Christ the King (C) - November 20th, 2022

Preliminary

What would you do with your last breath? Speaking mercy and blessing . Jesus is Lord and King, vulnerable and weak

Topics: LGBTQ and Interracial marriage protected by Senate and House

Qatar: Human rights abuses in the wake of the World Cup

Elon Musk requires employees to be “hard core” or quit

Jeremiah - play with it

A word of warning.

It is political - we must be careful and not to co-opt it for other politics. It may be about Jesus, but it is also about other figures

Colossians - struggling with?

Look up context

A theological picture of Jesus - very cleaned up, meant to encourage

The New Revised Standard Version The Crucifixion of Jesus

33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesuse there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]]f And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiahg of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him,h “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deridingi him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah?j Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come intok your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke:

A dramatic scene - Golgotha - The Skull, criminals abound, guards taking his clothing, his cross-mates deriding him -> and yet, he chooses to be merciful and patient, especially with the one that understands his innocence and what it means.

Good morning,

We are continuing the tour of gospel of Luke and this time we are, well…jumping ahead to crucifixion, stopping only a short of Jesus’s death. A little bit of a fast forward on the remote, if you will…Or skip two chapters button if there ever were one! Let’s have a look.

The arrest and condemnation of Jesus for fabricated quasi-religious charges are behind us and now we find Jesus at Golgotha, The Skull, the dreaded and rather ostentatious place of punishment for those defying the Roman Empire and their order in some way. And that was very convenient to the enemies of Jesus, because he did disrupt the order they are used to and he was an unpredictable and uncontrollable element in need of dealing with. Of course, it’s always much better to outsource the painful and ultimate punishment, to lessen the guilt pangs! And we will talk about guilt quite a bit today, keep that in mind.

He was crucified with criminals, kakourgoi - in the old days of Athens, criminal offenders such as night thieves, thieves of clothing, kidnappers, burglars, and pickpockets that could be apprehended by anyone through private arrest and if convicted, put to death (Brill). What is interesting about New Testament use is that it is used only once more in the Second Letter to Timothy, where the author, supposedly Paul, writes:

The New Revised Standard Version (A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus)

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal (kakourgos). But the word of God is not chained.

It points to the fact that we might need to go beyond the classic description of a kakourgos from the age of the Athenian citystate. The historian Josephus would use this word for Zealots that we might today consider to be rebels against the Roman occupants - make armed conflict against Roman rule the content of their life, and are prepared to risk everything, even life itself, to achieve national liberty (Kittel). I think that it would make sense that Jesus would find himself among them, rather than mere thieves! The ancient world would go to some length to discourage thievery, but perhaps crucifixion, which requires some effort to execute, is not quite it. And seeing that Jesus was condemned instead of a Barabbas that was also a rebel most likely. So Jesus likely finds himself in a company of fellow status quo challengers, but unlike him, they actually did actual insurrectionist harm somewhere! It reads a little different, doesn’t it?

And then, each of these rebels have a much different reaction to Jesus being in between them - one began mocking him: Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us! While the other, rebuked the mocking rebel and said instead:

The New Revised Standard Version (The Crucifixion of Jesus)

Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

And Jesus replied to him:

The New Revised Standard Version The Crucifixion of Jesus

43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

So what is going on here? I think we come back to the topic of guilt - The first rebel probably chose to relieve his feeling of guilt by mocking Jesus, while the other acknowledged it and reached out to Jesus for the promise of relieve. And of course, there is something deeply theological and at the same time contextual about that.

Everywhere I look, I see people trying to escape guilt, which can be a rather oppressive force. Guilt can be imposed on us, rightly or wrongly, but it can also come from within, our conscience, which we are told is influenced by the Holy Spirit. Oh to be free of this feeling of guilt, many might say and then they actually look for it. And there are a few ways to relieve it, if not completely remove.

