This sermon was delivered on November 21, 2021 at the weekly service at The Kensington in Galesburg, IL.
This Sunday marks the end of the liturgical year. It is the end of a cycle of readings through the gospel (we’ve been in “year B”). Today is known as “Christ the King” or “Reign of Christ” Sunday. Next Sunday begins a new liturgical year, and the liturgical year always begins with Advent and preparation for Christmas.
It’s interesting to note that “Christ the King” sunday is a fairly new invention within the liturgical year. It has only been celebrated for about 100 years- with the first one having been celebrated in 1925 under Pope Pius the eleventh. The point of the day was to celebrate the reign of Christ and acknowledge Christ’s dominion over the earth in the present time and the time to come.
Not all churches and denominations celebrate this day- some let the liturgical year go out with a whimper, others have it go out with a full on feast and celebration with white and gold paraments and pictures of Jesus in a full royal crown.
But it’s interesting to me how the lectionary deals with this feast day. The Scriptures we’re given are both apocalyptic in nature- they speak about the end times and what those days might look like. One of the earliest of these types of books is the book of Daniel-the most famous passage is the one we heard today- where Daniel has a dream of four awful beasts that are eventually defeated.
And that’s why this scripture was chosen for the lectionary text for Christ the King Sunday- because modern interpreters of the bible (as well as Matthew, and perhaps somewhat also Mark) understood that Christ was the one who defeats those great beasts.
Daniel says, “As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.”
That sentiment is echoed in today’s reading from Mark where Jesus also discusses the end times, saying “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”
But it’s important to understand that there was an eschatological underpinning to everything that was happening- both at the end of the temple period in Jerusalem and during the time of Jesus and early christianity. Eschatology is the understanding that the end is happening soon. And by soon, these folks didn’t mean thousands of years in the future, they mean tomorrow soon. They believed that the apocalypse was going to happen within their lifetime.
This apocalyptic understanding believes that the world is going to end and when it does there will be judgment and reward and punishment. This belief is always very black and white and very dramatic. There are often mystical beings, tales of great destruction, horror stories of punishments to come. But, just like the prophets, they are not intended to be future telling. Apocalyptic stories and books in the bible are meant to be just that stories- they are dreams and visions but not predictions. In many cases these stories were a way to talk about the current reality in a coded language.
These texts were written in times of crises and were often allegorical- a way of saying things are going to change drastically. These revelations were written by the oppressed people FOR the oppressed people as a means of encouraging the faithful during a time of persecution. Sure, they were talking about the future, but not in a “this is exactly what’s going to happen” kind of way. Everything in these stories is allegorical and symbolic, which is why there has been so much misplaced effort at deciphering them--trying to figure out which ruler and which kingdom are being described.
Today’s passage from Mark is a really good example. If you read it as a prediction of the literal fall of the physical temple, it doesn’t make a lot of sense in the moment. And you can make it kind of make sense if you do a whole lot of creative reading of the text and historical events- which a lot of biblical commentaries try to do. But that’s not what Jesus was talking about. Jesus was talking about the essential frailty of the world- and recognizing that at some point it will all end. But he’s not making a calculated prediction.
And that’s where folks get this all wrong. So many times people have tried to predict the “end of time” or the “Second coming” or whatever they call it- and it’s no surprise that they get it wrong every time. Because we don’t actually know when the world will end or how. I mean, I have some guesses- and I feel like global climate change might be a good warning sign that we’re screwing it up. But there is no definitive expiration day for the earth or humanity, and when we get caught up in those details, we’re missing the point.
One of my seminary professors, Dr. Jerry Sumney always put it this way. He said, “you can sum up this type of literature in just two words- God Wins.” And that’s the essential message of both Daniel and Mark. In Daniel, despite the terrifying vision of beasts and destruction, there is the promise of a kingdom that will never end. In Mark, we’re assured that heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus’ words will not. Every time there is one of these dire apocalyptic messages, there is also the message that God will win in the end, and if God hasn’t won it isn’t the end.
That might seem trite, but it holds true. I fervently believe that God is working for the good of the world and for the success of God’s Kingdom. And that brings us back to the whole point of today in the liturgical calendar. It’s the day that we officially recognize that the end has not come yet and that it’s time to begin the cycle again- to once again tell the stories of God’s people and learn from them. To hear the good news in another way through another Gospel. To understand God’s working in the world through Jesus.
So today is the end and a beginning and starting next week we begin again- with advent. With Christmas. With the story of Jesus- this time through the eyes of Luke. And we get to live the story again and again until the time comes that all stories cease.
Amen.