Sermon
Notes on Luke 23:33-43
King of
the cross, king of paradise.
I saw something heartbreaking, but also sacred and amazing
this past Tuesday. We had a funeral here at All Saints for one of our members,
Charlie Kinney, who was only 40 years old. His death was tragic and sudden, but
what I saw on Tuesday left my heart filled with hope even in the face of such
heartache.
It started in the morning, long before the funeral. People
began to show up at the church to help. Some brought food, some cleaned, some helped
to move and reset chairs and pews, the preschool staff stuck around to watch
kids… Around lunch time I took off to get some lunch and change into some more
formal clothes and when I got back to the church an hour or so later it was
still going on. Some of the same people were there, some new ones had joined
them, and some had left, but the building was still buzzing with people who had
come to serve.
By 4 o’clock in the afternoon there were over 550 people
filling just about every square inch of this place. Many were members of All
Saints and nearly every one of those was helping in some way. Music,
PowerPoint, running sound, assisting with communion…they were acting as “little
Christs” for our many more guests,
doing everything they could to make sure that these folks could remember
Charlie and worship without anything detracting from that sacred time.
To be Christ-like is to serve. As strange as it may sound,
that’s the kind of king we have, a servant king. Jesus Christ, more than any
person who has ever lived, came to this earth to serve God and human beings
with every breath that was in him.
Now you may think, “Wow. What an amazing sacrifice to always
be thinking of others.” But Jesus knew something different, something that he
tried to teach us until the day he ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit is
still trying to teach us this powerful truth today. What is this awesome truth?
Jesus said it best, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In other
words, Jesus had discovered that service to God and to our fellow human beings
is where the real blessings and joy are to be found.
This is one reason why Jesus, who did not own anything other
than the clothes on his back, has had more of an impact on this world than the
most powerful king or ruler who has ever lived. He was and is the King of
self-sacrifice. He is the King of service to others. He is the King of trusting
God so completely for his own personal blessing, that he could give his whole
heart for the world.
This is why, when we see Jesus on the cross, we praise him
as King. On the cross the truly infinite nature and power of his servant heart
became clear when he was willing to give up everything, his dignity, his
status, even his life for the sake of the world; for your sake…for my sake.
To claim Jesus as our King, to call ourselves “Christian”
which means “little Christ” we are
pledging our allegiance and obedience to the servant king. We are proclaiming
our willingness to live lives of service to others for the sake of the Gospel.
We are signing up to be the love of God for those around us.
That’s what I saw last Tuesday; lots of Christians, little
Christs, becoming the love of God for the hurting people who were here. I saw
lots of subjects of the Servant King, obediently giving of their time and
talents and treasures for those in need.
And I would be willing to bet, if you asked any of them
about the sacrifice they made to make the whole thing happen, they would tell
you that it was a blessing to be able to help. I bet that most of them would
say that it was a source of joy to be able to serve Christ in this way.
This is the sort of King we serve. A King who puts the needs
of others above all of the other things that cry out for our time and our
energy.
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Jesus Christ, our King, wants to listen to those
who need to be heard even more than he wants to watch TV.
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Jesus Christ, our King, wants to give generously
to the poor even more than he wants the latest gadget.
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Jesus Christ, Our King, wants to do everything
in his power to help out with his gifts and talents when someone needs help.
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And Jesus Christ, our King, doesn’t care if
anyone else knows about the good thing we have done for someone.
We serve a King who is the servant above all servants. You
can’t out-serve Jesus. But Jesus is also the King of Paradise. Do you remember
what he said to the thief on the cross? “Today you will be with me in
Paradise.”
Now you might think that Jesus and his followers do all
kinds of sacrifice and serving here so that when we make it to Paradise we can
finally take it easy and have angels waiting on us. It would be easy
(surrounded by our “Me” centered culture) to think this way, but I believe the
truth is far more powerful.
I believe one of the reasons that Jesus is King in Paradise
is that Paradise is the Kingdom of God, where God’s will is done all the time,
without fail. In other words, Paradise is where everyone uses everything they
are to serve everyone else all the time. There is no selfishness in heaven.
Paradise is where everyone knows to the core of their being that it really is
so much more blessed to give than to receive.
Do you want to find a little Paradise right here on earth?
Ask the Holy Spirit to change your heart and make you a joyful follower of the
servant King. Ask God to give you a spirit of generosity and service. As you
experience the amazing blessing of being God’s love and light in the world you
will never want it to be “all about you again”. Amen
