JEREMIAH 23:1-6

PSALM 46

COLOSSIANS 1:11-20

LUKE 23:35-43

Sermon 11/25/01

Christ the King

Three men were hanging on crosses that Friday afternoon on a hill outside Jerusalem, three men each with but a few hours left to live. Three men had their final opportunities to define the meaning of their lives. Two continued on courses set long before and one, in his last hours, changed course.

Two criminals were crucified at the same time as and on either side of Jesus. The first criminal to speak was verbally abusive to Jesus and finally said, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The first criminal believed that he himself did not need to change – and that Jesus did. The man called Jesus the Messiah, the Savior, and then offered his expert opinion that the way Jesus was being the Savior was all wrong. Instead of taking all the sins of the world on his own shoulders, suffering alongside broken humanity while remaining sinless, defeating hate with his all-powerful love, Jesus should have just popped the nails out of his hands and feet, healed his own wounds, miraculously delivered both criminals from execution and had them all walk away untouched by the Roman army while they all said “So there”.

The first criminal wanted Jesus to deliver him, the criminal, from the immediate pain he was feeling and rescue him from imminent death without expecting him to change in any way. Since Jesus refused, the first criminal “derided” him, as the Gospel says. Jesus had refused to be his Enabler, so naturally the man got sarcastic and “dissed” him as much as he had breath for.

The second criminal to speak was different. He described himself as just as guilty of a capital crime as the first criminal; he did not try to cover up his past, nor was he self-righteous or holier-than-thou. The second criminal realized that his life had become unmanageable, that he was powerless over what had gotten him to the state he was in. Some people might say “Well, duh, how powerless do you have to be until you realize that you’re powerless? Being in the middle of getting executed seems a pretty obvious case of powerlessness.”

Well, reality is not always enough to check some peoples’ grandiosity – and denial can be a greater force than reality at times.

But this guy got it. He was powerless. He was not in control any more. AND he started “making a searching and fearless moral inventory” of himself which led him to the swift conclusion that he was responsible for the state he was in. He took responsibility for his own actions; again, this can be a lot harder than it sounds; blaming others is as popular among human beings as grandiosity.

And then, the next time he could manage a breath, he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

The second criminal didn’t even ask to be “restored to sanity”, or for a second chance in this life. Just “remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” That was an idea – Jesus returning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords – that, just then, seemed like the longest of long shots. The second criminal simply “came to believe that a power greater than himself could and would care about him”.

Humbly, unpretentiously, the second criminal asked for that care. This is the only time in the Gospel of Luke Jesus is addressed simply as “Jesus”. Not “Lord”, or “Master”, or even “Rabbi”. Just “Jesus”. First names only at this meeting.

Jesus didn’t chew him out for not addressing him in some other way. Jesus didn’t berate the man for not turning to him sooner. Jesus didn’t make him grovel or remind him of all his sins. Jesus didn’t say “Be perfect for five years and then I’ll consider helping you.” And he definitely did not say, “It’s too late for you.” Jesus heard the second criminal confess his own powerlessness and his responsibility for his life and turn to him for help, and that was enough. The man had “hit bottom” indeed.

And Jesus answered him “Today, you shall be with me in Paradise.”

The second criminal discovered that God has placed a sign on the road of life that says, “U-turns are always permitted.” The sign is posted repeatedly, including inches away from every “cliff” a person can “drive off” with their lives. And next to each sign someone is standing ready to assist any and all who take the first step away from a disastrous road and lead them on the road to sanity and serenity.

That Person may not be recognized by the man or woman taking the first step and that doesn’t bother that Person, who is more interested in saving lives and transforming them than in being addressed by the correct title. Some people have traveled for years down the road to sanity and serenity and just called that Person “my Higher Power.” That Person knew that’s how he needed to be known to many people so that he could get through to them.

But sometimes, after walking with him for a while – like those who walked on the road to Emmaus – some of those journeying with him toward sanity and serenity, toward LIFE, want to get to know more personally the Person who saved them.

