Christ the king sunday
Sun 23, Nov 2003
Dan 7:13-14
Son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. Approached ancient of days and was led into his presence. All peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him.
Ps 93
Rev 1:4-8
Jn 18:33-37
"Am I a Jew?" "It was your people.."
"My kingdom is from another place."
Sermon-Frank Eberhart
Christ the king sunday. This is the last of the church year. We're not used to having a king. We can vote out the president. We are willing to impeach our president. Royal blood is an alien concept to us. There is a nostalgia of kingship. Pilate saw Jesus as a peasant accused of being king. Jesus had no weapons, no army, no taxation, nothing. Pilate assumed Jesus was nothing. It's easy for us to call him nothing. PEople get more money than us. Life is a trial, but God says there's a test coming. "What kind of king are you?" "A real king wouldn't be judged by a joke in the Roman political system, the paid clown of Rome."
The story of the feeding of the 5,000 is in all the gospels. Women and children were fed. They tried to make Jesus king because of the free bread. Jesus didn't come to get rid of jobs. He instead came to give us the bread of life. Jesus predicted trouble for the disciples, but Jesus is the king of your life. God's peace was given, not the world's brand of peace. By his spirit, he'd get us through our problems. Jesus is the lord of good and bad times. When the Soviet Union closed, there was a church convention in Moscow. To russia with love. They had more persection there than in Rome. They proclaimed their faith by martyrdom. We have to live for Jesus, too. You have to give up ego to love someone. Let go of yourself.
Frank drove 8,000 miles to do a service once. He drove the legal speed limit. Taking side roads, he found it took a third of the time it took to drive there from the interstate. There's never a sign that says `here is the road to your final destination.' The only builder of that road is Jesus.
Jesus builds the highway that matters. No barrels are on this highway. You won't be ashamed or rejected. Jesus didn't condemn anyone, not the samaritan woman, not even really the pharisees. Jesus is the ancient of days. Politicians don't follow through on promises. They give tax breaks to the wealthy. Jesus gives more than tax breaks. We will have mansions in heaven. Retirement benefits that are out of this world. If you lose a social security card, you can replace it. Passports can't be replaced easily. In social security, you are just a number. Only Jesus sees you as more than a number.