Sermon 11/26/06
The Making of a King - John 18:33-37
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Today we celebrate Reign of Christ Sunday, or Christ the King Sunday. It is one of those special days in the church calendar that could easily go unnoticed. I doubt it is anyone’s favorite day in the church calendar. But, I find it an interesting day – it is the last Sunday in the Christian calendar – next week, Advent begins, and so does a new year in the Christian calendar. So today, on the brink of Advent, we find ourselves strangely at Christ’s trial instead, at the end of his life, on the day before his crucifixion, having a war of words with Pontius Pilate. Though I’ve known what Reign of Christ Sunday was about, I didn’t know what the origin of this Sunday was, so I did a little research this week. It turns out that Christ the King Sunday is a relatively new addition to the Christian calendar. In 1925, Pope Pius XI, in an encyclical, or circulating letter to the churches, announced a new feast day, the Feast of Christ the King. He said that he felt that the rise of atheistic communism and secularism were a direct result of people turning away from Jesus’ sovereignty, and of people denying the authority of Jesus and the Church. He saw it as a move away from Divine Order in favor of human order, which he called disorder. (1)
So, this Reign of Christ Sunday is about reclaiming Jesus’ place of authority in our lives. And to help us do that, we have this text, this scene between Jesus and Pontius Pilate. Pilate’s role in Jesus’ trial and crucifixion varies somewhat from gospel to gospel – some see him is more involved and more to blame, but John writes him as somewhat of a philosopher, a questioner, seeking answers from Jesus. Pilate interviews Jesus, a judge examining a witness, a defendant – “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answers question with question: “Do you ask this on your own, or did other tell you about me?” Pilate doesn’t seem as confounded by Jesus’ turning of words as do other leaders in the gospels. He gives it right back. “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Finally Jesus responds with a statement, though he is still hardly straightforward and easy to understand. “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 to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asks, “so you are a king?” Perhaps his questions are finally getting him somewhere. But Jesus answers, “You say that I am a 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.” Our selection for some reason leaves out the closing line of the exchange, perhaps because we prefer something more finished, more ‘ending’ sounding – Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” There the scene ends, and from there Pilate tells the crowds he can find no case against Jesus.
This whole exchange between Jesus and Pilate is a bit hard to follow. Without hearing the tone of voice of both questioner and respondent, it is hard to know exactly what each was getting at. But there’s one conclusion that I draw from this passage that seems safe and clear to make. Jesus is trying to convey the idea to Pilate the whatever idea of king he has in his mind, whatever the people are saying about Jesus, they’ve got the wrong picture in his mind. Jesus is something different than what people are saying or thinking about him. Jesus is unwilling to let Pilate define him, or to let the crowds define him, or let accusers define him. Are you the king of the Jews, Pilate asks? You might say so, Jesus seems to be saying, but the kingdom I’m bringing is a completely different one than you’re expecting.
Indeed, all throughout the gospels, we read of Jesus trying to convey a message. Yes, all the time Jesus is talking about the kingdom – all the parables, all the lessons, they all point to the kingdom of God. We can rightly assume that Jesus is some kind of king. But in everything that Jesus does, in everything he teaches, in the ways he lives, in all these things, Jesus is painting the picture of a kingdom that isn’t one people would recognize. Jesus talks about a kingdom where first is last and last is first, where those who are humbled are exalted, and the exalted are humbled. He talks about an order of society where the poor are the blessed, where the humble see God, where the peacemakers inherit the earth. He talks about a kingdom where typical dividing lines of race and gender and class and place of origin don’t matter as much as how one treats the other. He talks about a kingdom where one is meant to love even enemies. He talks about God as a Ruler of kingdom who cares for and loves even the least member of the kingdom. He talks about a God as Ruler who will search for us at all costs, and considers us of extreme value. And for Jesus to be king of this kingdom he dons a crown of thorns, submits to death on a cross, and asks us to follow, giving up the lives we know in order to claim the abundant lives God promises us. Today, when we celebrate the Reign of Christ, I see it as a day we’re meant to remind ourselves of just what kind of kingdom we’re signing up to be part of.
But, we must ask ourselves, do we really want this to be part of this kingdom? Are we really on board with Jesus’ message? Or, are we like so many in Jesus’ day just waiting for a king complete with crown and throne who will come storming into the world to save the day? In Jesus’ day, the people were certainly waiting for the Messiah, but they few recognized Jesus as this Messiah because they were expecting a King, like King David, who would restore Israel to its glory days. And they weren’t just expecting this kind of Messiah because they refused to listen and study and prepare for his coming. Even the prophets envisioned a Messiah King. It was the only kind of king they knew how to expect.
We don’t have such a good excuse. Now, two-thousand years later, we bear witness to a king who was different, a messiah who led by giving himself up. We know about a king and a kingdom that functions differently than other earthly kingdom. But have we really learned the message? I found it most telling that in trying to select songs for worship today, I couldn’t find many that had to do with Christ-the-King Sunday that didn’t talk about Jesus with a crown, on a throne, ruling over all just like our typical image of a king. I couldn’t find many that had verses that longed for Jesus to come back again and tell us about giving away our stuff, or tell us again about loving our enemies and being last instead of first. Every song, every verse seems to still long for Jesus to come and maybe get it right this time, come back with a vengeance and an army of angels and set everything straight.
Why, I wonder? Why are we so much more interested in the kind of kingdom Jesus refused to be part of? Why is that how we imagine Jesus returning, despite every evidence to the contrary? Jesus repeats to Pilate “My kingdom is not from this world.” I think our immediate response is to understand Jesus as saying that his kingdom is instead from heaven – it is otherworldly, godly, not earthly. But I think Jesus might really be saying that his kingdom isn’t part of the world we know – it isn’t part of the typical structure we recognize – it isn’t something that fits nicely into the world we experience. Instead, the kingdom that Jesus brings is one that transforms the world we know.
I can only guess that we suspect it would be easier to live in a kingdom were the boundaries were clear and established. Perhaps we suspect that we’d have seats of honor in this kingdom, and watch others finally get what’s been coming to them for so long. Whatever we’re thinking, I hope our expectations won’t leave us unable to see Jesus’ kingdom, coming and already here in our midst. Because Jesus invites us to be a part of the kingdom. Maybe he doesn’t promise us seats on thrones to his left and right, but he does invite us to work side by side with him to make the kingdom more visible in our world.
Turning back to our gospel lesson, I am particularly struck by the phrase Jesus uses, “everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” What does it mean to belong to the truth? Belonging is a word with a pretty specific meaning. Today, we might belong to a variety of different things. We can belong to this church in many ways, but specifically through membership like Darcey’s joining today; we can belong to political parties, through registration; we can belong to the Elks or Moose or Masons or Eastern Star. We can belong to a gym. In all of these cases, to belong means to make a commitment to something, to accept some responsibility for something in order to be a part of it. Membership comes with benefits and privileges, but membership also implies that we have a vested interest in what we belong to, that we will work to carry out the mission of the organization, and that we will represent the organization faithfully.
Jesus invites us to belong to the truth of the kingdom of God. That comes with great privilege. And it comes with great responsibility. We’re called to be living witnesses of the kingdom of God, to faithfully represent God’s kingdom to the world.
Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a 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.’ Amen.
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_King