Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the Christian Year that began 12-months ago on the First Sunday in Advent. But while Christ the King Sunday may be the last Sunday of the year, it is by no means an ending.
Next week, we will start the Advent cycle all over again!
So today is not a permanent ending so much as it is the end of the beginning that started one year ago.
Most of us, of course, are more familiar with the phrase “the beginning of the end” than we are with the phrase “the end of the beginning.”
One of the most challenging aspects of being a follower of Christ is to let go of our belief in endings. That is the way of the world, of course – to think that everything must come to an end. And these “endings” of life cause us great anxiety – the ending of relationships, the ending of careers, the ending of health, the ending of life. We live in a culture of endings that believes “all good things must come to an…end.”
But the Gospel of Jesus introduces a radically different idea. It poses an interesting question that I would characterize like this: “What do you suppose it would it be like if you lived in a world that had no true endings? What if what seem to be the “endings” you encounter in life turn out to always lead to new beginnings? What if human life is no different than the way God has ordered nature, with the endings of Winter always giving way to the new life of Spring?”
That would be an interesting world in which to live! We would have to look at life a lot differently.
One of the things I most miss at Thanksgiving time and the other holidays – now that the elders of my family are gone – are the stories they used to share about “the good old days.”
“When I was a kid, we were so poor that during the winter we used to have to pull the boards off the outside of the house just to keep the fire going until we didn’t have no house left, just the fire. Boy, those were good times!”
“Kids today? Why kids today have it so easy. Don’t even have to walk to school. Well, I’ll you, buster, we had it tough. Used to walk five- ten miles to school, uphill, in ten feet of snow, with socks on our hands for mittens and barefooted besides! Boy, those were some great times!”
And then, one of the old timers would sadly say, “But those days are gone now. All good things must come to an…end.”
It is a wonderful thing to remember the stories of what used to be. The Bible, in fact, insists that we do it – that we recall “the good old days” and tell the stories to our children and grandchildren. There isn’t anything more heartwarming than sitting around, telling tales about yesteryear.
But whether the remembering of those stories lead you to think about endings – or new beginnings – says a lot about your faith – and makes all the difference in how you live your life. I wonder, are you an “endings” person, or a “beginnings” person?
The prophet Jeremiah faced such a question. His beloved city of Jerusalem was in ruins, destroyed by the Babylonian armies. The people he loved were scattered – some as refugees escaping the fighting, others as prisoners of war of a kind, taken into exile in Babylon.
Jeremiah wept as he remembered “the good old days” – Jerusalem in all its splendor, her people in all their vitality, his friends and family members and all they meant to him. But it was all gone now. And Jeremiah was angry about that – and especially was he upset with those religious leaders and politicians who had led the people astray and gotten them into this tragic mess.
Oh, for a return to the good old days!
But the word from God that came to Jeremiah did not speak of the end of Jerusalem, or the end of God’s people, or the end of hope. No, the word that came to Jeremiah spoke of new beginnings. And this is what God said:
“I myself will gather the remnant of my flock…and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will care for them, and they will no longer be afraid, or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
Lets think about these words in a very personal context first. This is not how Jeremiah intended it, probably, but these words do speak to me personally. I want you to think for a minute today about the people who have been taken from you. Holiday seasons are full of memories. Can you think of some of your dear ones who – like Jeremiah’s people – have been “scattered” and lost?
And, as you think about those you love, can you hear the word of the Lord to Jeremiah as he considered those he’d lost? “I will return them to you, no longer afraid or terrified… And not one of them will be missing.”
Not one of them will be missing.
I cherish those words when I sit at the Thanksgiving table and think about my mother and father, and all those whose seats are empty now. I think about those words every early Sunday morning when I park my car in the church lot and walk past the Columbarium and remember my friends.
“I will return them to you. Not one of them will be missing,” says the Lord.
What a beautiful promise! Would you accept it today as God’s personal promise to you? I think you will find that this promise, above all others, can help you find strength to move on with your own life, and to find the new beginnings God has waiting for you on the other side of the losses you’ve experienced.
But, as personal as the promise can be, it is also MUCH bigger. It is a promise made to all of humanity. It is a promise made about the human family.
Did you notice the harsh words of God immediately preceding the promise of God’s restoration? They are words of judgment against those who are responsible for scattering the sheep of God’s flock.
It shouldn’t surprise us that God has the religious institution in mind here. Religion can be a tremendous force for good. But it can also be a terrible tool in the hands of evil. Religion can bring people together, and religion can drive people apart. Religion can love, accept, forgive, and heal people, but religion can also judge, exclude, condemn, and destroy people. Religion can gather God’s people, and religion can scatter God’s people. And God has no tolerance for religion that practices the latter. Listen:
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord!
And that’s when God says what he will do about all these sheep – all these people – scattered, divided, and lost to God and each other: “I will return them to their pasture where they will be fruitful and increase in number…and not one of them will be missing.”
And then God reveals a wonderful mystery. God tells us how he will do it:
“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely, and do what is right and just in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.”
Today is Christ the King Sunday. We believe Jesus is that promised King – the one who will bring God’s scattered flock together and restore their life as the family of God.
Fifty-one weeks ago, we celebrated Jesus’ birth, and the angel’s declaration of God’s intention: “Peace on earth! God will toward all!” And then we traveled with Jesus over the weeks: through Galilee where he loved people and healed people and welcomed them into the family of God; to Jerusalem where he proclaimed the Good News of God’s redeeming love, but was rejected; to the Cross where he died for our sins so that everything standing in the way of us and God and us and each other could be set aside; and to Easter where the joyful news was shouted that Christ is risen from the dead; and into all the world as those who received his message took it and spread it to anyone who would listen – “Come home to the love of God – no matter who you are, or what you’ve done. God’s arms are open to welcome his children home. And God will not rest until every last one arrives.”
And here we are now at the end of that beginning we started with Jesus a year ago. And now, before we begin the journey all over again next week in Advent, God calls us to pause for a moment.
How have we done as those entrusted with the ministry of finding God’s lost children and extending to them their Father’s welcoming love? How have we done in leaving no one out, and practicing a faith that believes that salvation is for all of us, not just some of us? How have we done sowing the seeds of unity in the midst of a world of division?
How have we done as a church this past year? How have you done as a believer? How can we all do better in the year to come?
And then – after reflecting upon all this – God simply reminds us of what our faith is all about. Our faith centers on Jesus, and is practiced as a commitment to the truth about Jesus so beautifully expressed in our second reading:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself – things in heaven and things on earth – by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.”
Our faith is that God is at work in our world, bringing his scattered sheep home. And when all is said and done, not one will be missing.
Thanks be to God for Christ the King!
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