Have you ever seen the movie, “The Sixth Sense,” starring Bruce Willis? In this movie, Bruce Willis plays an abnormal child psychologist. In the beginning scene, Bruce is confronted by a troubled teenage boy he was unable to help. So now this boy has broken into his home and shoots at him. Bruce spends the rest of the movie trying to help another young boy who is troubled by his ability to see dead people. Now, I apologize, in advance, if you’ve not seen the movie and it’s on your Netflix’s list for this month, but in the end we find out that Bruce is dead. He was killed in the opening scene by the gunshot from the troubled adolescent. Now, every time I watch the movie, knowing the ending it’s just not the same. I try to pretend I don’t know the ending, but it is just not the same now that I know Bruce Willis is dead.

As we embark on John’s text this morning I can’t help but feel the same way! It’s just not the same now that we know how the story ends. We already know that Christ wins! I hope I didn’t spoil that ending for anyone in here, but it’s true! He lived, died, and lives again for the salvation of the world! It is the very reason we are here and celebrating on this joyous Christ the King Sunday, which marks the end of our liturgical calendar year. Next week we begin again, with the start of Advent and the expectant hope of the birth of our messiah, but this day, we get to celebrate and rejoice in the ending – that Christ the King is triumphant!

So as we encounter Christ being arrested, doubted, denied, betrayed, and mocked in John’s text this morning, we can breathe easy because we already know how the story ends. Christ is King!

Therefore, it doesn’t matter in John’s text that Pontius Pilate is repeatedly asking the question of whether Jesus is really a king, in spite Jesus’ efforts to explain the truth and open his eyes to salvation.

I love Jesus’ response to Pilate when he asks if Jesus is the king of the Jews, and Jesus says to him, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Now in my personality, I would think that Christ is being a smart-aleck with Pilate….and he’s saying “Did you come up with that all by yourself or did you have help?” But, scholars want to say Pilate asks if Jesus is king, so that he has grounds by which to sentence him to death. So he can say, “Ah ha, now I got you!”  But, I think something different is happening here… Pilate is in the presence of Christ the King, and cannot help but be transformed. I think Christ, even in the midst of judgment and humiliation, is offering grace and salvation when he says, “Do you ask me this on your own…” – Christ wants to know, “Pilate, who do you see who I am? Do you know I am king? Do you wish to be saved?” And yet, Pilate responds out of his earthly ignorance and power… “I am not a Jew, am I?” For Pilate, he had his king….he had his earthly power…he didn’t need what Christ was offering. So Pilate acts indifferent and washes his hand in the bureaucracy of it all, and he allows the people to have their way and they crucify Christ. But, it doesn’t matter, because we know the ending to the story line. We know Christ had to suffer and be wrongfully accused in order that He might become King over all. We know that in His death and resurrection he defeats death and evil once and for all!

It doesn’t even matter that John’s gospel conveys the sometimes corrupt and sinful nature of humanity; where Judas, Christ’s own disciple and friend, betrays Him for silver, for earthly wealth. Or that Peter, ironically named “the Rock,” denies Christ three times just prior to this passage in order to save his own earthly life. It doesn’t matter, because we know the ending – that Christ is King! We know these things had to take place according to the will of God the Father in heaven, so that Christ could reign with His Father forever.

So, none of it matters, because we know the story’s end – Christ is our King! King of all salvation! Wooh, after 2000+ years we can rest easy in the story’s end! The date is set on our liturgical calendar…let us rejoice…I can go sit down. 

Oh, that life and faith were that easy! But, is the ending really so clear? Is Christ really our king? Are we all that different in light of this truth? Is our world all that different? Christ is our King….hmm….

Does that change us; transform us?  When you kids prepare for school and your extracurricular activities that demand so much from you, do you think, “I’m so grateful; Christ is King?” When we prepare to head into the office and go about our task driven workdays, do we proclaim, Christ is the King? Does Christ’s kingship radically change the way we go through meetings, sports practices, and social organizations? When we pay bills, talk with friends, plan family schedules, and run around throughout our days, are we transformed by the truth that Christ is our King?

What about in our nation and in the world? Is the truth – the ending of the story that Christ is the King - drastically changing our nation and the world? When government officials pass their latest legislations on health care, when business elites work within the global market of 3^rd world labor, when environmentalists fight oil companies, when soldiers deploy, when coffee club numbers continue to rise, do we think to proclaim the truth that Christ is our King?

