Last Sunday After Pentecost / Christ The King, 11/21/2010

Sermon on Luke 23:33-43, by Samuel D. Zumwalt

³³ And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁴And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments. ³⁵And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine ³⁷and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" ³⁸ There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." ³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" ⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." ⁴²And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." ⁴³And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

SHARING GOD'S CROSS

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

From the earliest days of the Church, there have always been two different emphases when it comes to Jesus. Among the theologians of the ancient Christian city of Antioch, the emphasis was on Jesus' humanity. Among the theologians of the ancient Christian city of Alexandria, the emphasis was on Jesus' divinity. A whole series of heresies emerged that overly focused either on the humanity or on the divinity of Jesus. As the theologians of the early Church met in seven different ecumenical councils, they charted a middle course between the extremes. And so, the Nicene Creed, which we confess today, instructs us that it is not either/or but both/and. To properly confess and proclaim faith in Jesus is to confess and proclaim Jesus as both God and man, fully human and fully divine.

Studying the Nicene Creed to understand why we say the words we say in worship is not like memorizing theological trivia for an appearance on the television game show "Jeopardy." Rather it's a case of, as the French say, "plus ça change, plus ça même chose" (the more things change, the more they stay the same). Like Baalism in the history of Israel, the old heresies have never gone away - especially those heresies that, like Baalism, have the pleasure principle reinforcing them.

The avant-garde theologians of the old-line liberal protestant churches tend to come down on the humanity side with the same old historical Jesus research that reveals more about the researcher than Jesus. On the other hand, preachers of some protestant sects come down heavily on the divinity side with a docetic Jesus who only appears to be human. And we could go on to talk about how the modalist heresy is still around with God being described like a three stage rocket in which the Father and the Son have been successively jettisoned leaving only the Holy Spirit on the job.

Today, our reading from Luke's passion narrative tells us two things about God's Son Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary: 1) He really is the Christ, God's anointed King (stated four times, however ironically, in vv. 35, 37-39), and 2) most of the people at His crucifixion haven't a clue about who Jesus is. Indeed most of those present at the crucifixion in Luke's narrative clearly come down with the old-line liberal theologians - Jesus is just a man who's about to be a dead man. Nailed to a cross, He's, at best, delusional: "Just look at you now, Jesus! A king? Ha!"

And so, Luke is preparing us today for Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, in which God's people will be told that they acted in ignorance in crucifying God's Son, Jesus the King. (Isn't that what our Lord says in v. 34?) And the "good" thief on the cross, Dismas (as he is called in Christian tradition), is preparing us for the proper response to the preaching of the cross. He teaches us to confess our sins: "‘we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong...Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom'" (vv. 41-42). Fellowshipping with sinners all the way to the grave, Jesus promises that He is opening the door to Paradise for Dismas and all who entrust themselves to Him.

THE PROBLEM OF GLORY

I confess to loving glory. I love it when my favorite teams are winning. I don't love it when they're getting beat like a drum. I love it when church attendance and the offerings are high. I don't love it when there are too many empty seats and the plate is light. I love it when the good guy wins as in almost all John Wayne movies and "It's A Wonderful Life." I hate it when the bad guys get away with evil, whether it's in real life or in the movies. I love World War II movies, but anything to do with Vietnam is sad.

Churches are full on Christmas and Easter, because they're happy days...with lots of glory. Attendance is thin for midweek Advent and Lenten worship and especially on Good Friday. And so, doing what it takes to get crowds becomes addictive for a lot of preachers and lay leaders, too. We tell ourselves that it's a good thing to have lots of people, no matter what it takes to get them...even if we have to take out all that stuff about sin and suffering and death and sacrifice. Glory sells.

And that's the problem with glory. It's easy to forget about the cross!

All those people at the foot of the cross would have been impressed if Jesus had done a John Wayne. If only the Lord had worked His hands and feet loose from those nails, been tossed a six-shooter (OK, probably it would have to have been an AK47) by John the Beloved Disciple, shot the priests, the soldiers, and Pilate and Herod, too, He could have lived happily ever after with Mary Magdalene. (Oh, wait, Dan Brown has already done that one!)

There's nothing quite so bracing as thinking about having carte blanche to wipe out all your enemies. I suppose that's why so many of us read the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. None of this waiting on justice to be served by the courts - just get the bad guys before they get you and then get out of town! That's why so many of us admire the Israeli's. None of this taking time for a measured response - just give them the "lex talionis" (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth)!