And so that Person invites them to join with others who in their own life journeys and with their own problems and challenges also see this Higher Power as the source of LIFE. And together, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they - we – all recognize him in the breaking of the bread of the Eucharist.

Today, in the church year, we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. It is the grand finale of the liturgical year; a new liturgical year starts next Sunday with the First Sunday of Advent. Before we celebrate Christmas (with all the appropriate emotion and all the risks of mere sentimentality which that brings), before we remember Christ’s first Advent (coming to us) as a child in Bethlehem, we remember – and celebrate – that “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his Kingdom will have no end.”

And each year on this Sunday, we hear Gospel readings which remind us of the kind of King Christ is: deeply wise, awesomely compassionate, boundlessly generous and one who fully expects us to do what we can do and be which includes first and foremost acknowledging what we can’t do or be.

Jesus is not interested in anyone acknowledging him as a lesser god in a pantheon of gods headed by themselves. Nope. Acknowledging him as “King” while proclaiming ourselves to be “Emperor” doesn’t work.

To experience the first foretaste of the Kingdom of God, to savor the triumph, we need to recognize that we ourselves alone cannot build it or rule it, and that indeed our efforts to be our own little gods or emperors means driving off cliffs.

As Christians, we could say that “We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength.”

That is a quotation from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, published by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Today we as a parish are also celebrating “Recovery Sunday II”, the reality that God really can and does transform lives here and now, including ones devastated by addiction to alcohol or other drugs. God offers reality-based hope, for recovery, hope that can only begin to transform lives once reality has been faced.

The second criminal, dying on the cross, faced his own reality, experienced hope, and received an assurance of paradise. The first criminal experienced only his own sarcasm. We don’t know if they were addicts (though lots of criminals are), but looking at their words through the lens of 12 step thinking, as I have tried to do, is certainly revelatory. The second criminal recognized his powerlessness, admitted his faults, turned to his Higher Power (a few feet away!) and spent his last hours, I believe, with an inner peace he probably had never experienced before, followed by – being with Christ in Paradise.

U-turns are always permitted. The Higher Power is as close to every person now as he was to that man. The Higher Power does understand, does care, will respond and also expects us to take actions.

And, for those who are able and willing to take this step, the Higher Power can be known in Scripture, in sacraments and in his spiritual presence within a community

of believers, all of whom are imperfect but who believe we are stumbling together in the right direction trying to follow Him, one day at a time.

For those who are church-goers, are affected by alcoholism or drug addiction (their own or that of someone close to them), and who wonder if Jesus Christ can and wishes to help them, I have good news: YES. Christ is the King, and his influence extends far beyond church sanctuaries. He invites all to new LIFE, not just in the next world but RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW. And yes, he has guided many people to Alcoholics Anonymous, to Narcotics Anonymous, to Families Anonymous (for families of drug addicts), to Al-Anon (for families of alcoholics) and to Alateen (for teenagers in families with an alcoholic). You may not hear Jesus’ name at any meeting but that doesn’t mean he’s not there. God’s healing can take many forms, and this kind is one of them. The packet enclosed in your bulletin lists just a small sampling of the meetings in this area; first-timers may want a meeting labeled “Beginners” or an “Open” meeting.

For those who may not have spent much time in churches besides church basements, I have good news: Recovery is spoken upstairs, too – more, perhaps, then you ever imagined. Sad to say, some churches “don’t get it” and maybe you went to one of those in the past and it left a really bad impression. But some churches do “get it” or are trying to, and from the number of 12 Step Program members that fill these pews I have come to believe that we are one of them. The service leaflet also has an enclosure with anonymous, real-life stories from a few of those people who grace our pews, which I cordially invite everyone to take home and read. There is room for more people both “upstairs” for worship and “downstairs” for meetings.

Let me conclude by reminding us that our reading from Colossians this morning declares that “In Christ all things hold together.” Not in ourselves, or in any one other person, or in our church, either: Christ is our King, and if we ever have trouble “holding things together” we can remember that we can’t do that by ourselves, but that if we turn our wills over to him, he can. And will.

Let us pray. “God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Amen.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church