Christ the King and Sherlock Holmes

The Last Sunday after Pentecost

The Feast of Christ the King

Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43

November 24, 2019

           I have lately been rethinking how I THINK about some things.  For instance, I now think it may be possible for something to be both new and improved. I also think patience is a virtue for a reason.  And order does come out of chaos – but it has to be in the right order.  A good bit of the credit for this philosophical enlightening goes to Sherlock Holmes and Riley Page.  Now I would imagine we all know Sherlock Holmes and I have been watching the new BBC series.  Benedict Cumberbatch plays Holmes just like I want to imagine him – as the self-described neurotic sociopath, crime solving sleuth with the funny hat.  Sometimes I think I may think like him. 

           But if you are not familiar with Riley Page don’t worry.  I didn’t know who she was either until I started listening to Blake Pierce’s Book on Tape titled “Once Again”.  Riley is an FBI agent who solves unsolvable crimes by thinking like others.  She is methodical and pays attention to all the details.  Sherlock Holmes and Riley Page are both masters at getting the clues and the events in the right order.  The Guard at Buckingham Palace entered the room and locked the door BEFORE he was stabbed.  Tillie looked out the window AFTER she answered the phone THEN she stepped out on the balcony and heard the bang.  How things happen often tells you WHAT they really mean.

           The same is true for our scripture lessons today BUT they are in the wrong order.  Now that I have read each one and understand what they say, I now KNOW that I should have switched the Gospel and the Epistle this morning.  We begin quite properly with the prophet Jeremiah who tells about the coming of the Messiah.  When we hear a reading from the Old Testament, we have to THINK like someone living there and then.  If you think like an American in 2019, it just won’t make sense.  We have to remember that the Messiah is the hope of God’s people.  And by this point in the history of Israel – everybody has invaded – the Romans, the Egyptians, and finally the Babylonians who carry everyone off into exile.  Ten of the Tribes of Israel are lost forever.  Israel was the smallest country in the most strategic location in that part of the world.  And at this point, they need some hope and this was the Messiah.  But if we start thinking that Jeremiah was talking about Jesus then we get things in the wrong order.  Christ who already WAS - since the beginning would not be born in Bethlehem for another 650 years.  So Jeremiah is describing the King who will come and free the people.  A King who NO one yet knows, but just the idea of the Messiah gives the people hope.

           And here is where I would change the order because next SHOULD come the Gospel reading.  Everything we read and hear from Jeremiah describes Jesus.  Now WE have shifted and should be thinking like first century Christians and Jesus has clearly fit all of the prophesies about the Messiah.  But he doesn’t act like a king.  He doesn’t lead armies or conquer other nations.  Instead Jesus lives in a typical Galilee home, he eats with tax collectors, prostitutes, and homeless people.  And this morning we hear once again the story of Jesus on the cross.  This is NOT how kings die.  And if this had been the end of the story, then today we would not be here this morning.  There would be no Christianity, no Eucharist, and no St. Matthias.  But we are here and WE BELIEVE in a Savior who was CRUCIFIED, DIED and BURIED and then ROSE again. This is our hope in the Christian life.  For if Jesus rises again, then our hope IS that we will too. Not just into a vacuum or nothingness, but into the Kingdom of Heaven now and to come.

           And that takes us to Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  How would you describe Christ - because that is what Paul is doing?  Jesus is the Messiah and the Christ and it can be really confusing.  But Paul breaks it down into simple parts all in the right order.  When we read about Jesus – that tells us who God is.  He created the world and you and me.  God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always been and always will be.  That’s what we mean we say that God is eternal.  And we gather here this morning as the Church because we are God’s chosen people and WE BELIEVE. 

           Sherlock Holmes often said to Dr. Watson, “When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”  Christ remains.  2,019 years later we have gathered here this morning to worship and the fact that we are here means that we follow Jeremiah, Luke, and Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  We are here because Christ lives and we are next in the order of the story.  And it is a story of hope.  We believe and people are fed.  We believe and the love of God is spread.  We believe and we gather at this altar rail and faith is made real.  So I think I shall continue to rethink what I think.  I will watch more Sherlock Holmes and read more of the Riley Page mysteries.  And I will believe in God.  Then again, I think I’ll change the order! AMEN.