Christ the King Sunday
Nov 20, 2022
Fr. Phil Eberhart
Who do YOU say that I am?
Today we have two
reaffirmations of Baptismal Vows and we have a baptism for Claira Early this
morning. It is so appropriate that it’s
all happening on Christ the King Sunday!
This is a sermon for all of us,
who witness these vows and reaffirm them ourselves, which we will do in
actuality at the baptism in a few minutes.
The ultimate of ultimate
questions in our world is “Who do you say Jesus is?” Jesus himself posed the question to his
disciples one day. Peter has some particularly special revelation in that
moment as he answered Jesus for the rest of the disciples: “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son
of the Living God.”
Jesus commended Peter and
acknowledged the source of that knowledge: God Himself. We call that the Great or the Good
Confession. That confession is the
golden nugget at the heart of the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our apprehension of who Jesus IS is the door
of our heart upon which we hear that knocking sound as He stands outside,
wanting to come in and eat dinner with us. (Rev 3:20) Paul tells us that we must “confess with our
mouth that Jesus is Lord” – Lord means sovereign – King of kings / Lord of
lords!
What is means is the Death Star
is NOT the ultimate power in the universe!
Nor is the “Force.” Ultimate
power and authority has a Name… and it’s JESUS.
He is alive – that’s the second part of the confession that Paul says
must be believed in our hearts – that JESUS was “Raised from the dead.” He is completely unique in that category!
Turn in your bulletin to the
reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
This letter was written to answer questions that were surfacing in the
early Church about Jesus Divine Nature. Some
were saying, as they continue today, that Jesus was simply a man, an extraordinary
man, but just a man. A Son of God, but
not THE Son of God, as He described Himself:
ONLY BEGOTTEN.
Paul delineates the whole
picture in a few verses to the Colossian Church and to us by extension:
15 He is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were
created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were
created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all
things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the
church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in
everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all
the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to
himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by
the blood of his cross.
Let’s focus our attention on some key words here:
The IMAGE of the Invisible God…
I believe the Greek word here is ICON
and the Latin is IMAGO… He Is the “exact
representation of the Father” – the perfect visible image of God – He is God
with Us… with Skin ON!
All things were created through him and
for him…
He was present as the voice
that said “Let there be light.”
Father – Son – Holy Spirit all present and active in the act of creation – and continuously
active even now, because
In him all things hold together…
Jesus is the binding “force” in
the universe. It’s not a thing, the Force is a person! A person that can be known and loved,
worshipped and obeyed, talked to and heard from!
Paul later said to the Greek
Philosophers: “In Him, we live and
move and have our being!”
He is the head of the Body…
We get our marching orders, our moving
directions, our motive force from Jesus!
The Church is today’s living expression:
Hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth… nose to toes!
As He is, so are we in the
world!
At the end of Ephesians 1 Paul
tells us that
22 … he [GOD] put all things under his [JESUS’] feet and
gave him [Jesus] as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his [Jesus’] body, the
fullness of him [GOD] who fills all in all.
Any questions?
And here is the ultimate qualification for Jesus:
For in him all the fullness
of God was pleased to dwell
In our extensive research over the years, what
does “all” mean?
ALL!
And “The fullness of God” – How full is that?
ALL OF IT!
ALL THE FULLNESS.
What did we just read from Ephesians?
“The FULLNESS OF HIM WHO FILLS ALL IN
ALL”
Now here is the mind-blower: In that sentence God is talking about US!
BOOM!
Purple smoke!!!
So, Who DO you say JESUS is?
That is the ultimate question in the universe!
The answer that you give – that anyone gives – to
that question determines everything that follows it! EVERY THING!
Because the first thing that happens after that
confession is the last thing in our reading from Colossians this morning:
through him to reconcile to
himself
all things, whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross.
Friends,
Jesus is KING not because of some “divine right.” He isn’t
king simply because He is the Son. Jesus
is King because He came, in obedience to God, the Father, and laid down His
divine life – and then laid down his earthly life … for you and for me. So that we can come home to Father, with him.
This is all captured in the scene at the cross of
Jesus. In the midst of the mocking,
spitting, cursing, gambling… in the midst of all that was swirling around him;
in the midst of excruciating (the very word comes from ex-crucia “out of the
cross”) pain, Jesus spoke the words of forgiveness: “Father, forgive them! They know know what they are doing!” And one who heard it, simply believed it. One of the ones hanging near him. Rebuked the jeering and sneering as he prayed
the prayer of the ages:
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR
KINGDOM.
Will you pray with the thief on the cross next to
Jesus? This is the answer to the
ultimate question of the universe! “Who
do YOU say that I AM?
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR
KINGDOM.
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM.
SHALL WE PRAY?
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR
KINGDOM.
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR
KINGDOM.
JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER!
JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER!
YOU BECAME SIN FOR ME,
THAT I MIGHT BECOME GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IN YOU!
I BELIEVE YOU ROSE FROM THE DEAD,
AND I RECEIVE YOU AS MY LORD AND MY KING.
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR
KINGDOM.
JESUS, REMEMBER ME, WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR
KINGDOM.
AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment