King for a Day...

 King for a Day…

John 18:33-37
18:33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

18:34 Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?"

18:35 Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?"

18:36 Jesus answered, "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."

18:37 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."

 

This Sunday is “Christ the King” Sunday in most Christian traditions’ liturgical calendars. The text above is one of the lectionary passages for celebrating “Christ the King” or “Feast of Christ the King.” Others in this week’s lectionary come from Revelation, an apocalyptic work serving as the caboose of the New Testament—it is a really strange book about which countless books of “interpretation” have been written, with most authors proclaiming to have unlocked some of Revelation’s “secret codes” about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Another of the “Christ the King” lectionary readings is from the book of Daniel. It’s an even stranger book, and one whose inclusion in the Old Testament was much in dispute, historically. I chose the Johannine passage because it, to me, sounds much more like the Jesus we experience in the Gospels, and the Jesus I was called to follow.

 

Despite all of the “kingdom” language in the Bible, and the promises of a “kingly” messiah found in various Bible texts, I submit that Jesus was just “king for a day,” and it was on the day he was crucified. As we see in this text, it was Pontius Pilate who dubbed him a king. Jesus seems to deny the “coronation.” “You say that I am a king,” was Jesus response. Pilate “crowns” Jesus as part of his punishment (the crown of thorns) and puts him to death, mostly because he was a nuisance to Pilate. The reign of this “Christ the King” lasted only a few hours, and then Jesus was taken down from the cross and put into the tomb. 

 

Now, I already hear you protesting: But the scriptures proclaim that God’s Messiah will be “King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He shall reign for ever and ever!” Well, this certainly is in some of the messianic prophecies we read in the Bible, but is this really about Jesus? Or is it from the Hebrew tradition of a messianic king who will be a great military leader, and who will lead Israel to battle and victory over all of the oppressive nations and forces, and then establish a great earthly throne in Jerusalem? Most likely. And what of Revelation’s claims about “He who sits on the throne,” the “Alpha and Omega”? Let’s unpack this idea a bit.

King language would have made a lot more sense in the time of the Hebrew prophets. After all, it was Israel who cried out to God for a king, because they wanted a strong, earthly leader, and I’m guessing they may also have been trying to “force” God’s hand to give them the Messiah King who would not only rule them benevolently and “forever,” but who would get rid of all of their enemies, as well. Even as Christians today try to “shoehorn” Jesus into some of the Old Testament prophecies that are really not about him, so the Jews of old may have wanted their king to be THE king, the “great king” they saw clearly promised in prophecy. Even the best of their long succession of kings was not “great,” with the exception of King David, who we all know had a dubious immoral streak, and yet was forgiven by God and put on the throne of Israel. David is still the king venerated by the Jews. The author of Luke’s Gospel includes the Davidic line in his birth narrative that Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father was “of the house and lineage of David” as a messianic endorsement aimed at Jesus. Israel’s earthly kings were like many of the quarterbacks in the NFL today—they have a few good games and a few bad games, but what everyone is looking for is the next Tom Brady. That’s a good metaphor for Israel’s “king search” for a messianic king, one which they have yet to find. That said, it is simply a fact that we in Western society, and Christendom in particular, do not understand most “kingdom” talk.

 

Jesus never envisioned himself as this “conquering king messiah.”  He rather flippantly rejects Pilate’s “nomination” as King of the Jews. “You say I’m a king,” he says. Instead, Jesus speaks two important and self-revelatory statements: “My kingdom is not from this world,” and “I was born and came into this world to testify to the truth.” If we scrub the ancient “king” language out of this text, what we may hear Jesus saying is that the basilea of God is not a place or a “government,” per se, but an event! It is the restoration of the vision of God that our world and God may live together in a fulfilling, loving, and just relationship, and with equal footing as God’s children. It is the restoration of the vision of Eden. It is a realm where truth reigns and falsehood and struggles for power are banished forever. And while it may not ever happen on this side of the great divide, it is a vision that Jesus challenged the human community to tackle by living out his teachings and loving others according to them. This is the “kingdom” Jesus was witnessing to Pilate about. And it was through the sacrificial love of God that was ultimately manifested by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that the beginning of this realm (basilea) of God even becomes possible. 

