out of darkness comes light
Luke 23:33-43:
Prayer: God, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be remembered as your dominion is realized. Amen.
Intro:
Today is Christ the King Sunday, the end of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we begin a new church year…
Christ the king Sunday. Does it feel odd to you, too? Christ the king. Shouldn’t the reading be something a little more, I don’t know, kingly…
Today we are struck with how incredibly counter-cultural worshiping Christ can be.
Today as the stores are gearing up for Christmas; we are hearing about Christ crucified. As England’s economy is about to get a bump from a huge wedding of a potential king; we’re hearing about a king who is recognized on the cross.
This is really powerful stuff.
What does it all mean? What does it mean to confess someone who was crucified outside the city with criminals as lord?
This cross, the instrument of Jesus’ death; what does it mean?
What does it mean that to confess Jesus as a king who reigns from the cross?
These are huge questions, and there are not simple answers.
In fact, we’re surrounded by the cross that it is easy to forget how odd it is to worship someone killed there. The cross was a tool of capital punishment. The cross was a form of violence that had been institutionalized. To die on the cross meant you were guilty.
What does it mean, then, that we worship someone killed by the instruments of the state. What is so important about the cross to those who worship Jesus as the messiah, the Christ?
In fact, this question of the cross, is one we often come up against, whether we recognize it or not. For those of us studying Hebrews and Romans it is a question we are wrestling with right now.
Why the cross, then?
Or, why would God use the cross? Don’t we say God is love? If God is so loving, why would God use a tool of capital punishment?
Why the cross?
What Luke is telling us is that the cross is the only outcome of Jesus’ ministry for a world where sin is a reality.
Jesus was far too radical. Jesus forgave sinners. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Jesus preached the dominion of God in the face of the emperor.
The status quo could not handle that. Like I said, today we’re confronted with how incredibly counter-cultural worshiping Jesus is. This mission of Jesus, preaching the radical inclusiveness of God’s dominion, was constantly upsetting expectations and standards.
Healing outcasts, eating with sinners, preaching the reign of God: No, it was all too much. The cross is the only logical outcome for a world such as ours. The cross is a tool of violence that had been institutionalized. If Jesus were killed today it would be with the electric chair.
This counter-cultural mission of Jesus was just as radical then, as it still is today. I mean, on the cross Jesus tells a criminal next to him that he will be in paradise with Jesus. That is just too much. Inviting criminals into the dominion of God?!?
Jesus was taken to the place called the skull, beyond the city. Jesus was hung with a criminal on his left and right, and mocked by the leaders and employees of the state. The cross was a deterrent for anyone who might consider defying the pax romana, the peace of Rome. Humiliated then, killed by the state then (it was incredibly brave of early Christians to worship someone killed by the state). This is the epitome of where Jesus reigns.
This is Luke’s counter-cultural insistence, though. Jesus is innocent. The empire of Rome was wrong, Jesus was innocent. Here Luke is telling us exactly what is so powerful about the cross.
God doesn’t use the cross because violence is effective, God uses the cross because day in and day out this is where the marginalized are forced. The cross is the epitome of where a world left to its own devices will force a man who heals, preaches peaces peace, and invites all into God’s dominion.
Jesus ends up here because the world cannot have it, Jesus ends up here because God loves descends to the depth of human depravity.
God’s love descends to the place of the God forsaken.
And somehow, somehow the criminal recognizes this:
Surrounded by those mocking Jesus,
Surrounded by the cross, the ultimate sign of a failed reign, the criminal sees Jesus as the sovereign coming into God’s dominion, his kingdom.
Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The criminal does don’t use the title messiah or king, but Jesus. Yet, somehow he recognizes Jesus and his kingdom. Remember me, the criminal asks.
And even on the cross, amidst the mocking God’s dominion is preached. Even there, God’s dominion is preached. Here we see that there is no place in our lives that God’s dominion is excluded from.
This is God’s true expression of power, not through stately manors, but through solidarity with those forced to the margins and killed by the state. This, the cross, Jesus’ pardoning, this is God’s true expression of power.
It is striking, then, that even on the cross Jesus’ mission continues.
And really, there is a part of us that would rather have this criminal be quiet. It’s just too much. This man on the cross, he knows he is dying, who is he to ask Jesus to remember him?
These desires are how the world left to its own devices operates, though.
The kingdom of God makes no such distinctions.
This criminal recognizes Jesus and asks to be remembered. The world might rather him be quiet but faith has over-taken him. The criminal can no longer be quite. Suddenly this place of the skull has been enveloped into God’s dominion. Remember me, when you come into your kingdom, the criminal asks.
And when Jesus pardons him, this place of the skull becomes the place of God’s dominion. Today you will be with me in paradise. This criminal has looked upon the world through the lens of faith. Even the cross can become paradise, Jesus, God in flesh, stands next to this person on the cross. Jesus is king, the place of the skull become paradise, it becomes the realm of God’s dominion.
Indeed we are like this criminal. But today, I think Luke’s mention of the crowd carries a particular promise for us. All Luke says is that the people watched. Did they see the kingdom of God there?
That is what we are called to do. This world is the place of God’s dominion. It is here for us to see, taste, smell, touch, and hear. The kingdom is breaking into our world. The kingdom of God is at hand.
Jesus on the cross makes that point powerfully. There is no where that cannot be transformed from god forsakenness to paradise through an act of love. Faith changes everything.
Places of God-forsakenness become places of God’s dominion.
Like I’ve said, this is counter-cultural stuff, but that is good news for all those neglected by the violence in any culture. There is no need to wait, the kingdom is breaking in upon us. The cross promises us this, Christ is with us.
Amen.
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