And, if we're honest, isn't that why so many guys would rather be having a brew and watching football than going to worship? Jesus is a nice guy and all that. But nice guys finish last! More than a few women have reported the old bait and switch. The guy goes with her to church while he's in the hunt, but once he's got his trophy, hey, what's the point? He's already got his limit, and it's time to move on to the next challenge.

I still love the old story about the drunken comedic actor W.C. Fields, near the end of his life, being caught by a friend reading the Bible. His buddy asked the old rascal what he was doing. Fields replied: "Ah, yes. Looking for loopholes!"

Glory sells, not the cross! That's why many of us have to have a big enough scare to get us to rethink Jesus and to rethink our lives, too. More than a few of us have finally gotten around to Jesus as we've gotten older and death has become more real.

GETTING THE STORY RIGHT

The most honest old-line liberals don't try to reimagine Jesus or the Church or the Christian faith. They admit they admire some of the things Jesus said and did, but, all in all, they can't get to Christian faith and really aren't a fit with a Christian church.

The least honest keep calling themselves Christian and maybe go to (or even lead!) Christian worship and say words they don't mean and don't believe. As a person of hope who believes that the Holy Spirit works through the external Word of God, I pray that God the Holy Spirit may yet surprise those who read and hear the Word with the gift of faith in the Lord Jesus. And so, it's not a bad thing to have unbelievers in worship or Bible study. It's a bad thing when unbelievers are preaching and teaching falsely!

There's a wonderful story told about the woman that complained to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel that the liturgy needed to be changed to say what she believed. He responded, "Ah, but you have it just the opposite, you must learn to believe what the liturgy says!"

We say the Nicene Creed today in order to get the story right, because, like the woman that complained to Rabbi Heschel, it's rather easy to take what we like from Jesus and leave the rest. The religious and political leaders, and most of the crowd at the crucifixion, didn't know who Jesus is (present and not past tense). Perhaps like a lot of church members and non-members, too, the people at the foot of the cross thought they knew Jesus or knew enough about Him to make an informed opinion. But, this we can say with the Lord Jesus, they didn't know what they were doing!

Our salvation from the unholy trio of sin, death, and Satan depends entirely on Jesus being both God and man, as we confess in the Nicene Creed. If he is only a man, then he can't help us by dying. If He is only a god pretending to be a man, He still can't help us by dying. Calling Christ a King without being fully human and divine ends in ultimate tragedy. A dead Jesus who is only a man can't even save himself. That's what the people say. A divine King who has no humanity in Him can only be a dispassionate observer who, to the good thief on the cross, says: "Gee! That looks like it hurts!"

The Nicene Creed reminds us that we celebrate Christ the King, because God in human flesh has won the victory over sin, death, and Satan through His death and resurrection. Baptized into that death and resurrection, we have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. That's why Martin Luther calls it the happy exchange ("froehliche Wechsel"): Christ takes my sin and death to His cross and gives me His life and righteousness as a free gift. What joy to hear Christ the King say to us today at the altar: "This is my body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins!"

HOW WE SHOW WHOM WE KNOW

In Holy Baptism we are crucified, buried, and raised with Christ our King. We are marked with His holy cross and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever. The joy of our Baptism is that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) knows us! He calls us inspite of all our sin, death, and evil. He calls us the children of God for Christ's sake. Amazing grace!

Lutheran hymnist Paul Speratus writes: "Faith clings to Jesus' cross alone and rests in him unceasing; and by its fruits true faith is known, with love and hope increasing. For faith alone can justify; works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living" ("Salvation Unto Us Has Come," LBW #297, stanza 4).

Because Christ the King has done what we can't do, living a life of total obedience to His Father, suffering, dying, and being raised for our salvation, therefore we respond with thanks and praise, service and obedience! And this is how we can do it:

We pray daily, with Christ the King, to do our Father's will!
We worship weekly to be connected to our Head and His body!
We read and study God's Word, because God is talking to us!
We serve, because Christ is the Servant King, and we're His body!
We gather with Christian friends to build each other up in love!
We give generously, because it all belongs to God and not us!

Long ago, J.B. Phillips wrote a magnificent little book entitled "Your God Is Too

Small." If you've never read it, or if you haven't read it in a very long time, it would be very good to take a look at it, because we Christians often look like we've forgotten who Jesus is. Phillips helps us find ourselves at the foot of the cross again and to admit we have looked far too often like everyone but Dismas, the good thief, who gets it right!

The exciting, and more challenging, thing is that we get what Dismas didn't get that day...more time to show who we know and more time to share God's cross with those who do not know!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Samuel D. Zumwalt
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
E-Mail: www.societyholytrinity.org

Zusätzliche Medien:
szumwalt@bellsouth.net

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