 

When we were kids playing Hide and Seek, at some point, when the game needed reshuffled, the person who was “it” would shout “Ollie, Ollie in Free,” or in some neighborhoods, “Ollie, Ollie Oxen Free!” Those phrases never made much sense to me, but I read recently in one of those “etymology” sites that the origin of our silly phrases was actually a German expression, alle, alle, auch sind frei which translates, basically, “EVERYONE is Free!” In Jesus Christ, God is shouting alle, alle, auch sind frei! and “restarting the game.” Then through the teachings of Jesus and the inspiration, wisdom, and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we “gamers” partner with God to begin unveiling the realm, or a “kingdom that is not from this Earth.” 

 

If you really digest the totality of the scriptures about Jesus, there is less “king” language, and more about the profundity of the truth to which he bears witness, and the righteousness he calls his followers to. The “kingship” of Jesus has little-to-nothing to do with power or dominion, and everything to do with benevolently redeeming, restoring, and residing with God’s people, both now, through the church—the Body of Christ—and eternally, in the timeless realm of God we often call “heaven.” Even the Bible’s proclamation in Revelation that he is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” defines Jesus’ eternal status as part of the Godhead and participant in the on-going process of redemption, not of any “kingship” that bears resemblance to any historical, human understanding of what a “king” does. Jesus, in the earthly understanding of a king, was only king for a day, courtesy of Pontius Pilate. But the Risen Jesus sits on the throne, not to “lord over” God’s people, but to enjoy them, not unlike a loving parents watch their children at play. This “throne” is not a place to claim higher ground for Christ, but a seat, so he has a lap. Remember when Jesus told the disciples to “let the children come unto me,” and would take them into his lap to love and affirm them? THIS is the right model for the unfolding and future realm of God, friends. We will be forever beckoned to climb into the lap of Jesus. 

 

If you’re having trouble catching a vision of this view of Christ the King and what God wants the “Kingdom of God” to look like, remember also that Jesus said “The one who wants to be the ‘greatest’ (or most loved or appreciated) by all must first become the servant of all.” He also said, the last shall be first. When Paul talks about how Jesus will be “exalted” and “given the name that is above every other name,” this is the kind of exultation he is speaking of—the servant of all becoming the most loved, and the “last” being brought to the fore, so that “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.” And this “Lord” is not one who “lords over,” but one who is the Lord of Love. In the text from John, Jesus states that the greatest praise we can give him is to listen to his voice. Obedience to the law of love is that which truly exalts Jesus, not empty words of praise. And living and acting on this law of love is the highest form of praise to God.

 

As a Methodist preacher, I have long been impressed with the “tone” I find in reading the sermons of John Wesley. Wesley’s veneration of his “King Jesus” is clear and vibrates through each of his famous sermons, but what is clearer and more pronounced is the sense one gets from them that Wesley KNEW this Jesus, and owned and fostered an intimate spiritual relationship with him. Wesley was driven not by “duty,” or a sense that he ministered merely out of “obedience,” but was led by the love he had for Christ and the love Christ had shown him. Do you feel deeply loved by Christ, today? Can you feel God’s pleasure in your just being who you are? Do you feel “close to God” when you practice being in God’s presence? Friends, I urge you to find THIS “King Jesus,” if you haven’t, already. If, when you think about God, you are first struck by fear, doubt, or with an emptiness, or an “unknowing,” then seek today the truth that Jesus brought to us. Open your heart to love God with all your strength, mind, and heart, and your neighbor as yourself. And in this experience, may you find the intimacy and peace with God you are seeking. And may you then experience Christ’s “kingdom that is not from this world.” Amen.