When I read this Gospel passage for the first time this week, it felt to me that there was a really obvious thing to say about it. So let me just get the obvious thing out of the way first. Jesus was a refugee. When He was still a toddler, his parents fled with him to Egypt to save his life.

The official definition of a refugee is one who flees their own country due to violence, environmental disaster, or persecution because of who they are or what they believe. That persecution could be based on race, political views, religious beliefs or practices, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other forms of discrimination. There must be a credible threat to the person’s life or safety for them to be categorized as a refugee. 

For Jesus, the persecution was political. In the early part of our Gospel story this morning, we hears how wise men from the east come to King Herod’s palace in search of the newborn king. Their assumption was that a newborn king  must be found in a place. But of course, there was no newborn king in Herod’s palace. Herod becomes unhinged. He’s totally threatened by the idea that there is someone with designs on his rule over Judea. He tells these magi to alert him to where this new king is so that he can worship him - but his secret plan is to kill the usurper. 

Joseph is warned in a dream to flee, so he and Mary escape to Egypt with Jesus. The threat Jesus was facing was real. In a part of the story we don’t hear today, when this newborn king (aka Jesus) can’t be found, Herod orders the killing of all the boys under two in the area where Jesus and his family were staying. Truly, the threat Jesus was facing was real.

I sometimes don’t understand the lectionary shapers. Because there are a couple of OBVIOUS Old Testament passages that make clear the importance of Egypt in the story of the Israelites. They shed some light on why, beyond proximity, the Holy Family might have fled there.

At multiple points in the Old Testament (see for example: Exodus 22:21, Deuteronomy 15:15, Deuteronomy 24:18, and Leviticus 19:34), God reminds the people of Israel that they were slaves and sojourners in Egypt and that they should treat those foreigners who live among them well. 

Here’s just one example, the passage from Leviticus: The foreigner who resides among you shall be to you as the native-born, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 

The obvious thing to say about this passage is that Jesus was a refugee who fled political violence. Scripture enjoins us to care for those who find themselves in our midst. 

This truth is very much on my mind as I prepare to travel to Florida tomorrow to stand with our sisters in Christ, as they have their habeas corpus hearing on Tuesday. That hearing is protesting their illegal detention.  

But there’s something else to say about this passage that, while less obvious, is equally important.

Liturgically, we are still in the season of Christmas, the Feast Incarnation. We are still in the season where we celebrate the reality God took on human flesh and came among us as a fully human person. 

God came among us as one of us in the human person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, who was born in a stable, a child of Joseph, who likely worked as day laborer to build the Roman city of Sepphoris.  God came among us as one of us and became a refugee before he was three. And ultimately, God came among us as one of us and was crucified by the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was the most shameful and painful way the Romans used to kill those they deemed a threat. And they crucifixion to send a message to anyone else who was considering rebelling against Rome. It was a threat. Don’t rebel, or this could happen to you. 

The good news of the incarnation is that God came among us as one of us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, to enter fully into the human condition, to be with us in all that we face in this life. In the incarnation, God entered into the messiness of humanity.

Through Jesus, God experienced the mundanity of daily life, the joy of family life, the love of friends, and the pain of family separation. Through Jesus, God experienced some of the worst things that can happen to us as humans.  Through Jesus, God truly experienced what it means to be human - the best and the worst. Why is the Incarnation Good News? It means that God is with us in the messiness of our own lives. When life is feeling good and joyful, God is with us. When the bottom falls out from under us, God is there too. God knows what it means to be human and walks with us in the stuff of life.

Sometimes God’s presence is easy to feel. I can definitely look back on my life and remember moments when I felt God’s presence with me. I felt God’s presence when a way opened up towards ordination, as I struggled through a difficult ordination process. I sensed God’s presence the day I met David and throughout our subsequent courtship. I first came to know God from my father, and what he taught me about faith, with his words and his actions. These were moments where I felt the presence of God with me.

But there were also times when it felt like God was totally absent from me. 1996 was a very difficult year. In early January, the bookstore I managed burned to the ground. That same summer we elected a bishop in Western Massachusetts who did not believe that GLBTQ+ persons should be ordained. I served on that search committee and his floor nomination and subsequent election was a blow to all of us. Then, in November, my dad died. He’d entered hospice, but no one expected his death to come as speedily as it did. For more than a year, I felt like God was beyond reach, on the other side of a wall. 

What kept me going in that terrible year, as hurt upon hurt piled upon hurt, was the support of my community of faith. St. James Episcopal Church in Greenfield, Mass buoyed me up, prayed for me, and supported me in countless ways. Their support didn’t magically solve my sense of the absence of God. But their loving support, and the knowledge that they were praying for me when I could not pray outside of Sunday worship, sustained me. 

One of the things that I love about this congregation is that I see that same loving support in all of you. I see it in your prayerful support of our sisters in detention. I see it in how you support one another when life is rocky for whatever reason. I see it in your support of our larger community. I see it in your commitment to justice for people all around the world. It’s not that we are perfect. There are certainly times when we don’t get it right. But this love we have for one another is our DNA. It’s our commitment. 

