Christ the King Sunday

 A Juxtaposition of Judgment and Love---a new Take Christ the King

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Ephesians 1:15-23; Matthew 25:31-46

"Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."  BCP

Today we see a juxtaposition ( the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect) of judgment and love. It is a literary device to do this.  Moby Dick contrasted the sea with the land for ex.  Other examples of juxtaposition are: " Dark, light. Despair, hope .  Juxtapose means to place two or more things side by side, often with the intention of comparing or contrasting them or to create an interesting effect.  Sweet sorrow is another ex.

We see judgment and love in Matthew 25 and love and concern and hope in Ephesians and Ezekiel today.

Well we see judgment in Matthew 25 :41 ( Depart from me ye cursed)but love as well too. 25:34 says " inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" I remember too in the Wizard of Oz Dorothy experienced color and black and white.  Another juxtapostion.

I know we don't read the Psalms, but they are sung, but the two Psalms today are Psalm 100 & Psalm 95 ---Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; *

serve the Lord with gladness

and come before his presence with a song.

2 Know this: The Lord himself is God; *

he himself has made us, and we are his;

we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

3 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

go into his courts with praise; *

give thanks to him and call upon his Name.

4 For the Lord is good;

his mercy is everlasting; *

and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

God is love and He has been good to us. 

But His judgment is a part of who He is as well.   Ro. 14:10 "  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.."

We as parents have to have a balance of both of love and discipline ( judgment).  It can be a hard thing to balance.  Our children never leave us no matter where they are really.

Ezekiel is hard to read and not see what beautiful care God encompasses us with in our lives. " I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice,"

We again see a juxtiposition here.  God seeks the lost/ God calls His people to Himself.  Either God is Sovereign or He is not.....the modern Christian unfortunately thinks he is self-sufficient in all things. But that does square with the Scriptures or reality if we were honest.... Romans 5:8" But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 PETER 3:9)

In  Ephesians  we see great and wonderfully positive things God has done for us as our God.  He gives us the spirit of wisdom 1:15 and hope , v. 18 and an inheritance in the saints v. 18

He gives exceeding great power to those who have believed v 19 through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead v. 20, the Head of the Church.  He is above all earthly powers and even the world to come He is above them as well.  

And as we prayed in the start, "

at the end the Church’s year - TODAY - we remember that he has taken up again that absolute power of his everlasting Kingship.

“Christ the King” Sunday is a fairly recent festival.

It was started by Pope Pius XI - when he published his encyclical on 11th December 1925.

It grew out of Pius’ concern at how secular the world was becoming.

In those days communism was on the rise and people were beginning to think that “science would soon prove there was no God”

The First World War had shattered traditional values of faith in God – especially in the light of the horrendous numbers of people killed in water.

People were turning from God to humanism

And so Pope Pius wanted a festival where we remembered that Jesus really is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  from sermoncentral.com"  Rev. Martin Dale"

"Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen." BCP