We celebrate Christ the King/Reign of Christ this week. Dr. Alan Padgett, Professor of Systematic Theology and The Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary Chair of Theology, will preach in chapel on Wednesday and guide us in this important theme and climactic end to the liturgical year. Join us in the chapel of the Incarnation for Holy Communion or join on YouTube.

Here is my meditation on the text and theme for this week.

Christ the King Sunday can be a difficult topic to preach, especially for Citizens of the United States. It is baked into our Revolutionary DNA to distrust a king! 

Human kingdoms are built on the idea that one man has all the power. Whatever the king says is law. The reign of the king’s power reaches to every border of his kingdom. If you disagree with the King, you die.

That’s a lot of power for one human being. Most human kings don’t hold that power well and a lot of people suffer under the hands of a tyrant who seeks wealth, power, and control.

Praise God, we do not have a king like that! Jesus never claimed himself to be the King. He proclaimed that the basilea ton ouranon—Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Heavens, the Divine Reign, the Divine Commonwealth–-was at hand! Change your perspective and trust it! (Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:17) read more here and here. In our Gospel this week Jesus simply tells the thief, “today you will be with me in paradise.” That is the word used to name the Garden of Delight in Genesis 2. Jesus has come to restore shalom.

Jesus points us to a God who rules, not as a tyrant, but as a Loving Parent–whom Jesus called “Abba”–seeking justice and righteousness for all of creation. Jesus sits at the right hand of God as the lamb who was slain.

This is an upside down kin-dom of love. The Way of Jesus will always be counter-cultural to any human system that worships/feeds power, money, greed, self-exaltation, and the abuse of another human being.

I offer you this post where John Cobb talks about the Divine Commonwealth. Enjoy!