142: Proper 29- Christ the King (Nov. 22, 2015)

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For Sunday November 22, Proper 29, Year B

Featured Musician - “Winter is Coming” by The Steel Wheels from their new album Leave Some Things Behind

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Episode 142 Proper 29 - Christ the King (Nov. 22, 2015)
Hello and welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the lectionary podcast for preachers, seekers and Bible geeks. This is episode 142 for Sunday November 22, Proper 29, Year B.

Introduction and Check-in  

  • Another year B bites the dust!

    • New website design
    • Great guests: Rachel Held Evans, Walter Brueggemann, Brian McLaren, Christian Piatt, Jennifer Knapp, Jenee Woodard, Chris Davies and more!
    • Roundtables!
    • The big move!
  • Coming up- what’s next for Pulpit Fiction?
  • Starbucks- red cuptastrophe!

Quick-Fire Scripture: Revelation 1:4-8 - the Alpha and Omega

  • Culmination of the Good News: Christ is Lord, the beginning, the ending and all that is
  • What does it mean to declare that Christ is alpha and omega?

    • Call back to YAHWEH- I am that I am, I was who I was and I will be who I will be
    • Eternal, but not transcendent instead incarnate and in relationship with us
  • Message of hope

    • The worldly powers? They will not have the last word
    • Crying, death and oppression - won’t have the last word
    • Spending a ridiculous amount of energy on red cups while 9 year old children are being executed - will not be the last word
    • the Word will have the last word. The Word which is welcome, forgiveness, grace and love is built into the very essence of creation (John 1)- Alpha and will continue through to the end - Omega - despite appearances.

Featured Musician - “Winter is Coming” by The Steel Wheels from their new album Leave Some Things Behind

DONATE: www.pulpitfiction.us/donate

Gospel Reading: John 18:33-37 - King of the Jews
Initial Thoughts

  • Christ the King Sunday

    • Established in 1925 by Pope Pius the 11th in his encyclical Quas Primas in order to:

      1. That nations would see that the Church has the right to freedom, and immunity from the state (Quas Primas, 32).
      2. That leaders and nations would see that they are bound to give respect to Christ (Quas Primas, 31).
      3. That the faithful would gain strength and courage from the celebration of the feast, as we are reminded that Christ must reign in our hearts, minds, wills, and bodies (Quas Primas, 33).
    • “Not enough to simply claim that Jesus is your savior, but is Jesus your Lord?” - Tony Campolo
    • What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord and Savior?
  • Great misunderstanding about what it means to be Lord or King

    • misunderstood by the Israelites, misunderstood by Saul, misunderstood by David, misunderstood by the disciples, misunderstood by Pilate
    • To be King is to be a servant of all
    • Not about power over, but about power through love and grace

Bible Study

  • Classic hellenistic battle of wits between Jesus and Pilate:

    • Are you the King of the Jews? - Do you ask this on your own or did others tell you about me?

      • Are you really in charge or are you acting on behest of someone(s) else?
      • Pilate admits that he is not really in charge- he is acting on the wishes of others- he is “powerless” (not really though, he is just a coward)
    • What have you done? - Jesus refuses to answer

      • The kingdom of God is what matters, not earthly kings
    • So you are a King? - You say that I am

      • For the third time Jesus refuses to directly answer but instead redirects to the Kingdom of God
  • V. 37 - Jesus’ response

    • “You say that I am king.” is separate from what comes afterward: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
    • For this I was born is not connected to the king discussion but to the truth.
  • Truth

    • Not about the black-white or right-wrong authoritarian notion of truth but rather a way of being and living in the world
    • Pilate thinks of truth in terms of what is empirically or rationally correct whereas Jesus reveals the truth of the Kingdom of God which is typically irrational and culminating, but not yet fully realized.

      • Pilate: truth as intellectual understanding
      • Jesus: truth as revelation
    • Jesus’ entire ministry is about revealing the true nature of the world
    • Dorothy Soelle, Beyond Mere Obedience

      • Discerning obedience: "an obedience which has its eyes wide open, which first discovers God's will in the situation."
      • Emilie Townes, Feasting on the Word, [For Soelle] “freedom, change, and spontaneity coalesce so that we not only accept responsibility for the world around us but seek to be a part of God's transformation of the world. Freedom, restored through the liberatory power of Jesus, begins this process for Soelle. The power we need to change things is found in spontaneity that then inspires new freedom. In discerning obedience, we practice freedom daily through seeking to understand and live anew the truth found in Christ, which sets us free to discover God's will in a future that is open to possibilities.”
  • Christ as King

    • To declare a king is to acknowledge belonging to a certain tribe, group or clan - think Lions and Wolves in Game of Thrones
    • When we claim Christ as King it is not as groveling peasants but a declaration that we belong to Christ and Christ’s words hold authority for us
    • Claiming Christ as King says that Christ’s truth (forgive, love, share) is our truth

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

  • How can we invite people into a relationship with Jesus as Lord? That is to say Jesus as the authoritative figure in their lives. Not an overbearing oppressor but one who “speaks with authority”
  • During this political season- much can be said about what is or is not true. How can we invite people into discerning what the truth is that Jesus reveals?

