November 24, 2013 – Luke 23:33-43
Luke 23:33-43
The Earth We Carry Around for a While
Christ the King [Lectionary 34] – November 24, 2013
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
This congregation, this community, this place we call First Lutheran Church is a
place that is unlike any other place for one reason and for one reason only:
it is because Jesus is reigning here.
Here the priorities are the priorities of Jesus: mutual care, welcome of the stranger,
care for the vulnerable, forgiveness of one another’s sins, feeding of the hungry,
manna for all, mercy for all, grace for all.
If Jesus were not reigning here, those would not be our priorities,
and only God knows what they would be in that place.
But here, we worship Jesus, and so his priorities are our priorities.
Friends, this is a strange person to worship and to centre your life in and to
gather around and focus our lives together around Sunday after Sunday.
But the thing is, we have all found tremendous life together in doing this.
The thing is, we have all found tremendous meaning in doing this.
The thing is, we have found something we could not find anywhere else in doing this.
The past two weeks have been so difficult in so many ways for us,
and yet right in the midst of chaos, and grief, and difficulty healing and
care and grace have been born – because Jesus is reigning here and because
Jesus has created one very beautiful community here that is
doing what it was created to do.
To be Christ’s body – Christ’s body that suffers with the suffering and that offers hope to
the hopeless and new life to those who are dying.
That is the reason, friends, why this strange reading has been chosen for this
last Sunday of the church year.
On Christ the King Sunday at the end of the year we look toward the end of all things,
and we affirm that one day, one day, finally Christ will reign in all creation, and
when that day comes will reign by binding all things together in love.
In the meantime, though, we affirm that Jesus is reigning even now,
even if that reign is somewhat hidden and mysterious.
How is Jesus reigning right now?
When Jesus reigns, it looks like one criminal offering another some hope and some consolation.
But there’s more going on than that.
When Jesus reigns, Jesus – God in the flesh – is suffering with the suffering:
that’s how Jesus reigns.
When Jesus reigns, God is loving the less than perfect and offering them life with him forever.
When Jesus reigns, God enters into the mess of this world, stays with us – nailed there in fact –
and offers us a strange kind of redemption – a redemption of grace and love.
See: that is a king you can trust.
That is a God you can trust.
The thing is: Jesus could easily have saved himself.
But he chooses not to: Jesus chooses to stick with the suffering, with the less than perfect,
and love them right where they are, because that is where they need him.
I get the feeling that a lot more people would actually worship if Jesus had saved himself that
day and vanquished his enemies with a bloody sword and
been victorious in the world’s terms.
And in fact I think a lot of people are worshipping that Jesus because he so often gets made over
in the image of the world, rather than being the image of the invisible God of all
grace and mercy and compassion.
But not here, not on this day, not in this place.
We remember every Sunday – but especially this Sunday and maybe Good Friday – that
Jesus always always always reigns as king from a cross.
Because Jesus is a king of love, and cannot do otherwise.
How is Jesus reigning in our community?
Anyone who’s been to Food Bank knows Jesus is reigning there,
because every single person there is treated with the dignity due beloved children of God.
Anyone who’s visited the Kids Club free drop-in program or who has been involved in the
effort of running or it or planning it knows Jesus is reigning there because
the beloved children of this neighbourhood are the beloved children of God,
because the one who reigns here says,
“Let the little children come unto me for blessing.”
Anyone who’s made or served a community meal knows that Jesus is reigning here,
because feeding the hungry is important to Jesus, so it’s important to us.
And anyone who’s witnessed the care of this community for the grieving in the last week knows
beyond doubt that Jesus is reigning here, and that Jesus is alive and raised from the dead,
because loving the dead and comforting the bereaved were priorities for Jesus,
and so they are priorities for us.
Anyone who’s made a hat for the homeless, anyone who’s taught the Sunday School Children of
First Lutheran Church, anyone who’s welcomed a stranger,
anyone who’s visited our elderly members,
anyone who’s made coffee for the community:
anyone who’s done any of these things knows Jesus is reigning here, in service,
in suffering vulnerable love.
And that is why this place is a place unlike any other place.
Because Jesus and his love are reigning here, so many of you are stewarding your gifts to ensure
that his place continues to be a place unlike any other place.
All gifts – everything in all creation we read in Colossians this morning – are due to this king for
the sake of this king’s mission to love bless heal and set free this whole world and
every person in it.
Everything is meant to be directed toward this task.
All things were created in him – and for him: not obviously because he is greedy and
wants everything for himself.
But because he wants everything directed to his mission of love for all people,
and wants his gifts shared equitably for the common good of all.
And you yourself are one of those things that were created in him and for him and
for the sake of his loving mission.
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, writes the Psalmist.
All things were created through him and for him, even the earth.
In a remarkable sentence, St. Augustine writes,
Our bodies are the earth we carry around for a while.
Can this earth, that is the Lord’s, rise up for a time for the tasks for which it has been made?
We are called to care for this earth and steward it well as a great gift of the creator.
And we are called to care specifically for the earth we carry around for a while – our bodies –
as a great gift of the creator.
And because this earth we carry around for a while is one of the things that have been
created through him and for him, Jesus invites us to use
this earth we carry around for a while for his loving mission to
love bless and heal this whole world and every person in it.
And when he is worshipped, that is what happens.
And it is happening right here.
For the last few weeks Jesus has been inviting you to consider how
you can further use this earth you’re carrying around for a while for
the sake of that mission.
Jesus is inviting you to steward the earth you carry around for that purpose.
Jesus is inviting you to consider your body, your imagination, your skills,
your love, your hospitality, your relentlessness,
your passion, your finances, your everything for the sake of that purpose.
Because though the goal of Christ reigning over all things in love and
binding together all things in love may seem like an elusive and distant one,
you need to remember this:
Here, in this place, Jesus is already reigning in those ways I have mentioned and more.
And you know that.
Yeah: it’s hard to see how the kingdom is actually present in this rather
unprepossessing place, just like it’s hard to see how Jesus is reigning on a cross
stuck between two criminals.
It’s a little hidden this reign, and yet it shines with its own sweet sweet light.
He is reigning. He does reign. And the thing is you know it, and I know you can feel it.
Jesus is going to reign from a table in a few minutes and that is a place he loves to reign.
Sure: he receives all the gifts we can give him there: gifts of bread and wine and food and money
And – when we come forward – the gifts of ourselves, of our bodies,
of the earth we carry around for a while.
But then he offers them back to us, changed for the sake of the world.
He gives us the bread and wine back with the greatest gift of all: the gift of himself,
of his love, of his forgiveness, and his strength, and his grit, and his hope, and his grace:
and we too – the earth we carry around for a while – is given back changed.
And then he gives us back all the other gifts too: he doesn’t keep them, he doesn’t save himself.
He gives them to the less than perfect ones on their way out of this place that is unlike
any other place and he says, Take them to whoever can use them.
Feed the hungry, forgive the sinner, visit the lonely, love the unlovely, care for the vulnerable. Bind yourself to them. Nail yourself to them.
And I will be there with you, reigning in the midst of mess, reigning with love,
reigning with mercy.
And that will be enough, until the very end, I will be with you.
So together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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