Hiding in plain sight

Sermon 11-26-17 Christ the King

Grace and peace to you from God our father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the end of our Church year…it sure can be easy to miss. It’s anywhere near Dec. 31^st – instead, it falls sometime around the business of thanksgiving and Black Friday, and is soon forgotten amid the hustle and bustle of the beginning of the “Christmas Season,” or what we in the church world call “Advent.” We don’t make any “New Church Year Resolutions,” though maybe we should. We don’t have a count down. There is not bedazzled ball to drop from the roof… and I’m NOT recommending we start that!

Like Christ the King Sunday, sometimes Jesus is also really easy to miss. And, if we have learned anything from the last few weeks, it’s how important it is to pay attention and keep alert. Otherwise, you might end up missing the wedding… get caught with your talent in the ground… or accidentally almost fly Denver while trying to get to Trenton. Like, “Home Alone 2” style. Yes, this actually ALMOST happened to me.

I was flying from Chicago to Trenton via Frontier after spending some time in WI for my little sister’s college graduation. And, of course, things always take longer than you think they will, and so I was running late, rushing frantically through security line, dodging people to get to the gate… and let me tell you how relieved I was to see that lots of people still in line to board. Whew, I made it!

While I was still congratulating myself, I handed my ticket to the lady at the door. “You’re going to Trenton, Ma’am?” she asked me. Relieved, I responded with a cheery, “Yes I am!”

“Well, ma’am, this plane is going to Denver.” …. Whoops.

It turns out it was Right Gate, Wrong Plane – MY plane had been delayed, which I would have known if I had thought to check my email… my phone… OR ANY OF THE BAZILLION SIGNS that are ALL OVER the airport. Instead, I hurried, rushed, and stressed, until I were literally forced to stop, to look up, and pay attention. I were in such a hurry that I had missed all the signs.

For the last few weeks, we have been listening to Jesus’ stories about people who seem to have missed the signs too, and have been brought up short in often some very unpleasant ways. The five unprepared bridesmaids. The slave who buried what his master entrusted to him. And now, at the end of the church year, Jesus sets the scene for the end of history, where Jesus decides to give some spoilers and give away the end of the movie. And it turns out that the final judgement of the nations looks strikingly like a game of “Where’s Waldo.”

If Jesus is playing a big game of hide and seek with us from now until the end of time, I think from this story we can see that he’s trying to be BAD at it. He does what we all do when playing hide and seek with little kids – we hide in plain sight. We want to be found.

But we are so good at missing the signs that are right in front of us. We’re really very good at cluttering up the picture, like the chaos in those “Where’s Waldo” books. Jesus is wearing Clarke Kent glasses, shaking his head, and saying, “Come one, church. This one is SUPPOSED to be easy! Finding me shouldn’t be this hard!”

You’ve probably all seen that bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is coming – quick, look busy!” When that bumper sticker comes true, the sheep don’t HAVE to LOOK busy… they would simply gaze up at Jesus in surprise, caught in the very act of giving a coat to a homeless person, or scooping rice into a meal pack for Feed My Starving Children, or putting a toy for a child under the Angel Tree. When that happens, though, the sheep would still say, “When did we see you, Jesus, cold, hungry, or in need of some Christmas cheer?”

Both the sheep AND the goats are just as clueless about where Jesus is showing up. The difference is that the sheep are caring for their fellow human beings like they belong to their own family. But, the sheep were just as surprised to find out that the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, the stranger in need of welcome - all were actually their Lord and king in disguise.

Perhaps it should not be so surprising that EVERYBODY missed Jesus. And that we all miss seeing Jesus every minute of every day. After all, THIS kingdom here on earth has values like power by force, speaks the language of violence, rules by greed and fear, favors false stability over compassion. Every day, we see the evidence of these powers at work, and every day, it seems like these powers are the ultimate reality, because they always seem to win. And if we aren’t paying attention, we WILL find ourselves being bullied or lulled into following along with the agenda of that kingdom…. like nearly boarding a plane that is not going to the city we thought it was.

This is probably because OUR King, Jesus, is not like any king history has ever known. Jesus, was born, not in a royal palace surrounded by servants, but in a dirty cave with farm animals. His inner circle was made up of day laborers and social outsiders. “His royal court” consisted of scandalous women, sick people, and children.  His kingly acts included feeding over five thousand freeloaders and healing people without health insurance. His coronation was with a crown of thorns and his throne is a cross. His true power is revealed, not in wealth or might or force. Instead, our king makes his home with whoever is suffering and in need. With those who have no power, no control, and no voice.

Like Jose. Jose belongs to a church where a friend of mine is the pastor. Jose is originally from El Salvador. Jose is a life-long Lutheran, and an active leader in my friend’s church. He is married with two kids, two daughters who both have special needs. His youngest often has seizures which were the result of being born prematurely. Just recently he has been court-ordered to self-deport, to leave his wife and two daughters to probably face a life of poverty and perhaps homelessness, simply because he came to this country as a victim of human trafficking, and so he has no official documents.

He is now staying in a local church, claiming sanctuary, so that he can stay with his family and church community… even though technically even this will not actually save him from deportation. What it does give him is time for his community to rally around him, and for his pastor to reach out to her friends, like me, to write letters and make phone calls on Jose’s behalf. It gives us time to wake up and see Jesus in him.

“For I was hungry,” says Jesus, “and you said, Drug test those who would ask for food.”

“I was thirsty, and you said, Build the pipeline and poison the water supply as long as it makes a buck.”

“I was a stranger and you said, he’s not actually a citizen. Deport him.”

“I was sick, and you said, Take away her health insurance.”

“I was in prison and you said, they got caught, so they should feel lucky to get whatever we given them.”

As Jesus said, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

The Joses of the world, the refugees…. the unjustly incarcerated… those who are lonely and have no one to visit them… those denied basic human needs like clean water… those who live on the couches of friends and family… those who have to choose between feeding their kids or paying the rent… That’s where Jesus is.

In the kingdom of God, every child is loved and valued. In the kingdom of God, all deserve to have their needs met and to live a life free of violence. In the kingdom of God, we love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

In an interview, Jose’s pastor told a reporter, “If my faith commands that I take care of my neighbor, that is the greater command to worry about.”

If we truly live this way, it flies in the face of the powers-that-be, in both the oppressive regime Jesus lived under and in the more subtle, but no less present and powerful one we currently find ourselves in. But the powers of this world can’t stop Jesus from showing up, no matter how hard they try to keep us distracted.

This is the end of the church year cycle, and next week, the new church year begins, with the season of Advent. It is also the most distracting, challenging, and busy time of the calendar year for most of us. The rest of the world will try to lull us onto the wrong plane by putting us to sleep with too-cheerful Christmas songs, or sidetrack us with the never-ending sale-cycle and nostalgia-obsessed treadmill.

But Jesus IS coming…. Actually he’s already here. Stay awake. Keep alert. Pay attention… or you may miss him. But He’s WILL show up, just not in the ways we might think. And he may even show up…. IN YOU. AMEN.