A Different Kind of King

Some of you know that in a few short weeks I am going to be a great aunt. My nephew David and his girlfriend are expecting a baby—a little boy named Oliver.
Perhaps it’s the impending arrival of Oliver, or maybe all the younger children in the parish, but some of those old favorite Disney films are playing in my head. Most notably, The Lion King. It was just a few weeks ago that I quoted the theme song from the Lion King: The Circle of Life. Today I give you Simba’s Song:
“I Just Can’t Wait to be King.” You remember that song---Simba has just been told by his dad, Mufassa, that one day he, Simba would be King. Thrilled by this news, Simba bounds into his evil Uncle, Scar, full of excitement:
[Simba:] I'm gonna be a mighty king! So enemies beware!
[Scar:] Well, I've never seen a king of beasts
With quite so little hair
Scar is a bit incredulous as he looks at this little boy, working on his roar, waiting for his kingdom to come. Scar just can’t imagine him as King.
But Simba? Simba can:
“No one saying be there
No one saying stop that
No one saying see here
Free to run around all day
Free to do it all my way!
Oh, I just can't wait to be king!”
Simba has no problem proclaiming himself as the future King nor does he have any problems imagining just what it means to be King. For lil’ Simba being King means not getting pushed around and doing whatever he wants.
I Just Can’t Wait to be King is a conversation between a King wanna be and his doubtful Uncle.
Today’s Gospel is a conversation between a reluctant King and an even more reluctant, and confused and exasperated Governor—Pontius Pilate.
Today’s Gospel happens on the first Good Friday. Jesus has spent the night in prison and Pilate is torn. He knows this Jesus is a bit odd, but no threat to the empire. On the other hand he’s stirred up a lot of passion in folks. The governor’s job was to keep the Empire’s massive machine of power running smoothly. Offshoot rebellions were to be squelched.
It seemed that the passion around this man Jesus was brewing into a rebellion so it needed his attention. Now Pilate was a man with some integrity-- he wasn’t going to sentence Jesus to death without good reason…so what we hear today is Pilate trying to find “cause.” If one were to claim they were King that would be “cause,” because there was only one King: the Emperor.
But, what makes a King (or a Queen, or an Emperor, or a Pharaoh) after all?
To hear Simba tell it, a King is The Boss. If you look it up, besides being the male monarch of an independent state, King is defined as a person or thing considered to be the best, the most important. In other words, Being King is pretty darn good….if your goal is to be the best, the big cheese, the most powerful.
The problem, of course is that most Big Cheeses, most very powerful people are, at their core, afraid.
Afraid that they’ll lose their power. It seems like those who are in charge, those who hold a lot of power—kings and their ilk---spend a whole lot of time protecting their claim to the throne.
So for anyone to call Jesus King is a big problem. Poor Pilate, he knows that if Tiberius, the emperor, found out there was King wanna be down in Jerusalem, he would FLIP OUT. Pilate had to nip this in the bud.
But there’s a problem. This Jesus won’t say he’s King. He won’t say he wants to dethrone the ruler of the land. He simply doesn’t  give Pilate much to work with. You can’t even say Jesus was a reluctant King. Jesus was, simply put a totally different kind of King.
And therein lies the heart of this Christ the King Sunday. Christ is a totally different kind of King.
The rule of this God in the flesh is something unlike anything else we have ever known. If we forget that, if we look at Christ the King through the lens of this world---then we’ve  missed the boat. Understanding just what Christ as King means is, in a way, our final exam of the church year.
What do we hear, week in and week out? What do I preach week in and week out? What is the fundamental message of our faith?
That what we think we know we need to turn….inside out and upside down.
The reign of Christ as King is all about power. But not the power of Emperors, or Pharaoh or Queens, or Presidents or Prime Ministers.
The Reign of Christ as King is the power given to the downtrodden, the rejected, the sidelined and the outcast.
The Reign of Christ as King  is the power we hold in our hearts when we proclaim that we will respect the dignity of every creature of God, no exceptions.
The Reign of Christ as King is all about giving power to the disenfranchised. The Reign of Christ as King is about distributing power equitably and fairly.
The reign of Christ as King is about a world where everyone, even poor little Mary’s boy from Galilee can take the Power of this world and turn it on it’s ear.
Simba couldn’t wait to be King. And neither can Christ. The difference though is that Simba became king in the old fashioned way, after the death of his father.
The only way Christ can take that throne, the only way Christ can be King of Kings and Lord of Lords is when all of us, each and everyone of us, gives up our focus on the power of this world and turn ourselves over to the power of the next.
Amen.