The King Who Knows All His Subjects

Luke 22:33-43

I once lived in Windsor Castle for seven weeks.

It was a Theological Summer School for clergy of mid life crisis age.

It was a grand old time and stimulating too in between the lavish meals and cheese and wine receptions.

One day we were told there was going to be a Royal Garden Party just for those living in the castle and Her Majesty would be in attendance.

You should have seen us Vicar’s preening and perfuming ourselves in readiness.

I have to admit to standing in front of the mirror, practising my bow and my “Good afternoon Ma’am”

We marched down to the garden party all spruced up and expectant.

We stood around in a cobble stone courtyard clutching cups of teas, waiting for the arrival.

Suddenly there she was – her Majesty the Queen – and I was determined to catch her eye.

I puffed out my chest – put on my best fatuous grin – never so patriotic in all my born days.

Nearer and nearer she came to where I was standing – and then – she looked right through me, as if I wasn’t there, walked right past to talk to the women on the cake stall.

Then I realised a little old man had sidled up to me and my group

“And you are….? he began

I thought, who is this interrupting my royal occasion and in the five seconds it took me to realise I was being spoken to be the Duke Of Edinburgh he’d moved on from me to well, some woman Priest! With whom he spoke most animatedly for some minutes.

 I’d missed my chance. I was just another face in the crowd to our Royal Family and I guess I was just a feeble little hanger on anyway.

Today we think of our relationship to royalty in a different way – to Christ The King , in fact – where there is an uncomfortable truth for us to grasp – he knows each one of us intimately because he has given all He has out of love for us.

There is a moment of accusation in our Gospel reading this morning which actually says it all

“The rulers scoffed at him saying – He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God.”

Their scorn actually represented the truth – for Christ the King is one who saves others at the expense of himself.

He does not save himself – rather he gives himself until there is nothing left to give.

The rulers of Jesus’ day associated royalty with that which looked after number one.

A true king has many trappings which he keeps for himself.

Thrones. Castles. Crowns. Jewels, - they are signs of his status.

On the cross, Christ the king divests himself of it all.

He saves others – in that he comes into the pain of our human condition and loves us whilst being along side of us.

He cannot save himself – because he does not know when to stop loving – except when there is nothing else to give.

He comes into each and every life knowing our strengths and weaknesses – identifying with our hurts and wanting to turn our hopes into realities.

We are the subjects and he knows each of us by name and in that is our salvation.

Perhaps we use the practice of our faith to keep all that at arms length – for we’re not sure what will happen if we let him draw closer.

But this growing intimacy and transformation is what lies at the heart of our worship here.

To know more fully the love the King has for us and to dare to claim citizenship.

We draw closer through our prayer.

Next weekend I hope you will be able to visit the church for our Walking Into Silence weekend. The church will be open on Friday between 1pm and 6pm and on Saturday between 10am and 4pm for people to come and pray. There will be different ways of  experiencing prayer to sample – candles to light, music to listen to, a labyrinth to walk, things to look at and hold and on the Saturday I will be giving 3 talks on the Lord’s Prayer. Designed to help us see new possibilities for the way we pray but behind it all to discover the reality of this holy King – who knows all about his subjects and longs that we might know him too.

RH  25.11.07