Jesus, Remember Me - A Sermon for Reign of Christ / Christ the King Sunday November 20, 2022
GOSPEL: Luke 23:33-43
The holy gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Amid scoffing and slander from those who sarcastically call him Messiah and king, Jesus reveals that to be Messiah and king is to give one’s life for others. Here he uses his power to welcome a despised sinner to paradise but puts his own death into God’s hands.
33When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus 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.”⟧ And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Turn the calendar back 100 years or so…
The war to end all wars was over.
Conflict remained,
conflict that would emerge in a couple decades
with a Second World War.
In this time of relative peace,
nationalism grew in popularity around the world;
in The Soviet Union,
Greater Romania,
Czechoslovakia,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Chile,
and quite notably in Italy and Germany.
Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925,
during this time of heightened radical nationalism,
to remind Christians that our allegiance is to Jesus Christ,
the Lord of heaven and earth,
and not to earthly rulers,
like Hitler and Mussolini,
who rose to power because they knew politics,
when the church did not.
This kind of radical nationalism,
tied with racial hatred
led to the Holocaust.
Today marks the 97th celebration of Christ the King Sunday,
Today, nationalism continues to grow in popularity.
It seems like we live in a time of relative peace,
but we know there is plenty of conflict out there,
and radical nationalism continues to pose a threat,
much like 100 years ago.
Saying Jesus is King is resistance;
resistance to empires that conquer and invade,
resistance to rulers who dominate
by force or rhetoric,
resistance to prejudicial politics.
Saying Jesus is King says that
I don’t belong to the kingdom of this world:
I belong in Jesus’ kind of Kingdom.
So what might allegiance in Jesus’ Kingdom look like?
It looks like justice and righteousness,
but what kind of justice and righteousness?
It can’t be the self-righteousness
that is being sold by the kingdom of this world.
Self-righteousness is gonna fail.
It can’t be my kind of justice,
nor the justice of the kingdom of this world
that isn’t willing to change systems of power
that hurt,
that oppress
and favour those with wealth and power.
that so called justice is gonna fail.
It has to be Gods righteousness.
It has to be Gods justice,
God’s shalom.
Allegiance to Jesus’ Kingdom
sounds like Luke 4,
Jesus’ mission statement read from the Isaiah scroll,
“The Spirit of the Lord us upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor,
(…) to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”
This is what Jesus’ ministry is all about,
so this is what allegiance to Jesus, the King, looks like.
It’s one thing to say it,
it’s another thing to live it.
It’s hard to show our allegiance to the Kingdom of God,
with our actions,
with our choices.
Even though we are filled with the Holy Spirit,
we constantly choose the kingdom of this world
over the Kingdom of God.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
We all want to hear those words
“Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
And we want to hear them from Jesus.
We work hard to create our own little paradises on earth,
saving up to take our children to Disneyland,
finding the last minute cruise or all-inclusive,
or whatever kind of get away we’d like.
The memories last a life time
and sometimes less.
We work hard so we can update our kitchen cabinets
or to buy the car with all the gadgets,
and we find pleasure…
for a time.
The advertisements tell us
how to create a little paradise for ourselves,
but they’re misleading.
Paradise isn’t found in blended ice cream,
nor spicy cheeseburger,
nor in banking with that other bank.
It is good to get away,
but as we escape our lives on vacation
Jesus’ words remain:
The kingdom of heaven is among you.
I like having a fun car to drive
and a home I’m proud of,
but the structures we build are all temporary.
I like ice cream and cheeseburgers
and worry free banking;
but those little paradises don’t last.
They leave us needing more.
The paradise we are looking for
is only truly found with Jesus:
in this life,
and in the life to come.
The paradise that we long for,
happens when God’s will is done
in and among us.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.
With Jesus, the kingdom of God is near to us, now.
Paradise awaits,
and by God’s grace,
paradise can happen now.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
And Jesus remembers us.
When memory fades,
when dementia or Alzheimer’s takes over,
and we can’t remember who our loved ones are:
Jesus remembers us.
When we do what is right,
when we walk in the ways
of God’s kind of justice and peace,
Jesus remembers us.
And even when we make a terrible mess of things,
when we sin and are not repentant,
when we don’t know what we are doing,
Jesus remembers us,
saying “Father, forgive them.”
When our participation in society
strengthens the kingdoms of this world,
Jesus remembers us -
saying “Father, forgive them.”
Even when we forget to remember Jesus,
Jesus remembers us.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
We hear the story of Jesus’ crucifixion,
The story of Jesus’ coronation as King,
and we might wonder where we fit in that scene.
We’d like to think that we would stand with Jesus, the King,
until the end;
maybe by God’s grace
we would find ourselves standing with Mary,
the mother of Jesus.
More likely,
we might find ourselves with the other disciples
who abandoned Jesus in fear.
We might find ourselves as a Roman soldier,
following orders,
and mocking Jesus.
We might find ourselves with the Pharisees,
conspiring to put an end to the Jesus threat,
and scoffing with the leaders.
We might find ourselves just one in the crowd,
watching,
We might find ourselves siding with the Roman Empire;
the kingdom that forces peace with violence,
or we might even find ourselves
one of the insurrectionists
who hung on either side of Jesus,
condemned for crimes against the state.
Wherever you find yourself in the story,
Jesus declares,
Father, forgive them.
Jesus remembers you.
Today, Jesus reigns,
Lord of heaven and earth,
King of kings and Lord of lords.
The cross and grave did not end the Jesus movement.
Christ is risen triumphantly from the grave,
and this risen King is with us always,
to the end of the age.
Since that time,
Empires have come and gone.
We find ourselves living in our own time of empire,
different and not that different
than 2000 years ago.
So where do we fit in the story now?
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Filled by God’s Spirit,
Forgiven by Christ our King,
and joined to God’s mission in the world,
May we strive for the kingdom of God
and God’s righteousness,
God’s justice,
God’s peace.
May we proclaim that Jesus is Lord and King,
with our mouths and with our lives.
And trusting that Jesus remembers us,
May we too hear those words from Jesus,
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
