Father, Forgive Them

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Savior of the

world Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Today in our Christian tradition, we celebrate Christ the King Sunday – or, as it is becoming

known now, the Reign of Christ Sunday. Today is, ultimately, the New Year’s Eve of our

Church year – because next week, December 1 st , we begin the season of Advent, in which we prepare, wait, and hope for Christ’s birth among us, which will culminate on Christmas Eve

and Christmas Day. But – there will be more on that in the weeks to come. Today, we

celebrate the promise that Christ rules with us and over us, showing us as human, faithful

communities the better ways of love, relationship, and salvation. Today we remember that

we are human and God is God, and that order of things calls us to always be mindful of our

existence, expression, and limitations. Today we remember that Christ did not come to claim

the mantle of power as an oppressive instrument of degradation and humiliation, but that

Christ claims the power of God through an unexpected way: on a cross on the outskirts of

Jerusalem, in the company of two accused criminals. Leading up to this moment of Jesus’

crucifixion, in what feels more like a scene from the season of Lent, is a history: Roman

leaders and religious officials became threatened by his message of social turnover, where the

lowly are lifted up and the rich are sent away, where those who are grieving will laugh, where

widows will know welcome and children will know belonging. This message of Jesus, spread

through healing, teaching, baptizing, and preaching, becomes too dangerous and so charges

of blasphemy are brought and Pilate gives Jesus over to the hands of the people where he is

led with his cross on his back on to a place called The Skull and his execution intends to

serve as a warning to those who pass by this fortress of Roman empire: this – a bloody, gruesome death – is what will wait for you should you decide to defy the order of things in

Jerusalem or throughout Israel.

In this particular moment in Jesus’ story, to many it can be difficult to pinpoint what makes

Jesus fit the descriptor of “King”. This portrait is the exact opposite of what most of us

think of when we think of a king, or ruler: we picture someone strong, determined, carrying

authority, poise, and hopefully wisdom. Not Jesus – not death, not nails, not blood. In this

reading, he appears to be the loser, the victim, of others’ schemes of power. How can Jesus

possibly be King? In order to begin to see power in a new way, I want to offer this: What if

Jesus’ power rests not in maintaining power-over, but rests in sharing power-with? There is

an important distinction here: power-over seeks to privilege the wealthy, the elite, and the

socially prudent, where as power-with finds its greatness in building a sense of community, a

sense of belonging, and a sense of shared struggle with one another that the world might not

always stay as it is. In our Gospel story for today, Jesus is hanging on the cross between two

others: one criminal on his right, the other on his left. In between the mocking by the

soldiers and the religious elite, the criminals also wonder at who Jesus is, as inscribed above

his cross is the title, “This is the King of the Jews” (vs. 38). One criminal joined in the

derision: “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (vs. 39) The other recognizes his

guilty status, and that the punishment does not come undeserved. He recognizes Jesus’

innocence and asks to be remembered when Jesus comes into heaven. To this man, Jesus

responds, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (vs. 43) I think that each

of these voices present with Jesus on the cross can be used to illustrate a further reality.

Brother Alois from the monastic community at Taize, France, writes that: “In each of us

there are many different voices that try to express themselves. Among them there are the cries of these two criminals. Following the first voice leads to an attitude of accusation, to

withdrawal into ourselves and to distancing ourselves from God and from others. Listening

to the second voice and giving it precedence can help us to open our eyes in order better to

accept what we are, to recognize God’s presence where we did not expect to find it and to

ask him to support us. It is this attitude that liberates us.”

Today, as we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, might we ask ourselves which voices we are

listening to. Are we hearing the first criminal, who is only interested in self-preservation? Or

are we hearing the second, where we acknowledge the complicated reality of what it means

to be human? – Sinful, messy, but still so extravagantly loved by God, by Christ, and by our

community of faith? What voices will we listen that help us to claim that God’s final

judgment for humanity is Christ’s own word on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do

not know what they are doing.” (vs. 34). In our life as a congregation, in our work

commitments, and in our personal lives, God knows that so many of us face challenges:

challenges of grief, challenges of complex questions, challenges of worthiness, and

challenges of belonging. For many of us, this year has been difficult. It is easy to fall back on

the voice of the criminal who accuses Jesus – “If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us!”

We wonder at moments in disbelief just who God is and what God is doing. Yet, my friends,

I would encourage us in those moments that we resist those voices, and we claim our power-

with Christ: that the voices of our despair, our grief, our pain, or the voices of hopelessness,

worthlessness, or frustration are merely the voices of those who do not get their way,

because they are not the way of God. Through the cross, Christ assures us all that we are

wholly forgiven and that we are enough, just by being who we are. Through the cross, Christ claims power-with-us, helping us to see the world in a different, more sacrificial way, and

then gives us the courage to begin creating this world in our midst, here and now.

My friends, today I ask that together we practice believing. Might we believe Christ’s words

on the cross: “Father, forgive them”. It is forgiveness and the recognition of our

belovedness that will help us claim our power to live in freedom, to serve our neighbors, to

love God, and while we’re at it love ourselves. Today, on Reign of Christ Sunday, we see a

glimpse of the world as it can be, and as it will be. Next Sunday, we will begin a season of

waiting, hoping, and working for this world. I encourage you throughout this week to ask

yourselves these questions: What would you like forgiveness for? How do you notice God’s

love for you? How would you like our congregation to be community, to be support for one

another? I invite you to journal, or talk through these questions at home, and then reach out

to me. Let’s have a conversation. The cross of Christ gives us a model that illuminates the

path on our way: that in the giving of ourselves, we welcome salvation. When we recognize

we are forgiven, we are free to love and to welcome the future. When we claim our power-

with Christ, we begin to build a more just and kind world that will always speak against our

fears. On this day and every day, I am thankful for this community, which mirrors Christ, as

we build love and community together. I give thanks for our ministry, for the community we

share, and for who each of you are – forgiven, welcomed, and wholly beloved children of

God. Thanks be to God. Amen.