This week, we celebrate the last Sunday of Pentecost with “Christ the King” Sunday. No matter what the changing lectionary text is, every year we celebrate Christ the King with a gospel reading from the very end of Jesus life on earth, rather it’s on the cross, or in his last moments teaching his disciples before he is betrayed. It is both powerful and strange to proclaim Jesus this way, as “Christ” and as “King”. The ancient understanding of “Christ” was that Christ was the one who was to come. In other words, to proclaim Jesus or anyone as the Christ would have been almost contradictory for the people of Jesus’ time, because you cannot be the one who is coming if you are already here. The Christ, to their understanding, could exist only in the future, never in the present or past. On an equally strange note, people of Jesus’ time could never imagine a king who was crucified. To be king was to be mighty, powerful, conquering, the crucifier, not the crucified. Yet, Jesus yet again turns everything upside down. Jesus, Son of God, is the Christ who is past, present, and future. His kingdom is far beyond our made up, earthly borders and domains, and his rule is merciful and just. Jesus is all this, and so much more. As we prepare our hearts for this Sunday, this celebration and proclamation of who Jesus is, I invite you to consider throughout this week how Jesus has surpassed your own expectations, just as he surpassed the world’s expectations in being Christ, and King.
In Peace,
Pastor Amanda McGlynn
Joyful Life Lutheran Church 