November 20, 2022
Christ the King Sunday, Year C
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
All the Fullness of God
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”
– Colossians 1:19
When I was a student in seminary, one of the music directors there led a women’s chorus in the production of Benjamin Britten’s Christmas cantata, “A Ceremony of Carols.” The piece was written for three parts, two soprano and one alto part, to be accompanied by a harp.
For the text, Britten chose poems written in Middle English. Britten wrote the entire work while on voyage, sailing from the United States to England.
Deciphering the exotic Middle English and discovering the profound messages in the poetry left a lasting impression on my young, 25-year-old brain. Still today, the words and melodies come to me.
One particular song was “There Is No Rose.” It lauds young Mary as her womb holds the growing Christ child:
There is no rose of such vertu
As is the rose that bare Jesu…
For in this rose conteinèd was
Heaven and earth in litel space,
Within the confines of Mary’s womb, the infinite and unlimited divine is united with humanity, and took on flesh.
Jesus is the visible image of the God we cannot see. In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in human form. If we want to understand the ineffable divine, if we want to probe the intentions of the invisible and transcendent God, then we need look no further than the life and actions and words of Jesus. Jesus reveals to us the divine mind, the heavenly heart, the ultimate intentions of the invisible and eternal God.
On this Christ the King Sunday, we ponder an unlikely gospel reading: Jesus is crucified! Is this really where the fullness of God was pleased to dwell? But there we have him, here is our Lord Jesus. He has ascended his throne, a cross, and he wears his crown, fashioned of twisted and sharp thorns.
It’s not the king that Israel expected for their Messiah, and he’s not the king we expected, either. But here we have him, here he is, the very image of the invisible God!
And here is what we see. In his execution, he’s derided and mocked. But he meets their taunts with a prayer for forgiveness to his enemies. And to the criminal hanged next to him, he utters a promise of mercy. Prayer, forgiveness and mercy. These are Jesus’ hallmarks. This is what he reflects from the image of the invisible God. And in his quiet submission, this surprising king will overcome all things.
So what does it mean for us to follow this unusual King? Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” As his followers, followers in this world, we are members of his heavenly kingdom. We follow his unworldly ways. So we also become agents of prayer, of forgiveness and mercy. When the world meets us with hostility, we respond with grace.
Michelle Obama is famous for her saying, “When they go low, we go high.” I saw her recently on television and she explained what this phrase means for her. It doesn’t mean simply to take the high road. It’s something much deeper. It means to set your intentions to a higher calling. Choose the outcome that will lead to resolution and healing.
She said we all have that initial urge to return spite for spite. We want to retaliate with cutting words, with fists, with acts of revenge. And that feels good initially. But when we go low in return, eventually everything sours. Instead of bringing resolution, it doubles down on the violence and spite. Going low, returning tit for tat, doesn’t lead to goodness.
But if we go high, if we return ill regard with a pathway to grace, then we shape hope for a better tomorrow. Then we become agents for resolution and healing.
When we follow Christ our King, we become citizens of his kingdom. And as we align our lives with his values of prayer, forgiveness and mercy, then we also come to reflect the likeness of the divine. In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And when we pray, “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus,” when we follow his lead, then the fullness of the divine also enters into us. We, too, embody the image of the invisible God to a cold and friendless world. We become ambassadors of the peace that passes understanding. Through our actions, the blessed reign of our Lord Jesus Christ takes on new flesh – heaven and earth contained in little space.
May the living Christ dwell in our hearts, and may we reflect his light within this world.
