So we look to our belief that Jesus is the fulfillment of these words and reflect on how his reign is different than our experience of earthly rulers. And we consider what it means to live in God's kingdom even as we live in earthly kingdoms.
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On the final Sunday of the liturgical year, we come full circle and celebrate the end of the beginning. Over the course of the year, we have explored all that God has done and all that God has promised to do. We have traveled through the key events of the life of Jesus, from birth to death, from life to resurrection, from teaching to healing.
As we prepare to enter Advent again, we enter another season of expectation. We look back with reverence to the birth of Jesus, to God entering the world as one of us. And we look ahead to the second coming, to the ultimate fulfillment of all that God has promised. In the last few weeks, we have looked back even farther to remind ourselves of God’s creation and we have glimpsed the future that God is preparing for us.
But on the final Sunday before we start the cycle over, we are reminded that Jesus reigns - today and always. We are reminded of what it means today that Jesus is Lord. We are reminded of what God is doing in the world right now.
This is one of the gifts of the liturgical year. It reminds us not only of the events of the past and not only of the kingdom that is yet to come. But it also helps us connect the Bible stories to the here and now. As we look at the history of God’s relationship with humanity in the past, we are better able to recognize God’s relationship with us today.
Sometimes that may fill us with a sense of hope. Other times it brings us a challenge. This is especially true as we look to the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures.
For the final Sunday of year C in the lectionary cycle, we find ourselves with challenging words from Jeremiah. Through the prophet, God condemns those shepherds, those charged with leading and caring for the people, that have not tended to the needs of the people. These shepherds have committed acts of violence -- perhaps physical, perhaps emotionally, perhaps both -- and thereby driven the flock away.
Shepherds here refers to all those tasked with leading and caring for the people -- the religious leaders and the political leaders. These upper classes had used violence to maintain control and to prop themselves up rather than using their positions to provide for the needs of the people. The people were meant to be under their care, not to be their subjects.
God’s response is that these bad shepherds will be the ones to be scattered. If those tasked with leading and caring for the flock cannot be trusted to care for the flock, if those who are meant to show the people what God’s love looks like instead harm the people they are charged with leading, then God will scatter them as well.
Not only that, but God promises to gather back up those that have been scattered. All those that have been sent away, all of those that have been denied their place in the flock, all those that have been harmed by those meant to care for them, God will draw them together and care for their needs. God promises good shepherds so that those who were driven away will no longer need to live in fear.
While this part of Jeremiah was written at a time when the leaders were being sent into exile due to the invading Babylonians, it is easy to see how this fits our own context. God still promises love and grace to those that have been harmed. Jesus’ harshest criticism was always for the religious leaders that should have known better. God’s condemnation comes across as harsh to the bad shepherds, but these words are also meant as words of hope for those who have been scattered, those who have been harmed and cast out.
Then the words that God speaks through Jeremiah turn to the promised Messiah. Not only will God provide good shepherds to replace the bad, but God also promises to raise up a righteous descendant of David, a wise king who will lead with justice and righteousness.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the one that is foretold in the prophets. Jesus is the righteous Son who leads with compassion. In him we see the fulfillment of all that God promised. And so we look to Jesus as the one to lead us rather than to the leaders that care nothing for our well-being.
This is exactly what it means to say that Jesus is Lord. This is and always has been a political statement. It means that our primary allegiance is first and foremost to Jesus, not to whatever earthly leaders and empires we may be subject to.
For early Christians, to claim Jesus as Lord was to deny allegiance to Caesar. To claim Jesus is Lord is to say that what Jesus calls us to carries more weight than what Caesar calls us to. Still today, to claim Jesus is Lord is to say that we follow Jesus first and earthly powers second.
This means we don’t have to rely on earthly leaders for salvation. It also means we shouldn’t look to our earthly leaders to determine God’s will. God has already pronounced judgement on earthly rulers. God has already condemned those who claim positions of authority and then harm those they are meant to care for. This is why we claim Jesus as Lord. Jesus is the righteous ruler. Jesus is the one that shows us how to live together with grace and justice. Jesus is the one that leads through love rather than by command.
Jesus does not lead as we expect others to lead. And yet we see that he gathers those that others have harmed and scattered. He shares meals with those others would never sit at table with -- prostitutes, Romans, traitors, sinners. His inner circle is made up of fishermen and tax collectors. He heals Jews and Samaritans without hesitation. His strongest judgement is for the religious leaders of his own people who place barriers between God and the people.
We see many of these same qualities in the “Chosen One” tropes so common in our fairytales, both ancient and modern. As the original Star Wars trilogy draws to a close, the Emperor sneers at Luke Skywalker’s friends and his dependence on them. Luke grew up in harsh conditions on a moisture farm on a desert world about as far removed from the halls of power as one could be. But his closest friends are a pair of smugglers and a princess and senator, all of whom put their own lives on the line to protect others from harm. Luke, as he grew in power, learned that his power was not solely about his own abilities, but about what people could accomplish together. He may have had power that the others had at best not yet learned to use or at worst doubted the existence of, but he did not see this as a reason that he should hold that power over others. Instead, they all worked together for the greater good.
Likewise, over the course of the Harry Potter stories, we learn that Tom Riddle wanted power over others. His pursuit of knowledge was always out of a desire to grow stronger than others so that he could command and control them. He may have been surrounded by followers, but he did not care about them. As soon as he thought he could gain advantage without them, they were tossed aside.
But in their final confrontation, Harry realizes that the love he shares with others makes him stronger. He tells Voldemort that he pities him because he will never know friendship or love. Harry realizes that it is through the relationships that those who crave power sneer at that he can find strength and something that is actually worth living for.
God came into the world as Jesus. Jesus lived among us and developed relationships. And through these relationships he fulfilled the promise to gather those who were scattered -- the outcasts, the marginalized, the ones that those in power ignored or harmed. He called others to himself, modeling the divine power of love in the process.
This is the Lord that we claim.
This is who as Christians owe our allegiance to first and foremost.
This is the divine example we follow.
This is why we celebrate his continuing reign.
May we always remember where our primary citizenship as followers of Jesus lies, and may we live as citizens of that kingdom before all others.