+Have you caught “Hamilton Fever” yet? All of this Hamilton hoopla reminded me of a wonderful theater experience I had many years ago when I saw the Lion King on Broadway. I was moved beyond belief when those incredible puppets walked down the aisle to open the show. But I was most taken by the Boy Who Would Be King, Simba. And it is his song, “I Just Can’t Wait to be King,” that sets the stage for this our Celebration of Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year and a foreshadowing of the events of Holy Week.
Some of you may remember Simba singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”---He’s just been told by his dad, Mufassa, that one day Simba, would be King. Thrilled by the news, Simba bounds about and runs smack dab into his scheming, evil Uncle, Scar.
[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 sure 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!”
For lil’ Simba being King means not getting pushed around and finally being able to do whatever he wants.
While, “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” is a conversation between a King wanna be and his doubtful Uncle, today’s Gospel reading 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 very first Good Friday. Jesus has spent the night in prison and Pilate is torn. He knows this Jesus is a bit odd, but still no real threat to the empire. On the other hand Jesus has stirred up a lot of passion in folks. And since the governor’s job was to keep the Empire’s massive machine of power running smoothly, offshoot movements were to be squelched…it seemed this Jesus movement was brewing into a rebellion so it needed Pilate’s 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. At the heart of this type of King is power and the problem is that most people who long for power, who will do anything to gain power are, at their core, afraid. Afraid of not having power. They don’t want others to have power because they are afraid they’ll be left out. They are less collaborative and more authoritarian. Their leadership style is one of intimidation rather than one of encouragement. Often those who hold a lot of power—kings and their ilk---spend a whole lot of time protecting their “right” to that power.
That said, anyone calling Jesus King is a big problem. Pilate, knows that if Tiberius, the emperor, found out there was a 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 emperor. 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’ve 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.
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 its 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.
It's not easy. It’s not comfortable. But, and hear this clearly, our very lives—the lives of this whole entire world---depends on us turning away from the darkness of this world and turn toward the light and the love of Christ’s world.
Christ can’t wait to be King be he needs us to get there.
Amen.
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