Last week I came across something that I feel I really need to share with you, in the interest of inter-faith relations, and mutual understanding between churches.  It is the cult of Elvis.  It appears in many locations around the country, for example The Church of the Risen Elvis in Denver, the First Church of Jesus Christ, Elvis, and the excellently named First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine.  According to their website, Presleyterians start celebrating the birth of Elvis on December 8, which is the date that John Lennon, one of Elvis’ 13 disciples, was murdered.  The priests of Elvis preach sermons like, "The Hot Dog: Nature’s Most Perfect Food”. Also, a follower of Elvis must observe the "31 Commandments," being 31 foods that followers must keep in their homes in case Elvis should ever be in their neighborhood. Members of the church are also required to face Las Vegas daily and make a pilgrimage to Graceland at least once in their lives.  Now I’m hoping that is all a spoof.   But you never know. 

Today, though in the life of the Christian Church is all about the Real King.  It’s the Feast of Christ the King.  And with it comes a message that is not one that comes very easily.  The idea of God as Sovereign.  In this country we are more familiar with the Head of State being a president.  And I humbly acknowledge that we didn’t give you a very good example of a King towards the end there.  But it necessary to think about what it means to have Christ as our King.  You might think that it’s easier for someone from the United Kingdom to know what it’s like to live with a sovereign.  But, it isn’t really, because the role of the royalty in Britain is largely symbolic.  The real power was delegated to an elected parliament hundreds of years ago. 

So let’s understand just what we’re saying when we call Jesus our King.  What he himself had in mind, along with the writers of the New Testament was absolute power.  Unlike a president Jesus was not elected, and he is not answerable to voters.  Unlike a CEO he cannot be fired by shareholders.  Unlike the chairman of a board he cannot be removed or silenced by Robert’s rules of order.  No one made him sovereign after an armed uprising.  He didn’t get the job as a result of his uncle knowing someone high up.  There weren’t any backroom deals by dodgy politicians to get their man on the throne.  Christ is our king by right.  He created the universe.  There’s never been a time when he did not exist.  He does not need to defend himself to us, he does not owe us an explanation, and he doesn’t wait for our approval before he acts.  Strictly speaking there are no citizens in a monarchy.  I’m not a citizen of the UK because there are no citizens of the UK.  There are only subjects.  And in the same way, we Christians are not citizens of the Kingdom of God.  We’re subjects.  We don’t get to vote of what we want God to do.  There’s no referendum on the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. 

But it is possible to treat the Kingship of Christ like the sovereignty of Queen Elizabeth the Second.  You know – she doesn’t have any real authority, she just rubber stamps whatever parliament decides.  But she’s always good for a bit of ancient ritual and fancy tradition.  Is that at all similar to how we sometimes treat the sovereignty of God?  Good for a bit of old-time ritual  on a Sunday morning, a bit of ancient tradition, but as for having any real authority in our lives, well God just rubber stamps whatever it is I have decided to do, or he ratifies whatever values society has adopted?  Any similarities?  I’m just asking.  Now, I’d say, of course, that the queen is worthy of respect, and if I were to meet her I’d dress up in my best suit and have a bath, and shine my shoes, and bow and respectfully and take her hand when she offered it, and I’d not say anything unless she spoke to me, and then I’d politely call her ‘Ma’am’.  But if she were to ask me to do something in particular then I’d have to think about it.  I wouldn’t just automatically say ‘yes’ because she doesn’t have that authority.  And if it went against my rights or my comfort, then I’d have the courage to say ‘no, Ma’am’.  And again isn’t that how we can treat God?  We can put on a good show for him, treat him with respect.  We can bow, we can call him ‘Lord’, and we can listen respectively to what he says.  But ultimately, when it comes to him asking us to do something, can we not respond in the same way – only if it doesn’t demand too much of me, or if I want to, or if it seems like it’s something I might like.  But obedience, well, that’s going a bit too far.  Like the Queen of England he just doesn’t have that authority.  If I wanted to sum up the whole of my sermon this morning in one phrase it would be: Christ is King.  Live with it.

Now, you might know someone who might respond with protests at this.  They might think ‘I don’t like the idea of an absolute monarch.  I don’t want God to be all-powerful’.  And if they were likening Jesus to other absolute monarchs we have known then we’d share their reservations.  If Jesus were Stalin or Hitler, or any one of the thousands of narcissistic dictators in history then we’d be right to fear that Christ.  If he were to throw his authority around to get his own way and rob his people of their freedom and dignity then that kind of Jesus would rightly cause us anxiety.  But that is not the true Christ.  No, Christ the true King is the man we read about in John’s Gospel who willingly laid down his life for his people.  Who did not stand up for his own rights when tried on trumped up charges.  The Christ who although he is God did not consider his own comfort as important, but gave up his riches and power to live and die as a human being.  He is our servant King, who stoops and washes our feet, and then lifts us to a place of true worth out of sheer love for us.

