Christ
the King, Cycle B –
Daniel
7:9-10; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
Pastor
Gayle M. Pope
You’re not from around here, are you?
When people stop their cars in the middle
of the highway or street, get out and stand there gawking at something like the
river or the temple, the people of Nauvoo will generally check out the license
plates of the offending party to confirm their suspicions. Whether the plates
say
When you’re not from around here – wherever
“here” is – there’s always something that will give you away. It might be your accent,
or it might be your ignorance of something that “everyone knows” – like where
the three-mile curve or the
When you’re not from around here – wherever
“here” is – people just might not “get” you. They might have a hard time
understanding your point of view. “She’s kind of different,” they might say,
trying to be nice about it. Or they might just say, “He’s really weird.”
In our gospel lesson today, we have an
exchange between Jesus and Pontius Pilate that is full of this kind of “you’re-not-from-around-here-are-you?”
misunderstanding.
Pilate doesn’t “get” Jesus OR the Jews. He’s
not from around here – “here” being
“Why is this my
problem?” he seems to ask. “Why don’t you
people deal with this yourselves?”
But, they have brought Jesus before Pilate,
with charges that Jesus is a threat to Caesar, which Pilate seems to doubt, though
he can see that Jesus may be a threat to the peace that Pilate is charged with
keeping.
“Are you the king
of the Jews?” Pilate asks, and you gotta believe there’s at least a bit
of sarcasm in his tone. After all, Jesus appears anything but kingly. In his
typical fashion, Jesus answers Pilate’s question with a question, “Why do you ask? Did someone tell you about
me?”
“I’m not a Jew!” Pilate responds. “Your own nation and the chief priests have
handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Then, it’s Jesus who sets himself apart,
saying, “My kingdom is not of this
world.”
Now, Jesus is a Jew by birth – it’s in his
genes. He IS from around here – culturally and geographically – and so are his
relatives. The Bible traces his Jewish lineage all the way back to Abraham. He
was born in
But Jesus says his kingdom is not of this
world. He may be a king, but apparently not a king of the Jews. He may be from
around here, but his kingdom isn’t. So where – or WHAT – IS Jesus’ kingdom?
Jesus goes on to explain: “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.” Say, what?
The very next verse, which does not appear
in the lectionary reading, has Pilate asking a question that would be on MY
lips as well: “What IS truth?” What
are you talking about, Jesus?
The Gospel of John doesn’t record any
answer from Jesus to Pilate, but earlier, in Chapter 8, we find the answer in a
conversation between Jesus and some Jews who didn’t believe in him.
“You are from
below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world,” Jesus says at one point.
And he also says, “I came from God. You
are from your father the devil … he does not stand in the truth, because there
is no truth in him … he is a liar and the father of lies … But because I tell
the truth, you do not believe me. Whoever is from God hears the words of God.
The reason you do not hear them is
that you are not from God.”
Later in John’s gospel, when Jesus is
talking to his disciples the night before his death, he tells them, “I am the way and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my
Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
No, Jesus is not from around here. Jesus is
from everywhere. Jesus is from God, and Jesus is one WITH God – the Alpha and
the Omega – the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty – the
great “I AM” – the ultimate reality.
Jesus’ kingdom is not from around here, and
it shows. He doesn’t act like the kings and lords and authorities on earth. He
has no riches. He has no army. He uses his power not to control, but to heal.
He comes not to be served, but to serve, stooping
to wash his disciples’ feet. He uses his authority not to condemn, but to
redeem. He defeats his enemies not by killing them, but by letting them kill
him before he rises victorious.
He reigns over his followers not by fear
and intimidation, but by pure love – not by force but by gracious invitation,
granting his people the freedom to choose whether or not to serve him.
This is the King who is praised and honored
today. And that leaves each of us to answer a question: Is Jesus MY king? Is he
MY Lord?
And if we say that he is, then would others
look at us knowingly – or maybe suspiciously – and say, “He’s not from around here. You can tell by the way she talks. You can
tell by the way he acts.”
In other words, do we behave like people
whose allegiance is to a kingdom that is not of this world? Do our words and
our actions imitate and honor our King?
Do we not only speak the truth, but live a
life of integrity such that we have nothing to hide – nothing we wish to keep
in the dark? Do we reach out in love, rather than pull back in judgment?
Do we seek to promote healing and
wholeness, rather than disease and division? Do we prefer serving over being
served? Giving over receiving? Do we joyfully and confidently extend to others
our King’s invitation to enter into His reign?
Well ... probably there are times when our
words and actions serve and bring honor to our King, and times when they
don’t’.
But, thanks be to God that Jesus
sympathizes with us in our weakness and, by his grace and mercy, offers
forgiveness and second chances, and then gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to
enable us to live as he would have us live.
So, let us kneel humbly at the throne of
Jesus, acknowledging our sin and gratefully receiving yet another chance to go
out and live for him. And may our lives so reflect his love – may our light so
shine before others – that they may see our good works and give glory to our
great and glorious King, who reigns over heaven and earth forever. Amen.