A Kingly Question: Sermon John 18:33-38 Christ the King Sunday

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Today is Christ the King Sunday, which means a couple of things. First, it means that this is the last Sunday of the Christian calendar year. Each calendar year begins with Advent which begins next Sunday. Christ the King Sunday focuses on the kingship or the reign of Christ in the past, in the present, and in the future. We remember that our Savior is not just a teacher or a prophet, but is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But what does it mean for Christ to be King? We don’t often think about Jesus being a king, but instead focus on Christ being a healer, a teacher, a preacher, and a humble servant. Our pictures of Christ depict a humble Christ, a Christ who lowered himself to become not only the Son of God but the Son of Man, the Savior of the world. Humility and servanthood are not usually characteristics we think of as kingly. Pilate didn’t think so either.

This brings us to our story for today. This story might seem out of place at this time of year, it might seem more suited for Lent than the week before Advent, but if we investigate within the text and look at the context in which the story is taking place we can see the kingly characteristics of Christ. We are all familiar with this story, Jesus is standing before Pilate. The Jewish authorities have brought Jesus there for one reason. The Jewish authorities had already tried and convicted Jesus in a kangaroo court, but because the Jews had not capital authority, only religious authority they could not execute someone and they wanted Jesus dead. So they sent him to Pilate and told Pilate that Jesus was going around proclaiming himself King of the Jews. So Pilate questions Jesus and asks Jesus two questions and these two questions will be the focus of my sermon this morning. This first is one we have all heard, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

This question might seem a little trite at first. I mean Jesus had just been handed over by the Jews, so how could he really be the king of the Jews? Jesus responds by asking another question, he always liked to do that. “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate responds is if he was insulted, “Am I a Jew?” In other words he is saying do I know or even care about your little squabble of people. I am a representative of Rome. Here in lies the deeper issue. Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea which included Jerusalem. He had been picked by the Emperor Tiberius. This was not an appointment that Pilate would have liked. It was hot and dusty; it was far from Rome with all its splendor and beauty. The province of Judea or Palestine was notorious for outbreaks of revolt and rebellion against Rome. So here Pilate was trying to hold together this Roman province on the outskirts of the Empire by quelling any hint of rebellion by nipping it in the bud so to speak. And here comes this Jesus guy who has been accused of claiming that he is the King of the Jews. This was a political issue to be sure.

Let us for a moment go into the mind of Pilate when he asks this question. What does it mean for Jesus to be the King of the Jews? For Pilate it meant a threat to Roman power which in turn meant a threat to his power and even his life. To claim to be the king of the Jews in that area was an act of treason towards the Emperor and this was an act punishable by death.

Pilate and Jesus are talking about kings and kingship. What is Pilate’s idea of a king or kingship? How does one, in the mind of Pilate, become a king? We can get a glimpse into that answer by looking at the culture and society that Pilate belonged to. The Roman Empire spread by violence. They conquered the lands that they took over and used the threat of violence to maintain that control, so military conquest was something that Pilate would equate with kingship. Then there was deceit and shrewdness of the Roman politicians. The Senators and Emperor of Rome are not unlike the politicians we have today. They made backroom deals and coalitions. They would stab one another in the back sometimes, in the case of Julius Caser, literally. This also was done by the oppression of the poor and the downtrodden. You had to push others down in order to lift yourself up to power. This is how one attained power in the mind of Romans and so we can see how Pilate would be threatened by someone claiming to be the King of the Jews. This was not just a threat to the Roman power generally, but it was also a threat to Pilate’s power specifically. We can see Pilate’s concern.

What does Jesus tell Pilate? “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.” You can imagine Pilate’s reaction to this statement “what does he mean that his kingdom is not from this world? This guy really is off his rocker.” This statement shows that Jesus’ idea of kingship is vastly different from that of Pilate.

What does Jesus mean? We have spent a lot of time in the last few months talking about the kingdom of God or the reign of God. We have discussed many aspects of this kingdom over the last few months and each characteristic of the kingdom of God comes to play in this answer from Jesus. First, we have said that the kingdom of God is a gift. We talked about how it can only be accepted as a gift of God. Jesus, just like us, was dependent on God for is authority and for his power. This is totally opposite of the Roman idea of conquest and self-reliance. Christ the King is also Christ the Son who is connection and dependent on the Father. Because it is a gift we must receive it like a child, humbly and with humility. This is again shows that Jesus’ idea of kingship differs from that of Pilate. The Roman idea of a king was one of arrogance of power, someone who flaunted what they had and wielded their power like a sword.

How does Jesus attain this power, through conquest or through violence? No, Jesus becomes the king not only of the Jews but of the Universe by a sacrifice. He is crowned not because he conquered all but because he gave his life for all. Could Christ have come as a conqueror with all the power of God and with legions of angels at his command? Yes. However, Christ’s kingship would then be no different than a Roman emperor. Instead, Christ emptied himself and became humble and obedient even to a horrid death on a cross and because of his obedience and dependence on God; God raised him up and crowned him King over all, not as a conquering tyrant, but a humble Savior who gave his life so we can live. This is the Jesus’ idea of kingship and this is the example we are left with. How better would the world be if all the leaders of the world had the same mindset as Jesus? This is what we remember and what we celebrate on Christ the King Sunday. We remember that Christ will return and will reign over all and we celebrate because Christ will not become a tyrant ruling with an iron fist, but will be a humble savior who will liberate and reconcile all of God’s people and we will all live in peace and in justice.

This leads to Pilate’s second question. The question is not necessarily direct at Jesus but as a response to what Jesus was saying. Jesus had said “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” Pilate’s response was “What is truth?” What is truth? Pilate is asking this almost rhetorically and the very fact that Pilate asks this question shows that he does not understand the truth of Jesus and the truth of God. But what is the truth of God? We said it last week but it bears repeating, “For God so LOVED the [WHOLE] world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the [WHOLE] world might be saved through him.” This is the truth of God and this is the truth of the kingdom of God and the reign of Christ the King. This is the truth that is the foundation of our faith.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.