A few months ago Cindy and I watched a fascinating film called God on Trial.  It is the true story of a group of Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp, struggling to come to terms with what was happening to them.  And, understandably given their extreme suffering, some of them felt so angry with God that they put him on trial.  They appointed prosecutors, assembled witnesses and presented their case against God to a jury of other Jewish prisoners.  And they asked “if God is good and loving then why was he doing this to his own people?”  And other inmates argued in defence.   They also called witnesses and made a case for God’s innocence.  I won’t spoil it by telling you what happens, but it was a very thought-provoking film.  But it’s a film that left me a bit sad.  Because, as a Christian I wanted to jump in and provide the one, ultimate defence that would have got God acquitted in that trial.  But it was one that, as Jewish people, those men were unable to make.  And it was this: that God himself has gone through the equivalent of Auschwitz.  When it comes to God the truth is that he has not sat uncaringly watching men and women behaving unspeakably to each other.  Yes, he is sovereign.  Yes, he has all authority in creation.  But yes, he did something.  He entered our brutal world and suffered as one of us.  God has already been put on trial and was sentenced to death even though he had done nothing wrong. 

Andrew Daughters write a wonderful poem called ‘What kind of kingdom

has Jesus?’

What kind of kingdom has Jesus? No castle or palace has he.

No congress or parliament sitting, deciding what laws there will be. Perhaps he has need of two laws: love God and your neighbor as well.

To obey him is all that is needed, as all the saintly can tell.

He has neither army or navy, no air force to guard the frontiers

to keep out the strangers unwanted and maintain the enemies’ fears. Immigration he seems to encourage, of some quite disputable,

like fishermen, publicans, sinners. To such he is hospitable.

It seems there's no revenue service or taxes we must calculate.

He surely cannot run a kingdom on what we put into the plate!
No 1040 form comes in April to fill out before the fifteenth,

with penalties charged for non payment, beginning on the sixteenth.

No currency's here with his picture, no coinage engraved with his name.

And where are the posters and slogans proclaiming his power and fame?

I see no trappings of kingship, no robes made of velvet and fur,

no crown made of gold set with diamonds, to befit our supreme arbiter.

Jesus said that his kingdom was not what Pilate had thought it had been.

It was not of this world, and its glory was not of the kind any had seen.

For those of us here in his kingdom, there is one other thing we have known:

of the kingdoms around in his lifetime, it's the only one left with a throne.

Christ is a king who is gentle.  He doesn’t force his will on us.  Instead he calmly shows us the right way to go, and leaves it up to us whether we’ll follow.  He loves us so much that he allows us to reject him if we so choose.  Even though he knows what is best for us he allows us to make a mess.  That’s what it means to love someone, isn’t it?  When it’s time for your kids to leave home you don’t chain them to the bed and lock their door.  If you love them you’ll let them go.  And that’s how it is with Christ.  He whispers in our hearts, ‘this is my plan for you’.  He writes it in the pages of his book ‘this way is the way you’ll find true riches’.  But he speaks with the gentlest voice and he writes with supreme grace.  So the choice is ours.  That is our king.  The king whose kingdom, as he says in the Gospel reading, is not of this world.  It is not imposed by violence and threats and demands and laws.  Jesus is not arrogant and overbearing.  He slips in and out of our day.  In fact, most people miss him, even when they pass him in the street.  Most can’t discern his voice from the noise around them.  But we, friends, we are training our ears to hear his voice, and teaching our eyes to spot him when he passes.

So where does that leave us?  Well, each of us has two passports.  You’ve got your blue one that tells everyone you’re a citizen of the US.  It gives you certain unalienable rights and certain responsibilities.  But you have another passport too.  It is your baptism.  And that passport says that you are a member of another state – a monarchy.  A kingdom whose king is unlike every other head of state or government that has ever appeared on earth.  A kingdom of love, peace and humility, a kingdom of purity, justice and eternity.  Let God challenge us this morning to be good subjects of our king.  Let us recognise his authority over every aspect of our lives, following his ways, serving his plans in the world and advancing the cause of his perfect kingdom.