LANGFREDAG MÅSKE



			Jesus konge eller Gud.



http://www.ulch.org/sermons/112397.html



Sermon for the



                    The Reign of Christ Sunday,

Series B



                               by Keith Olstad

                       University Lutheran Church

of Hope

                              November 23, 1997



Texts: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Revelation 4b-8; John

18:33-37







Dear friends, grace and peace to you from God, our

Creator, and from our loving Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.



Soren Kierkegaard, nineteenth century Danish

theologian, muses about a king who falls deeply in

love with, in Kierkegaard's words, "a maiden of

lowly estate in life."1 Though the king knows the

young woman, she does not know him. Hopelessly

smitten, the king ponders fervently how to win her

love.



He is a powerful and imposing king, feared by many,

so he could simply summon her to the court.  But he

knows that if he were to confront her, she might

simply fear or tolerate him. Or she might humor him

in order to gain access to his wealth and power.

Even if she did enjoy him he would never know to

what degree she loved his wealth and power rather

than his person.



So the king searches for a way to make her as

wealthy and powerful as he is, so that she could

encounter him as an equal. As equals, he thinks,

the only question would become whether they could

love each other as persons. But the king soon

realizes that there is no way to raise her to his

level without indebting her to him.



So the king's only choice is to descend to an

estate in life just as low as her own, to a

condition in which he can meet the lowly maiden as

her lowly equal. Only then could she grow to love

him simply for who he is.



But at this juncture, Kierkegaard stops developing

the story. The story cannot be completed, he

decides, for there can be no king willing or able

to make such a sacrifice. Even if a king wanted to

take such a risk, no king could divest himself of

enough power and prestige to be equal to a maiden

of "lowly estate in life." So the story simply

cannot be completed. Kierkegaard then uses the

paradox faced by this king as an allegory to

contrast to God.



The allegory is captivating and revealing. This

tremendously powerful and wealthy royalty wants

desperately to be loved for his personal power and

integrity rather than for his office. It is an

exotic trait, a characteristic hard to find in

literature, let alone in life. It is just as rare

in Biblical literature.



There is a relevant story about King David,

arguably the most famous king of all time. You'll

find this story in the 11th chapter of Samuel. King

David falls in love with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah

the Hittite. But unlike Kierkegaard's king, David

summons Bathsheba directly to him. Soon afterward

King David arranges for Uriah to be in the front

line for a battle, where he is killed. Then, after

a period of mourning, King David brings Bathsheba

to his court, where she bears him a son. God is

very displeased, and punishes David severely.



This greatest king in Israel's history lacked the

insight and grace to seek to be loved as an equal.

He could not resist using his power and influence

simply to take what he wanted. The contrast makes

Kierkegaard's allegory all the more powerful.



In spite of the way our church has traditionally

titled this day: "Christ the King Sunday", I

believe with Kierkegaard that kings are no measure

of God. Kierkegaard's king's only hope of finding

mutual love was to reduce himself to the estate of

the one loved. But Kierkegaard knew that only God--

no king--could do so. As Kierkegaard himself notes:

"in order for the unity to be effected, the god

must become...as equal of the lowliest of persons.

But the lowliest of all is one who must serve

others--consequently, the god will appear in the

form of a servant."2



Kierkegaard then spends the rest of his essay

talking about the humbling of God in the form of a

servant to all humanity. God was humbled in order

to win humanity's love. God is the king who is

willing to become subject to human beings, to

become a servant of all creation, in order freely

to win humans' love. So it is all the more

revealing, and terribly incongruous, as we find in

today's texts: even as a servant of all, Jesus is

still declared king, and is sacrificed on the cross

precisely because he is a threat to kings and other

powers that be.



In today's gospel lesson from John, we encounter

Jesus on trial before Pontius Pilate. Pilate's

question is direct: "Are you the king of the Jews?"

Jesus' answer is anything but direct: "Do you ask

this on your own, or did others tell you about

me?"3 Later Jesus tells Pilate: "My kingdom is not

from this world. If my kingdom were from this

world, my followers would be fighting to keep me

from being handed over to the Jews."4 Picture

Kierkegaard's king, forced to explain himself. With

guards and counselors present, a king would never

have to explain himself. This Jesus knows.



But Jesus must be simply the person he is in order

to accomplish his ultimate goal: to free humanity

to love God. So he never clearly admits to being a

king for anything. But paradoxically he does admit

to claiming a realm, to having a kingdom.



And so he did. Daniel's vision in our first lesson

talks about a royal person--someone others would

later associate with Jesus--appearing in the form

of "a human being coming with the clouds of

heaven....To him was given dominion and glory and

kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting

dominion..., and his kingship is one that shall

never be destroyed."5



But Jesus, the person on trial in a human court,

could not claim that power and authority and still

make a claim on us for our love, not in a way that

truly respects our need to know God as one of us.



In Jesus' final statement to Pilate, he says, "For

this I was born, and for this I came into the

world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who

belongs to the truth listens to my voice."6



The truth is that Jesus so loves us--you and me and

every living thing throughout the universe--that

Jesus gives up his kingly privilege simply to live

among us as one of us. In fact, he gives up for us

not just his kingly privilege, but his very life.

The truth is that this king, Jesus, is willing to

die as a common criminal, to be tortured and spit

upon in Herod's court, ridiculed and despised in

the church, and hung on a traitor's cross to suffer

excruciating death. He does so precisely in order

to be one who expresses love, and who can in turn

be loved.



He is so human, so tangible and real, that we have

felt his touch and heard his words in the splash of

baptismal waters, and we have tasted and smelled

his body and blood around this table. He is so real

that he has become part of our beings, an

experienced reality of our shared life.



The truth is that Jesus--the one with regal

authority and power who loves and longs to be

loved--today moves in and among our neighbors,

among those we are least likely or least able to

love. For those of us who are people of color,

Jesus stands as one who longs to be loved, and who

is white. For those who are white, Jesus stands

before us today as one who wants to be affirmed for

who he or she is, and who is Black, or red or

yellow. For those of you who are young, Jesus

stands before you today as someone who is quite

old, and longs for your approving smile. And for

those of you who have lived a full life, Jesus

today stands before you as someone young and

tender, full of questions, hoping for your

understanding. For those of you who for decades

have been members of this congregation, Jesus

stands before you as a visitor or a new member, in

need of a welcoming word. And for those of you

visiting or new to our congregation, Jesus stands

before you today as one with history and memory of

this congregation's eras, who needs your freshness

and vitality.



The truth is this real, this concrete: Jesus, the

one with all power and authority in heaven and one

earth who is determined to be loved, is here among

us.



So finally, paradoxically, the truth--after all is

said and done--is that Jesus is not king, but God.

And God is now among us, is one of us, and will be

with us forever. " I am the Alpha and the Omega,'

says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to

come, the Almighty."7 I was with you in the

beginning, and I will be with you in the end,

always.



So be it. Amen.



Endnotes:

1Kierkegaard, Soren. Philosophical Fragments. p. 26

2Ibid. p. 31

3John 18:33b, 34 NRSV

4Ibid. v. 36

5Daniel 7:13b,14 NRSV

6John 18:37b

7Revelation 1:8 NRSV





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