Presidents are Temporary

Just a handful of weeks ago we witnessed what was one of the largest single-day protests in history. Somewhere between 5 and 7 million people joined in a demonstration to say: America has no kings. 

Those events were organized, of course, specifically in response to what is unfolding in our country — but they also took place within a context. Because for some time now there has been a sobering trend toward authoritarianism taking shape in governments around the world. 

Many have sounded the alarm that democracy is under threat everywhere. And I think on an even more fundamental level: human dignity and our common kinship is under assault. There are quite a number of things in the air, and it is within the wake of all of that the ‘No Kings’ movement has also begun to take shape: rejecting ruthless would-be royal decrees, and insisting that power belongs to the people. 

The classic Monty Python scene says much the same, when the ‘Constitutional Peasants’ tell King Arthur: “Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical ceremony.” And in response King Arthur rides away on a horse made of coconut halves.

The notion of kingship, for both Monty Python and our own political moment, isn’t very popular. Which of course makes our liturgy this morning feel a little peculiar… So, I want to spend a few moments reflecting together on this theme, and what it might mean for our lives.  

On this final Sunday before Advent begins, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. As we just prayed in our opening Collect: Jesus the Christ is “the King of kings and Lord of lords.” His reign is eternal and not just in some far off cosmic sense. It is real even now — with implications for this present moment.

To say it a little more directly: Presidents are temporary; Christ the King is forever.

This is what this relatively new feast day aims to remind us. Because it was only established by an anti-fascist Pope in 1925: in the years of uncertainty that followed after the first World War. 

In the midst of all great confusion and anxiety about the state of the world, several dictators began to rise to power: Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia. Each of those men stoked fear while promising stability, and then they wielded authority as though they were divinely appointed — even going so far as to co-opt religion to justify their brutality. 

In response to those troubling times and many alarm bells, Pope Pius XI instituted a mass to be celebrated around the world which effectively declared: the Church has No Kings but Christ.

It’s kind of a curious thing though to celebrate a feast day with the gospel text we just heard. Outside of Holy Week, this is the only place in our lectionary that we read of the crucifixion and this merciful act of pardoning. For as odd of a choice as it may seem though, it tells us a great deal about what the reign of Christ looks like, and who we are within that kingdom…

During his life, Jesus had a lot of things to say about “the kingdom of heaven.”

[In Matthew’s Gospel], when he stands before Pilate, just before he is sentenced to death, he says, “My kingdom is not from this world.” As he stands face to face with this ruler who holds the power to pardon or execute him, it is as though Jesus says, “My reign does not abide by your terms. It is unlike the world you live in, and you lack the ability to imagine something new because you’re so attached to the way things are. But this is not the way things have to be.”

Throughout his ministry, Jesus describes what the kingdom of heaven is like in many different ways… It’s like a mustard seed, a pearl of great price, it’s like leaven mixed into dough.

And when he sends his disciples into the world he tells them whenever they feed the hungry or heal the sick that they are to tell everyone who witnesses those miraculous and wonderful things, “the kingdom of heaven has come near.” It is not far off in some realm of imagination, it is not merely a story, and it is not inaccessible. It is something you have brushed up against in what you’ve just experienced.

At one point he even says to the disciples, “the kingdom of God is within you.” In all that you do, you too participate in the kingdom. Through their own lives, it becomes close at hand.

And then, in his final moments, Jesus then demonstrates what the kingdom of God looks like with real flesh and skin wrapped around it.

Even though he is innocent, Jesus is subjected to unbridled state-sanctioned violence — not entirely unlike those sentenced to the death penalty today —  and then he hangs on a cross between two guilty criminals. One of them makes a simple request: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

And with some of his final breaths, with the title of ‘king’ posted above his head, Jesus extends mercy and love, welcome and hospitality. Even though this repentant criminal has yet to make any meaningful restitution for his wrongdoing, and even though he has not yet been baptized or completed a Christian formation program, he is assured of salvation and belonging. Because everyone is welcomed into the fold and changed by Love. This is how Jesus’ kingship works.

Now, one hundred years after today’s feast day was created, petty kings still seek to carve out a kingdom to rule and a flock to dominate.

You and I do not live in the same post-WWI world, or the world ruled by Pharaoh or Caesar. But, even still, for as much as things in the world have so drastically changed, it is remarkable how much the tricks of tyrants remain the same...

So, it really comes as no surprise when a Temporary President uses fear to amass his power.

It comes as no surprise when a Temporary President watches over his flock with the constant threat of violence, and then weaponizes federal agents to act in a campaign of vengeance.

And it comes as no surprise when a Temporary President is nothing like an attentive shepherd concerned that all live in safety, but rather to destroy and scatter.

We have seen this before. As history shows us, we have been in this same place before…

But as the story of our faith along with a great cloud of witnesses testifies: since the very beginning of our movement, Christians have refused to bow down. Time and again, like Jesus in the desert, those who walk the way of love have faithfully rejected the temptation to grasp onto authoritarian power that perverts rather than protects.

And in the face of countless Caesars the Church proclaims: there is No King but the Crucified Christ. And this image of kingship makes all the difference. 

It is what has transformed the world over and over again throughout time.

So, that there are already tectonic plates shifting how we live together is also of no surprise. Even now something different is taking shape. New possibilities are emerging. We are indeed living through a time of tremendous change, and the world is ripe for transformation!

Friends, just because some things appear to be just how they’ve always been doesn’t mean it is how they have to be. 

Righteousness has and will rise up. Justice has and will be executed. The Kingdom of God has drawn near and is within each of us today.

So may our lives then, with our words and our worship and every act of love we offer to the world, be lifted up as a prayer through which we say: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Amen.