“Now is the Future!”
November 26, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
From 355 to 363 A.D., the Roman Empire was ruled by a king named Julian the Apostate, so called because he attempted to restore paganism as the official religion of the Roman Empire, and destroy Christianity, which had become the official Roman religion by that time. Even though he tried to harass and annoy Christians in many different ways, especially by trying to impose sacrifice to the old Roman gods; writing pamphlets against Christianity; forbidding Christians from teaching Philosophy and Classical Literature; putting pagans in positions of power and authority; even trying to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple in an attempt to prove Jesus’ prophecy about the Temple wrong; what he found, however, was that he was by then fighting a lost cause: Christianity, and the worship of Jesus, had become so ingrained into the hearts and minds of the Roman people that to try to back to the original religion was no longer attractive, or a valid option. In 363, Julian went to war against the Persian Empire, and was fatally wounded in battle. The legend of his death goes one of two ways: either he finally recognized that he could not wipe out Christianity, or he became a Christian himself at the moment of his death. Either way, his last words were supposed to have been, “You have won, Galilean” – referring to Jesus. He realized that, in the struggle between his kingship and the kingship of Jesus, there could be only one victor – and it was Jesus.
Indeed, in every competition, there can be only one winner. As we learned this weekend with the various championship and rivalry football games, there ultimately can be only one winner. And in every competition and conflict going on in the world, there will ultimately be only one winner. As Paul says in today’s Second Reading from 1 Corinthians, all things, even death, have been defeated by Jesus, and are now subject to Him. That means, as Paul especially emphasizes, even the rulers of the earth are to be subject to Jesus’ rule. Even though there may be various earthly rulers competing for supremacy, and various nations competing for dominance over each other, there is ultimately only one supreme ruler: Jesus, because He lives forever, after having died and risen again. This is also why Christianity has lasted for over two thousand years, and why it will continue to last – it will live forever because Jesus lives forever. Even though there might be some who say that Christianity is dying, evidence actually points in the opposite direction: more and more people are becoming Christians, even in places where the odds are against it happening. Christians continue to worship and gather together in Saudi Arabia, where it is still illegal to be a Christian. In Iran and Vietnam, where Christians are persecuted, Christianity still continues to grow. In the past couple of weeks, there was even a case of several people in Gaza spontaneously accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, even in the midst of the war there. People are looking for something only Jesus can offer again. Even at least a couple prominent atheists have stated that they are now Christian. Christianity, and Jesus, cannot be defeated, and ultimately triumph. We, as our church family, can and should take advantage of this resurgence of this interest in Jesus. The issue is not that Christianity seems to be no longer relevant: it is that Christianity needs to return to the mission of Jesus, in order to live in the future. We’ll talk about what that looks like in just a few minutes.
But meanwhile, since we’re talking about Jesus as our King, we need to find out more exactly about what that means. Now, as it happens, I didn’t come up with these next couple slides on my own: I borrowed them from another presentation, which I’ll provide the link for when I post this sermon online. (NOTE: The complete presentation may be found at https://slideplayer.com/slide/4719050/) In fact, I recommend checking out the whole slideshow when the link gets posted, because it actually nicely summarizes and expands on some of the things we’re briefly going be talking about. In the meantime, here is how we know Jesus is the King, according to the Bible: first, a king is defined as the ruler of a nation or territory, inherited and ruler for life. Jesus was born a king, as we will celebrate next month already; came preaching the Kingdom of God; died a king; is the King of kings and Lord of lords. His kingship had even been prophesied by Ezekiel, as we hear in today’s First Reading. All this means that He is our King, and we are heirs of His Kingdom.
And what is a kingdom? It is, obviously, a country governed or ruled by a king. It is also the sovereign rulership and governing influence of the king over his territory (his domain), impacting it with his will, purpose, and intent; in other words, the king sets the tone for how his kingdom ought to be. Which means that the nature of the king is produced in the kingdom – how the king behaves determines how his people behave, act, and react.
As mentioned before, we are heirs of Jesus’ Kingdom. We are living in the Kingdom right here, right now. Jesus has already established His rule over the earth, and we are the agents of His Kingdom. Next month, as we celebrate Advent, we will be repeatedly asking Jesus to come again – but what we are also to recognize is that He, and His Kingdom, are already here. His power, the power of the Holy Spirit, is right here, and is active in great power among us right now. The Holy Spirit especially works through the Bible and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion to motivate us to love God, and show our love for God by loving and serving others.
Even though Christianity could not, and cannot, be wiped out, that actually does not necessarily make us Christians superior to everyone else. The reason we are here is not to exercise dominance over others, but to transform the world through humble love and service. In fact, being a Christian involves a tremendous amount of humility – which means being able to think of another person as equally as one’s self. To love someone even requires a tremendous amount of humility, because it means loving another person as equally as one’s self. When we abandon our agendas, our judgments, and how we believe God ought to operate and think, especially towards others, then we are able to love others better. This especially means, as Jesus encourages us, helping others without considering who is really deserving of help – but providing food, clothing, friendship, encouragement, acceptance, and welcoming to everyone who comes our way. When we do these things to others, we do them to Jesus Himself. But on the other hand, when we deny any of these things to others, we also deny them to Jesus. And it all has to do with where our own personal relationship with Jesus is. If we view our relationship with Jesus as being one of superiority over others, then we will act accordingly – but we will be acting contrary to Jesus’ true nature. But if our relationship with Jesus is one of friendship, love, and continually relying on Him for guidance, then that is how we will act – like Jesus.
The best way that Christianity, and Christians, can still be relevant going into the future is by serving. Jesus Himself sets the example for us by being kind, just, fair, and compassionate. How we treat other people shows how we would treat Jesus if He were here in person with us. In fact, we can say that Jesus is here in person with us: He is here in the hungry, needy, lonely, outcast, lost person. He is also here in the bullied, the abused, the refugee, the homeless, the addict, the trafficked, the outsider, even in the unbeliever. This is not only from Jesus Himself: this is also, again, what Ezekiel prophesied – that Jesus would come to seek out the injured, the hurting, and the lost. Jesus being “All in All,” as Paul says, also means that He is in every person – even the unlikely. All the people we may choose to ignore or discount, are Jesus in person among us. And those are the people Jesus wants us to seek, love, and minister to in His name. In countries with kings, commands and laws were and are given “in the name of the King”; that is, with the authority of the King. And us doing all these things in the name of the King means that we have the authority of the King: to bring healing to the sick and injured; rescue to the hurt, abused, and bullied; food and clothing to the hungry; shelter to the homeless; friendship and acceptance to the lonely and friendless. We will continue to have a purpose if we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in finding ways to reach out, help, witness, and bring people to saving faith in Jesus. Because that is ultimately why we do all these things: not just to make the world a better place, but to bring people to Jesus. It is only through believing in Jesus, and no other way, that anyone can be saved. It is also His will that all people believe in Him and be saved, and that will happen when we reclaim our mission, to go and bring people to Jesus to be saved. We have to remember, even as Jesus plainly says, that there is a possibility to be lost forever – to live eternally apart from Jesus, but we want people to live with Jesus forever, just as we will. That’s how we can be like Jesus, and that’s how we can live in His Kingdom – and bring the victory of Jesus and His Kingdom to our world today.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
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