book and at the end, we lift our ears over the sounds of pain and trial to hear Jesus telling us, “Surely, I am coming soon.” And we reply, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (22:20).
So You Are a King? (John 18:33-37)
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
John 18:33-37
Commentators are mixed in their explanations of the attitude of Pilate as he comes back into “his headquarters” to speak with Jesus at this moment. Is it with pure contempt that he asks Jesus, “Are you the King of Jews?” Or is there something in the regal bearing of this man that makes him wonder? Is it with utter disdain for the Jewish people that he questions Jesus, “Am I a Jew?” Or is it simply that he does not understand Jewish customs and will defer to Jesus’ knowledge of the situation? Is it one or the other, or is there something of both in each case?
Devotionally, without detaching ourselves from the behavior of Pilate as if we are above it, we must admit to much of the same conflicted thinking in ourselves over the kingship of Jesus. Pilate is under pressure to decide whether or not he will crucify Jesus of Nazareth. Do the Scriptures not warn us that we confront the same daily decision? Recall the hard words from our Hebrews reading just a few weeks ago about those who have “fallen away”: “They are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (Heb. 6:6). Rather than taking on Pilate’s role as crucifier with our disobedience–no matter whether that disobedience arises out of open contempt or confusion–we do better to follow Paul who counts himself as the one crucified: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
Today, Holy Spirit, I admit to being spiritually like Pilate, a crucifier of my Lord Jesus. I plead always for forgiveness of my disobedience through his blood and for the grace to become as one crucified and on the way to being transformed into his likeness.
Today in the Spirit
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