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The Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in thy 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 liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 29)
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The Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King
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A Sermon by
Fr. Spurlock
✛
Christ Is King Over All Things
Christians, beginning with Christ himself, have always suffered persecution at the hands of the authorities. And while Christians have enjoyed freedom from persecution and even the favor of some earthly authorities at times, at no time since the execution of Jesus, have Christians been entirely free from persecution in some place or other in the world. And that is as true today as at any other time throughout history.
During his lifetime Saint Peter wrote a letter to a group of Christians who were facing persecution at the hands of the authorities, and our second reading tonight is an excerpt from that letter. Peter reminds his own friends of something he learned from his friend, Jesus, that hatred and persecutions would come. Matt 10.22 & John 15.18 Peter writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings.” 4.12-13a. But, Peter’s letter is more than just a warning about a coming persecution; it is an expression of his love and concern for his friends, and his purpose in writing is to comfort and encourage. To that end, Peter tells his friends four important things.
The first thing he tells them is that Jesus went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.
Next, he explains that the spirits to whom Jesus makes his proclamation are the same spirits who had been disobedient in the days of Noah. Noah, leads him to a third point that the boat that Noah built, the ark, is an image for baptism. And, finally, Baptism is not about washing dirt off our bodies, but is “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” How are any of those four things a comfort and encouragement to people who, because of their faith in Jesus, are facing persecution and death?
When Peter says that Jesus, “being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison,” Peter is making an appeal to what has been called the harrowing of hell. That is what we affirm every time we say the creed and declare that Jesus descended into hell. But, in his appeal to the descent, Peter is also making a reference to a Jewish book that was popular in the first century called the Book of Enoch. And while Enoch was not and never has been accepted as Holy Scripture, by Jews or Christians, it attempts to explain things that do appear throughout the entirety of scripture, and that is the fall of Satan and his angels, and God’s victory over them. And Enoch dates this fall and victory to the time of Noah’s ark.
While his body is in the tomb, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus descends into hell and delivers a proclamation. He tells the demons, and the powers, and the principalities and probably Satan himself, that he has just broken their power, and that from now on they are subject to his authority. Jesus descends into hell to tell everyone there, I am king now.
Saint Paul puts it this way, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2.9-11
Peter reminds his readers of Christ the King who in his death begins the business of claiming his kingdom beneath the earth, and in the resurrection, Jesus claiming his kingdom on the earth, and in the ascension, claiming his kingdom above the earth such that, by the death, resurrection and ascension, Christ is King over all things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.
This means that whatever authorities may be threatening Peter’s brothers and sisters in the faith, and whatever dark and shadowy powers might lurk behind them, he assures them that both the temporal and spiritual forces who threaten are subject to the rule and reign and sovereignty of Jesus Christ who has already broken their power over any one of the body of Christ.
And since Enoch places the original fall of these powers at the time of Noah’s ark, Peter reminds his readers that the ark, wherein few; that is eight souls were saved by water, is an image for their baptism. Just as the passengers on the ark were saved from death by riding through the waters of the flood, so have the Christians been saved from death by passing through the waters of baptism. What their baptism does is to place each one of them right alongside Jesus in his victory over their enemies.
And since baptism is far more than just a washing of the body, but a deep cleansing of the soul: all impediment, stain, and infection of sin that might have once separated them from the love, mercy, power and victory of God, has been removed, so that the faithful can stand alongside, and share in the victory of Jesus. That washing and that victory provides them their good conscience which means that if or when the confrontation between them and the world happens, they can meet their trial unashamed to give an answer to anyone who calls to account for the hope that is in them. 3.15
In our day, we must dedicate ourselves to praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, wherever they may be in this big wide world that they might be encouraged and comforted by the good news of the victory of Christ the King over any power that threatens them (and also by the knowledge that we have not forgotten them). And we must dedicate ourselves to praying for those powers that they might be converted and put away their hatred, and lay down their arms of rebellion against Christ’s most gracious rule before it is too late for them. But if persecutions must come, pray that our friends in Christ can meet their trial with that good conscience.
And to us, who may have the consolation of an easy faith today anyway, it is imperative that we also read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the promises that Christ made to us, and that Peter reminds us of, that Christ is King over all powers, that our baptism joins us to his victory, and that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. And pray that if the day comes when any one of us might be called to give an account of the hope that is in us, we may do so in the true faith, the sure confidence, and the consolation of Christ our King.
