The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
Today is the last Sunday of the Church Year. Next week, we begin the Advent of a new Church Year.
The past few weeks, we have been having readings that speak about the Day of the Lord, the day when God will make his final judgment of the people of Earth, and send some to eternal punishment in hell and some to eternal joy in heaven. The idea of the Day of the Lord is very old; most of the prophets speak of it. They give us some very different pictures. All of them agree that the Lord will bring to an end the earth as we know it, and most prophets agree that there will be a final judgment at that time. One prophet says that the Lord will prepare a wonderful, bounteous feast for his people, flowing with the best wine, and with all the most delicious foods offered to them. The description that we know best about the Day of the Lord is found in the book of Revelation; parts of it seem to be similar to the description of the Last Day of Judgment in the Book of Daniel. But of course none of us really know what will happen at that time. Jesus himself gave us some hints, but most of what we understand about the Last Day comes from visions and dreams of prophets and others, and it is hard to know how accurate they might be.
What we do know for sure about the end of the earth and of our age is very little. Jesus told us that nobody except God, not even Jesus himself, knows exactly when this will happen. Most of the prophets say that the end of our time will come after a long period of time when things are going very badly on earth: wars, earthquakes, corrupt and cruel governments, widespread sin and suffering. Revelation says this is the time when the Devil and his demons will be let loose for one last time to see if they can convert people to their ways of sin. Finally, Revelation says, there will be a great war between the forces of good and evil. The armies of the Lord will be led by the Archangel Michael, and they will conquer the armies of evil, led by the Devil. After that, the Devil and all who follow him will be imprisoned in hell. And then the Lord Jesus will come with power and great glory, surrounded by his angels, to judge all people, both living and dead. Those who have tried to obey God will go with Jesus to heaven and those who have not obeyed God will be put into hell with the Devil and his angels, and the gates of hell will be closed and locked forever. And then the earth will be destroyed, and God will give us a new heaven and a new earth. perfect and beautiful, where all the people will be followers of God's ways. Jesus himself will be the king, the ruler of this new world, which is actually heaven on earth, as our prayers are answered: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Everyone will live there with great joy and holiness, and Jesus himself, the King, will be the light of this world. It's a beautiful picture we get from the closing chapters of the book of Revelation.
So: Jesus is king, and he began his rule as king from the cross when he conquered death and evil. Jesus will sit as king over all at the Day of the Lord.
We Americans are not really used to the idea of a king. We need to think about what it means. You understand that we are not talking about a modern king or queen, such as England has, where there is really a democratic government and the king or queen is a symbol of the government. We are talking about an old-fashioned king, with total and complete power. And we need to think about what it means.
- Kings are not elected by the people. They become king because they, or their family, has been chosen by God to rule.
- Kings don't have to obey a congress or parliament. What they decide becomes the law. They don't even have to explain their reasons for decisions.
- The people of a nation have to obey the king, 100%. There is no appeal from the king's decisions.
What does all this mean for us?
Well, if Jesus is our king, it doesn't really matter if we want him to be or not. He IS king, because God choose him to be king. He has two qualifications: He is God the Son, and he conquered evil and death through his death on the cross, and his rising to life on the first Easter day. So we have a choice between Jesus and his father, God on one side, and the Devil on the other. When we make that decision, that's the only choice we have. We can't choose to be a Christian in name only. We can't say that it won't hurt to be a little bit bad just this once.
God has given his law to us. Jesus has said that he did not come to change the law. Therefore we are still expected to keep God's law. That is what we will be judged on. Jesus did explain and teach the meaning of God's law when he was with us on earth. Most of his teachings were in stories or parables, but some was straight, clear teaching. We have no real excuse for not obeying God's law, after God gave it, the prophets explained it, and Jesus explained and taught it with examples and in his own life.
When we were baptized and confirmed, we promised to follow Jesus as King and Lord. So we need to obey 100% what he taught us.
And the Feast of Christ the King, which we celebrate today, is both a reminder of what it means for us to have Jesus as King, and a taste of what it will be like to live in a land of perfect love, perfect obedience to God, perfect care of each person for others, and of God for all.
All of this leaves us, I think, with just two questions: Do we really understand what it means to have Jesus as King? Do we really mean our Baptism and
Confirmation promises to follow Jesus as King and Lord, or are we like the people in front of Pilate's palace on Good Friday, who yelled, "We have no king except Caesar, the Roman king! Crucify Jesus!"
The choice is yours and mine. And the life or death of our soul depends on what we choose.
Amen.