See, we condemn Pilate for his bureaucracy of earthly power; we question Peter and his wavering faith that looks out for himself; we despise Judas and his quest for earthly wealth….and yet…. 2000+ years later…..are we so much better off? Christ says, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.” So, why aren’t we fighting? Why are we not proclaiming the ending that Christ is King and His kingdom is desperately needed to radically save this world? Don’t we need Christ our King?

When I spent time in Kenya, I found a culture of folks who desperately needed Christ our King. I was studying the youth culture of East Africa emerging in light of the Aids Epidemic and countless civil wars which claimed the lives of many parents and left many orphaned. While there, I met woman named Grace who was the custodian of the church I served. Now Grace was a very meek and shy woman in her late twenties. Grace kept her head buried, seemingly staring holes into the floor, for about the first month I was there. One particular afternoon, as I was preparing to leave the church and head to my home before it got dark, I said goodbye to Grace, but I stopped and my eyes locked on hers. Grace had eyes, like so many I’d come to know in Kenya….they were eyes that had lived a thousand years worth of life experiences. This night, I saw Grace….maybe for the first time….and her eyes began to swell up with tears.

Now, me being the good pastor in training…I asked her if something was the matter…brilliant, I know! But, we sat down and Grace told me her story.

She told me about how one night as she finished up late from her custodial work at the church, she was making her way home in the valley. She said she was attacked by what she called a “crazy man,” and he beat her, robbed her, and then stabbed her in the leg, so that she could not go for help. She told me she laid there for hours, and was sure she was going to die. When she finally was found, she had lost a large amount of blood and soon after infection set in to the stab wound of her leg.

Where was Christ the King? Where was His Kingdom? Where was the radical grace we so desperately need in this world? Why are we not proclaiming Christ as the king? How in the world can we sit beside the Grace’s of this world and proclaim the ending of the story….the truth that Christ is King?

Christ tells Pilate, “You say that I am king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Christ was born into this world to be our king and testify to the truth. And we belong to this truth, but are we listening to His voice? Are we proclaiming with our lives this truth that Christ is our King? Are we telling others….the truth is that God loves us so dearly that He let us hand over His son, our savior? The truth is that in this most loving act Christ has become our king. The truth is that this world is radically and forever changed…we are forever changed. We can no longer say that Christ is our King and go about our days as if none of this matters. …it’s not a bumper stick or a promotional Christian punch line….it’s not the ending to some fairy tale. In fact, Christ is King, is not an ending at all….it is the beginning of eternal salvation! It is the radical proclamation and transformation of our lives and this world forever. 

1 Peter 1:8 says, “although you have not seen him, you love Him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in Him….and rejoice in an indescribable and glorious joy…for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This is the truth, the beginning ….that Christ is indeed our King; that we are saved through Him alone.  Though we’ve not seen him, we love and believe in him, and so we proclaim our faith in Him throughout our lives. Then we are able to rejoice indescribably and glorious joy of our faith…because Christ is King!

Grace taught me this. She sat next to me that night with tears streaming down her face and she proclaimed her story of faith. She told me about how she laid in the hospital for months, and how the doctors had to remove a large chunk of her infected leg. She told me how her fever still would not break, and how she overheard the doctor telling her family and loved ones that she was probably not going to make it through the night. Grace said it was then that she began to cry out to Jesus. She asked Him if she was going to die, and she said she heard the voice of Christ, say to her it was not yet her time. So she rested, and the next morning nurses ran to get the doctor and her family when they saw that her fever had broke and Grace was sitting up.

When she finished her story she was crying hysterically. Again, in my pastoral brilliance I asked her why she was crying…when she is alive and well. She said because she knows Christ saved her for something great….he saved her for something great! Grace said the next day marked the anniversary of when she nearly died, and she was crying because she thanks God she is alive. Together with Grace and her family the next evening we prayed and celebrated and praised God for the life of Grace and the power of Christ our King!

Grace taught me what it meant to proclaim with your life every day that Christ is King and that He has saved us all for something great! Every day her life will serve as a reminder on this earth that Christ is King, and we are called to proclaim the same truth. The Psalm this morning says David declares, “I will not enter my house or get into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord.”

What if we lived our lives with the same radical proclamation that Christ is our King? As we went to school or work, as we went about our activities, or spend time in our homes what if we proclaimed Christ is King? What if we cried hysterically like Grace and celebrated our lives saved by His? What if we come to this table, which He selflessly prepared for our sake, and rejoiced with indescribable and glorious joy? What if we then, after being nurtured and fed by our King, what if we went out and transformed our lives and this world because Christ is King!? What if…..AMEN.