One is to focus on others, to accuse, deride, to make THEM feel guilty - I think a lot of the retributory justice we can also see here addresses that and it doesn’t have to be even a capital punishment, but for example a fine to pay. In the State of New Jersey, if you do not turning your old plates, they will eventually threaten to suspend your license and then, if you return them, you have to go to one specific place to pay the fine in person, I am being told - whether intentionally or unintentionally, it ultimately is meant to make you feel guilty. The same in Slovakia, where I studied, if you get a fine for riding the bus without a ticket, you have to get in line and pay it in person… I think making other people feel guilty can be a temporary fix, however wrong/frustrating!

The other option we have is to see if we can remove or lessen the guilt externally by removing reminders of it. Surround yourself with people that are engaged in the same thing, build a community that looks like you, and perhaps even going as far as changing laws and the culture to fit your lifestyle and thoughts. Sounds familiar? A lot of populists promise just that - put your trust in us and we will make sure to build a paradise, where YOUR views will be affirmed, however cuckoo and outrageous they might be! We will change laws, infiltrate power structures, and make sure that ll the guilt you feel will go away…

Something that the democracy is meant to prevent, so that not one political party, school of thought, or ideology gets to rule and command on the expense of everybody else. Be it theocracy (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Mormon…), fundamentalist secularism like in France, Marxism-Leninism that took roots in Asian countries by the way of Soviet influence, or perhaps American nationalist exceptionalism. They all seek to break down and rebuild their environment to their guilt-free liking - who is powerful and who is powerless, who gets to make choices about people’s reproductive rights and sexual and gender identities, who has access to marriage and the connected privileges, who gets to represent people, who is the enemy, or perhaps even who gets to travel, visit, immigrate.

That is why, after we saw what unchecked, one way leaning Supreme Court can do with abortion rights, politicians are scrambling to make sure that interracial and same-sex marriage is protected from future tampering, so that some get to feel good on the expense of other people’s freedom of living the way they choose. We really do not want to end up like in Qatar, the hosting country of this year’s FIFA World Cup, where homosexuality is criminalized and LGBTQIA+ community members are systematically brutalized by the police simply for existing.

And the third basic choice to relieve guilt is to actually reflect on it and do something about it - like the other rebel! He couldn’t undo the damage at this point, but he could own up to the guilt and ask Jesus to remember him. And Jesus affirmed him!

The third option can be the hard one, but it is ultimately the one that is supported in our understanding of faith. It is my belief that Christianity was never ever supposed to become a theocracy, the rule of the land and every time it happens, it becomes a conformity and status quo-seeking ideology, a paradox in itself as that is exactly what Jesus preached against. Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the empire, which then led to the Catholic Church with its dogmatic rules, which in turn was opposed by many, including Martin Luther. When Christianity gets to rule, it continues with colonization of others, wars, brutality…becoming the very empire Jesus was up against. In the U. S., some really try to bring back Christendom, the church as a shaper of the culture and laws, to often affirm troubling and regressive viewpoints that many of us, whether Christian or not, choose to oppose as we think that the Gospel is so much more than enforcing conformity to conservative and exclusionary values . I believe that Christianity needs to engage with the civil matters through the values of God’s love, mercy, and justice, but not to rule and dominate, deciding that this is what everybody must believe and do!

Yes, that may feel a little bit less satisfying and guilt lessening, because that involves a dialogue and the necessity to face the other, but it is the right thing to do - we are not to externalize or outsource the lessening of our guilt - it is for us ourselves to deal with! We are told by God that we are no longer condemned to damnation, but to live out the Kingdom of God to the fullest, we need to reflect our feelings of guilt, communicate with God about it and then act accordingly as we feel lead by the Holy Spirit. Through that we are affirming the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and his love, mercy, and justice in our world - not just on this Sunday, but all the time.

I believe that and only that can truly bring us the release from crushing guilt - to be real with ourselves, about our complicated, broken, and yet whole identity as both sinners and saints, and to be open to work with it towards the common good. Just sitting in our guilt doing nothing about is not the answer, just like pushing it onto others or shaping the world so that I don’t have to feel it anymore. We ARE sinners and saints and there are times we will feel guilty…We are safe in God’s arms, like a parent cradling a baby and yet we are, freed and liberated, called to listen to our conscience and answer it with love and grace. Amen.