Let's Just Act As If....
What if Jesus WERE King?

Today.

Right now.

Here with you and me.

No, not like the King we think of as a human, worldly king. Yes, I know all the "prophecy" and all the theology surrounding the Second Coming and the eternal Kingdom of Jesus taking over all the Kingdoms of this world. But that sure sounds to me like putting our vision and version of life on God. And it sure seems like such a vision would naturally be boxed in by our narrowness, our prejudice, our fear, our ego, our tunnel vision of how the world is and should be.

Real Live Preacher said some of this the other day when he posted this as part of an answer to a question he received:

Trying to live as Jesus lived is a humbling experience. It tends to shatter the pride of the intellectual and subdue the dogmatism of the provincial. Christian living drives us to a place in the middle that we might call Grace.

Theology is nothing more than language. And as nice as language is, it cannot stand up to the shattering reality of a life given in the service of God and humanity.

In other words, the connection I made was that language- even language we think we know and understand- falls far short of what is. And this is especially true when we try to use our human language to explain the ways of God.

So I want for a moment to wonder just what it means to say Jesus is king.

Well, for one, it means we do not elect, pick, or otherwise choose him for the job. It's his because of who he is. Enough of the democratic ideal.

But we do choose to be his subjects don't we? Well, maybe. If He is the King of all Kingdoms then those who aren't his subject by choice are still under his rule, aren't they?

See what I mean about our language having difficulty- not to mention our experience. How many kings do YOU know of? Even throughout history, how many truly grace-filled and grace-giving kings are recorded? We have no idea how to relate to this idea- and never will- until it happens.

So, today, as Christ the King Sunday is confusing and probably as far from reality as our thoughts are from God's thoughts. It is an act of grace. Which is even further from our reality than kingship. We will only understand the one when we have experienced the other- and vice versa.

There it shows up again. Language losing us, failing us. Words leading us into mazes of human uncertainty. All I can do in the end is say "Here I am Lord, King of the Universe. Show me what I can do to live your will."