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Proper 29 Year B Christ the King 11/24/2024
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
It is Christ the King Sunday…
The last Sunday of the Church Year.
We have been blessed to journey around the church calendar yet another time…
Following the life of Christ.
Next week will start a brand-new church year with the first Sunday in Advent.
Today, though, is about the kingship of Jesus.
All of today’s readings point toward the royal throne of our Lord.
They speak of his authority as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Our Collect starts it all out, as we prayed:
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords…
Psalm 93, our appointed psalm for today, and it proclaims in the opening verse:
The Lord is King;
he has put on splendid apparel…
The reading from the book of Revelation declares:
…Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
And in our Gospel reading, Jesus and Pilate discuss the Kingship of Jesus…with our Lord replying to Pilate:
My kingdom is not from this world.
However, the reading from Daniel is our focus for today.
Daniel is the book of beloved stories…
Such as:
Daniel and the Lion’s Den and the story of the Fiery Furnace.
Daniel also contains apocalyptic imagery similar in style and genre to the Book of Revelation.
Strange images…
Confusing prophetic and poetic writings…
And a plethora of interpretations of what they mean and what they might say about the future.
Our reading today is from the second half of the book which is the part with the apocalyptic writing.
It’s just a snippet of the chapter and focuses on this character called the Ancient of Days or in our translation in the bulletin – the Ancient One.
In the vision, Daniel sees a glimpse of the heavenlies…
The throne room of God…
Described by fire
(which often describes the presence of God… think of the fiery bush with Moses or the fire at Pentecost) …
In the vision the Ancient of Days takes his seat on the throne…
It refers to God…
And we only see this title for God here in Daniel.
The scene is a depiction of judgment…
And the books were opened before the people.
As the vision continues…
We read:
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
In ancient literature, including the Old Testament, it is the divine who come in the clouds…
In the Old Testament, it is God who comes in the clouds.
Here it is one who is like a human being.
In most translations it is interpreted as one like a son of man.
This son of man, then, was presented to the Ancient One and then God, the Ancient of Days, gives to the son of man:
Dominion and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
And then the vision ends, and the chapter continues.
So, what’s going on here?
What does this mean?
Well, the key to understanding this text lays in the identity of the Son of Man.
The New Testament makes a clear interpretation.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke the expression “son of man” is used 69 times.
In the Gospel of John, it is used 12 times.
And, in all of these occurrences they refer to Christ… the Messiah.
Jesus used the phrase Son of Man to refer to himself.
It is the title Jesus most often used of himself.
So, in identifying the Son of Man as Jesus we have an expression of the humanity of Jesus (one like a human being) and the divinity of Jesus (coming with the clouds of heaven).
We also have an expression of his kingship.
He was given power to rule—all the glory of royalty.
Everyone—race, color, and creed—had to serve him.
Which of course is why this reading is fitting for Christ the King Sunday.
But the part that stands out to me today is the last bit:
His rule would be forever, never ending.
His kingly rule would never be replaced.
This is what gives us hope and confidence.
Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords will reign forever and ever.
When Jesus came to earth he came to build a people for his name.
He came to save sinners and adopt them into the family of God.
So that people from every tribe and tongue…
From every ethnicity and race…
Would call God their Father.
Jesus made this happen through his death and resurrection.
And we become children of God through faith by the grace of God the Father.
And when Jesus walked this earth…
More than anything else, Jesus talked about the kingdom of God.
Using parables he described the kingdom of God.
He went around telling people what God’s kingdom was like.
And as God Incarnate…
This Son of Man…
Declared the truth of the kingdom…
He was enthroned over the kingdoms of this world.
Through his sacrifice he became king.
And it is this kingdom… the rule of Jesus…
That will be never ending.
The kingdom of Jesus will never be replaced.
The kingdoms of this world come and go.
The Age of the Greeks and all the power of Alexander the Great is ancient history.
The Roman Empire… the longest lasting kingdom… is no more.
Others have made a kingdom for themselves…
The European Monarchs and Empires…
Napoleon…
Nazi Germany…
They all have failed.
They have been replaced.
Today we have leaders and influencers seeking the same power…
And as Christians…
As the people of God…
As the children of God…
Our allegiance is to the reign of Christ Jesus.
May we not put our hope in the kingdoms of this world.
Political kingdoms don’t last.
Whether Republican or Democrat…
Progressive or Conservative…
Kingdoms built on financial power…
Kingdoms built on fame and influence…
They will let us down…
They will be replaced.
There is only one Kingdom that is forever…
One that will never be replaced.
That is the Kingdom of the Son of Man…
Who will come again to set the world at rights…
He will come not in weakness, but in power…
To judge the living and the dead.
He comes to redeem his creation…
To usher in a new heaven and a new earth.
Our hope is in Jesus.
Our confidence is in Jesus.
This is the promise…
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Be encouraged today church…
Our hope and our confidence is in the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
And may our prayer be as our collect was today:
Almighty and everlasting God,
whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son,
the King of kings and Lord of lords…
So be it…
In the words of the early church…
Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Amen.