Psalm Nugget: Psalm 132 with Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist)

Audible:
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Second Reading: 2 Samuel 23:1-7 - David's Last Words
Initial Thoughts

  • David’s last words, except they aren’t

    • Chapter 24 is the story of David taking a census
    • 1 Kings starts with David alive
    • His last words were actually to Solomon, telling him to kill all his enemies.
    • Perhaps even in his two sets of “Last Words” we see the competing ideas of who David is. Man of God and Shrewd Ruler.

Bible Study

  • Intro

    • David self-identifies as:

      • Son of Jesse
      • Man raised high
      • Anointed by God of Jacob
      • Favored by the strong one of Israel
      • “The Lord’s spirit speaks through me; his word is on my tongue.
      • David is someone God has lifted up annointed, and is now prophet.
  • Right Rule = Godly Rule

    • Rule with the fear of God. Result is:
    • Qualities of a Good King: 1. Righteous, 2. Fear God, 3. End of list

      • “The first word, righteousness, lies at the very heart of what it means to be a follower of YHWH. As Amos so memorably puts it: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a perennial stream" (Amos 5:24). That prophet contrasts his people's desire for showy worship with God's desire instead for a community characterized by equality, fairness, concern for the other, especially those on the margin. And what is true for every Israelite follower of YHWH is doubly true for the king.” (John Holbert, Patheos)
      • The second word/phrase is "fear of God." We are often quick to say that this Hebrew word does not really mean "terror," or "to be fearful" in ways we often use the word. But surely the word does include some of that in its meaning. "Fear" can mean "worship" or "awe," but included in both those translations is some sense of being afraid, afraid of disappointing, afraid of transgressing, or afraid merely of standing in the presence of such a God. (John Holbert, Patheos)
      • Righteousness - Accountable to people.
      • Fear of God - Accountable to God.
    • Light of sunrise on a morning with no clouds, like the bright gleam after the rain that brings grass from the ground.

      • A good King is life-giving as the sun and rain.
  • Eternal Covenant

    • Is David’s covenant conditional? What does Kingship mean?

      • David’s dynasty did not last two generations. By the time his son is dead, the kingdom is divided. Jerusalem’s centricity is challenged. Within 500 years, both kingdoms are destroyed.
      • Song itself provides an out - the “despicable people are like thorns, all of them good for nothing… They must be burned up with fire on the spot.” David’s covenant is to last only as he rules rightly over his people, and rules with the fear of God.
      • God gives victories, and causes the wicked to lose. It seems to suggest that the God who gives David victory can also withhold hit from later generations.
      • Kingship is conditional on God’s will
  • Compared to Hannah’s Song (at opening of 1 Samuel and last week)

    • Hannah’s Song

      • No one is holy like God
      • There is no rock like our God
      • Bows of warriors shattered
      • God raises poor from the dust
      • His enemies are terrified
    • David’s Latter Words

      • Compares God to a rock.
      • King is life giving
      • God gives King victories
      • Wicked are despised and left untouchable or destroyed by God.

Sermon Thoughts and Questions

  • Three motifs make up the Royal Theology. (Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Samuel,  p. 347):

    • God’s sovereign power
    • God’s moral expectation
    • God’s abiding fidelity
  • These are the motifs upon which the Kingship of Christ are built. They are not dependant upon the times. These are eternal truths that are not bound by current political machinations or war games. David, who is anointed by God (or messiah or Christ) lays the foundation upon which Jesus’ kingship is built.

Tasty Wafer of the Week:

CLOSING
Thank you listeners and
Shout-Outs:
Facebook - Maxwell Grant- "...The story of the widow’s mite isn’t a story of the power of generosity. It’s a call to be a church that’s worthy of her hopes, and listens to her need.
The need is real. But the grace is amazing. And it saves a wretch like you and a wretch like me, not just once, but time and time again..."
(With thanks to Eric C Fistler and the amazing "Pulpit Fiction" podcast, which everyone should listen to...)

Twitter: @CalebRackard “I appreciate your thoughts on Hannah’s prayer. just found ur podcast I happen to be preaching this lectionary it will be one year since my wife Hannah and l lost our baby

Feedback:

Featured Musician -  “Winter is Coming” by The Steel Wheels from their new album Leave Some Things Behind

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Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Paul and Storm for our closing music (“Oh No”).

2 Samuel, All, John, Psalm, RevelationEric FistlerComment