Christ the King?

Long ago- tales of knights and conquering heroes were the epic adventures we sought. From the knights of the round table to the heroes of war.  Good vanquishing evil.  It’s the story that’s written on our hearts. The deep desire for rescue. 

But we have changed the narrative. As our culture shifts again- it’s no longer good versus evil. There is not a right and a wrong, but now - your truth and my truth. 

The great scholars of the age debate how this will shape society. What it will mean for future generations. But we see the beginnings take shape as art forms begin to shift.  Because as you change art, so you change culture.  No longer are our tales of even super heroes that of the top box office hits.  Now an antagonist is not the antagonist of the story but rather one who was hurt and can't help themselves. We are told it's not "their" fault.  And when the maligned character is shown kindness, the world changes shape. There are no consequences.  No good.  No evil.  No right.  No wrong.

We try and re-write the story because we are afraid of the truth. In the way that parents tame scary stories and explain a nicer version where Snow White isn't poisoned and left for dead, Scar is removed from the story, Old Yeller doesn’t die... We try and do the same. 

So over and over, we try to tame the Lion of Judah. In the same way, a well meaning parent tries to protect an innocent child by telling her: "No- the lion won’t hurt you. You are safe."  To calm the nightmares... until the sweet little girl years later on a safari in Africa walks right up to a lion. Not hearing the shouts of her companions because the fairy tale version of the story has lulled her into a false narrative. 

C.S. Lewis says it best: “Is the King safe? No but he is very good.”

And we wonder why people walk away from the Good News we try so very hard to share on our bumper stickers and T-shirt’s and our social media campaigns? Because in the very deepest part of our soul- we hear and see the lack of authenticity. Like the moment the blinders are taken off in classic tv show "Friends" and Phoebe ends up watching all of the old movies her mother gave a different ending to... We too leave disillusioned. Desiring something much deeper. Knowing that these challenges and catastrophic problems that lay before us in this world are far too deep for a simple self help book. But we don’t know where to turn. Because for generations now- our best intention has been to soften the Gospel. To try and twist it into something that we can control. Now we are left with the consequences of our actions. But rather than leave our mess for another generation to clean up, to shrug our shoulders and say it’s not my fault... The story isn’t over. God has not left us. He has not walked away. His love for us has not wavered. And he continues to invite us into the story he is writing.

What if we dared to preach a Gospel that was so revolutionary and counter cultural that even if we did not see instant results- we decided to give our lives over to that which God has called us to be? What if we poured ourselves into a relationship with him?  And despite what the world said, day in and day out, with integrity, we quietly held and claimed the promise made to us as if it was true? That we are His beloved.  Not attacking or clinging to the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) or even this parable (Matthew 25:31-46) as a to do list, but watching as God transformed us into those people described. That our lives would begin to overflow with grace. 

Not inside a particular building on a particular day of the week but in our every day lives. To the sweet teenager that babysits our kids. The neighbor who never seems to have it together. The maintenance worker coming to fix the same problem for the 41st time. The boss who is scattered. The hard working employee that doesn’t try to earn your favor but quietly goes about life with integrity. The mom who tries so hard but whose house will always be a mess. The brother whose drug addiction causes such deep hurt and pain and will be the life long struggle. The person working the drive thru window who gets your order wrong. The man who carries your Christmas tree to the car for you. The apathetic sales person. The customer sales representative who just got yelled at all day for problems that weren’t their fault but they are required to clean up the mess. The receptionist who pleasantly answers the phone. The school teacher who has the best interests of 30 kids to manage and their conflicting needs. The alcoholic on the street corner asking for money. The loving grandparents.  The father who works hard to provide.  The single parent who has to try and do it all.

What would it look like to live as though the promise is true? To embrace our identity? To stop.  To be honest.  What if we stop trying to desperately escape?  What if we stop trying to rewrite the ending to the story? For the truth is - we are just as bad as we worry and think we might be. We actually are that broken. We are that much of a mess. And our actions do have consequences.  But the good news is that God has chosen and called us as his beloved. He doesn't shirk the difficult questions and give cheap answers.  He doesn't skim over the great injustice we see in the world.  He doesn't turn a blind eye to that which has been done to us. The darkest evil that is seen- he refuses for it to not meet a just end. 

Human wisdom fails us.  We see this problems as insurmountable.  How can we have justice and grace?  These questions that seems irreconcilable to us- and yet God solves in himself. He pays the price himself. Taking the evil, the injustice, the shame. It matters that much to him. He clothes himself in humanity and bears up under the weight of the curse. Becoming one for us. Rescuing us. Loving us. Giving us real life. 

So we can read these words again in the 25th chapter of Matthew. They are difficult words.  We can skim over them. We can try to rationalize them. We can even just skip over part of the story and focus on loving others. Re-write the story yet again.  Or we can dare to dive so deeply into this beautiful promise. And cling to the hope given in us in Jesus Christ. And maybe some day- these words will be said of us.  A person will approach us and ask: "do you remember the day you changed my life?"  We honestly won’t remember. We will be as surprised as the people Jesus described here. All we will remember is the overwhelming love that our God rescued us with and we won’t realize that it spilled onto others, as well. 

But what of the others described in the end of the story?  It would be easy to offer a cheap theological solution to these deep problems.  Jesus is the one who determines the difference between the sheep and the goats.  The irony is that neither the sheep nor the goats can understand how they got to be who they are.  We can choose to operate in an if/then hermeneutic, or we can claim the truth that God has chosen and worked through Jesus Christ to claim us.  And then as Dr. Nestingen reminds us, we can pray that: "Christ Jesus would tune our hearts to His Grace."  We confess before God and each other that we have been called to make disciples of all nations, but that we have failed.  We throw ourselves on the mercy of the great King with hope.  Not turning to works righteousness, for our King is better than that.  But leaning into the hope that is ours and calling God to remember his promise.

For the cross still matters. The tomb is still empty.  And Jesus is the King.