​The Good News of the Incarnation is that God came among us as one of us. Through the person of Jesus, God experienced the best and worst that life had to offer. And then, God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit, and through that gift empowered us to continue God’s work in the world until Jesus comes again. Amen.

We left town last Sunday after church, so I was not able to post last Sunday's sermon right away. Glad to have a chance to make it live ahead of this coming Sunday!

Scripture text: Luke 23:33-43

​Today, on the Last Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. We’ll begin by looking at the Feast itself - its origin and history. Then, we’ll move to Scripture, in order to answer the question “What sort of king is Jesus?” Finally, as always, we’ll explore what it means for us that Christ is King.

The Feast of Christ the King is one of the newest feasts in our Christian calendar. Pope Pius XI began writing at length about Jesus Christ as King in the aftermath of World War I. Pius deplored the rise of class divisions and unbridled nationalism. Looking at the chaos and destruction that followed that war, he became convinced that individuals must allow Jesus to reign over their whole lives - their minds, wills, hearts, and bodies. (Adapted from Ubi arcano Dei consilio, 1922 and Quas Primas, 1925) Pius XI officially named a Feast of Christ the King in 1925. It was moved to its current location in the liturgical calendar, and is now celebrated in many denominations around the world, including many Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Moravian churches. The Feast of Christ the King invites Christians to re-order our lives according the the teachings and values of Christ and his Kingdom.

Let’s turn to scripture to learn more about Christ the King. If Christ is truly king over all, then Christ must have a kingdom. What does this kingdom look like? In Luke’s Gospel alone, the image of the kingdom of God appears 43 different times! It’s most often linked to justice for the oppressed, help for the poor, and food for the hungry. When Jesus acts on behalf of the oppressed, the poor and the hungry, He says, “The Kingdom of God has come near.” In another place in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as belonging to little children. He also says that it’s like bread dough that is mixed with yeast so that it rises. The Kingdom of God is active and transformative.

This morning’s Gospel passage, designated for Christ the King Sunday in our Lectionary Year C, presents us with a shocking image of Christ as King. Today, we encounter Jesus on the cross. He has been stripped of all he has, tortured, humiliated, and he is being executed at the hands of the Roman government. We often think of rulers and leaders as having power and prestige. Many rulers and leaders behave with great entitlement. The crucifixion of Christ is the opposite of power, prestige, and entitlement. Instead, we see Christ the King yielding. We see him behaving with humility and lowliness. We see him suffering without complaint. These are the ways that Christ is King.

Finally, in his first letter to Timothy, St. Paul describes Christ as “King of King and Lord of Lords.” This is Paul’s way of saying that Christ rules, as King, over every person on earth. Even other kings. Even people with power and prestige. Even the Roman Emperor. Roman leaders crucified Jesus. At the time that Paul was writing, the Romans were continuing their persecution of Christians. Rome would eventually put Paul to death. No matter how difficult things are, Christ and his values are the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

Now that we have a greater understanding of the purpose of this Feast Day, and we have some understanding of how Christ is King, what does that mean for us?

The examples of the Kingdom of God from Luke’s Gospel speak to our core values. We know that the Kingdom of God is among us when the oppressed receive justice. We know that the Kingdom of God is among us when the hungry are fed. These are the same values that spoke to Pope Pius in the aftermath of World War I. In response to the death and destruction brought about by that horrific World War, he called on Christians to align their lives with the values of the Kingdom of God. When we work in Christ’s name on behalf of those who are in need, we are honoring Christ as King and his Kingdom.

When we turn to this morning’s reading about the crucifixion, it could be easy to say that this story does not speak to us. We aren’t leaders and rulers. At this moment in time, none of us is facing capital punishment. But, speaking for myself, there are certainly times when I am in danger of taking advantage the power and prestige that I have been given. There are times when my sense of entitlement gets in the way, and prevents me from behaving according to the values of the Kingdom of God. When we live into the values of God’s Kingdom, our lives are characterized by the words that describe Jesus on the cross - yielding, humble, lowly.

Finally, turing back to Pope Pius, this Feast Day provides us with guidance about how we should order our lives. Pius wrote, “Not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire.” And Pius goes on to say that all of our lives - our minds, our will, our hearts, and our bodies - are to be wholly subject to Christ. Being subject to something or someone is difficult for Americans. In November of 2010, David and I were on our honeymoon in England. On Christ the King Sunday, we were with our friend Rod, who is an Anglican priest. He preached a great sermon. At lunch after church, Rod said to us, “You Yanks don’t do well with Christ the King - you aren’t used to having Kings.” We laughed - and realized that Rod was totally right. We don’t like being told what to do. There’s a strong strain of individualism among us. We take pride in being our own people. As Christians, we give up some of that privilege. A collect in our prayer book says it this way, “ By his grace we are able to triumph over every evil and to live no longer for ourselves alone, but for him who died for us and rose again.” That’s what it means for us to be subject to Christ the King.

Friends, we need Christ the King. We are invited to place ourselves - our hearts and minds and souls and bodies - under Christ the King. We are invited to allow Christ to shape our values. We are invited to ask Christ for the grace to be yielding and humble when those traits are needed. Our world needs the values of the Kingdom of God. And we are called to be the bearers of God’s Kingdom in this age.