Sermon: Christ the King Sunday

John 18:33-37

INTRODUCTION:
Does anybody else remember the phrase "out of this world"? We used to use it to describe the indescribable. Whether it was a hot fudge sundae, a musical group or some very attractive person that took our breathe away. They all could be described as being "out of this world."
That's the way I would describe the cooking at our church Common Meal. It's so good it will make your tongue slap your eye clear out of your head. It's "out of this world."

Someone once described Christianity this way: "Things aren’t always perfect, but the benefits are out of this world."

And that's how Jesus described His Kingdom when questioned by Pilate. Well, actually Jesus said, "NOT of this world." But you get the idea. Jesus was making a distinction between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. Pilate understood what Kingdom meant: The Kingdom of Rome RULED the world with brutality. Obviously, that was the only “Kingdom” he knew.

But what is this Kingdom Jesus talked so much about? How are we supposed to understand it?
Whatever this kingdom is, we want it to be simple, easy to understand. How sweet is the sound of anything untainted by complexity, anything uncluttered or un-muddled by controversy. We long for the straightforward yes or no.

But we have to be careful: As playwright Oscar Wilde once noted, “The truth is seldom plain and never simple.” Sometimes its necessary to walk through the mess of our flawed assumptions before we find our way to the truth. Maybe that’s what Jesus was trying to get Pilate to see.

Pontius Pilate wanted a simple answer from Jesus. “Are you the King of the Jews?” Spit it out, Yes or No. Answer plainly. Above all, answer briefly. “Are you the king of the Jews?” The question is clear enough, isn’t it? Lets hear it, Jesus. “Are you the King of the Jews?”

I cannot help but think that Pilate asked the question with some sense of amusement.
There stood Jesus, battered by a night of brutal interrogation and abuse. He had been ushered before Pilate with insults.

He was unaccompanied by an entourage, in fact all of his disciples had fled. He was unsupported by an army. His position was certainly not fit for a king, not by Pilate’s standards.
“Are you the king of the Jews?”

The very idea that the bruised and battered man that stood before him could be taken for a king must have seemed funny to Pilate. He allowed his soldiers to humiliate Jesus. They mocked him, shoving a crown of thorns on his head, and bowed before him in jest. King Jesus, indeed. There was nothing royal in this appearance. At least nothing that could be seen by Pilate’s eye.

You see, Pilate’s eye had been trained by what he had previously seen of kings. He knew only of kings whose reign was sustained by violence and oppression. A king who was not a power-broker was without meaning to Pilate. You see, Pilate was impressed with the murder and treachery of Herod the Great, or the domination and oppression of Tiberius Caesar. These men did not hesitate to put to death their rivals on trumped-up charges. The earthly glory of Rome filled the mind of anyone who thought of Kingly power. With all of this as a backdrop, Pilate asked Jesus if he were King as if it were some kind of a joke.

However, in the face of all this, Jesus told Pilate the truth. The truth was to difficult for him to understand. The truth was not as obvious to the eye as Pilate had thought. The truth is not always what you think you see.

Jesus cut to the heart of the matter. Jesus told Pilate what his kingdom is about, and where his authority is from. “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to you. My kingdom is not from here.”

Not of this world. No turf to protect. No borders to defend. No soldiers to train and arm. No enforced subjugation of the people. A kingdom without coercion. A kingdom made up of people who say no to violence. That is Jesus’ kingdom. A kingdom of justice, and peace, and love.
There have always been those who believed that power comes out of the end of a gun, or by the edge of the sword.

But Jesus knew that the only power that matters is the power that comes by following the will of God in peace. Jesus shows us the truth that domination and manipulation of people are not the true signs of power. Certainly not the sign of God. The grasp of control and the capacity to coerce are not nothing but human folly… that leads to destruction.

True power is seen in the love that does not lash out in fear and violence. True power hangs from a cross in self-giving love. True power in our lives is in picking up that same cross and following Jesus.

From first to last, the royal power of Jesus was seen in his sacrificial life of self-giving love. It was seen his powerful ministry of healing and hope he gave this world; it was seen in the sacrifice he made on the cross, but most of all, it was seen in the empty tomb that declared his kingdom to be without end. All of these things made the eternal and lasting statement about the quality of his kingship.

Brothers and sisters, when we allow the loving quality of Jesus’ kingdom to capture our imagination, to rule our lives, then we will we discover what the self-giving grace of God really means for our lives.

In Michael Tournier’s novel The Four Wise Men, a young prince named Taor is deposed of all his worldly authority by a violent revolution. Prince Taor’s royalty had been reduced to rags.
He resented the poverty into which he had fallen. Daily he dreamed of retaking the throne that was rightfully his and exercising the power that was his birthright. But, in this story, as a refugee, he encounters the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. After seeing the Christ child, his perspective was forever changed.

Someone asked Prince Taor, “What did Bethlehem teach you about power?” The prince answered, “The example of the crib... taught me the strength of humility, the irresistible truth of being non-violent, the law of forgiveness... In view of all this, my past is obsolete. All of my future at the feet of this child.”

This is the lesson that all of us need to re-learn today: If Jesus is our King, our lives should be about seeking God’s kingdom. All other kingdoms are obsolete.

Let us follow King Jesus who calls us to love mercy, seek justice, and walk humbly with God.

To be people of this odd King Jesus, I believe we need to be different from the status quo. Nothing else will satisfy us if we are seeking the truth of God found in the kingdom of God.

Of course, being different is not always easy. And I realize that there is no virtue in being different just for different’s sake. Rather, we are called to be different for Christ’s sake. We are called to be different for the sake of the Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.

If Jesus is our King, if we are loyal to his reign, then our response to the world will be different. If we are in step with the God revealed in Jesus Christ, then we are bound to be out of step with those who follow a worldly kingdom, who live only for love of self, love of money, love of only their nation, or their race, or their position in life. We are called to be different in showing the love of Jesus to others.

We are to have the values of Jesus: justice, peace, forgiveness, redemption.

Perhaps the majority who live their own way will scoff at us and consider us to be “cranks.” But if so, then I’ll say what the writer E.F. Schumacher once said: “I would rather be known as a crank, because a crank is a part of a small personally-operated machine which gets something done.” If we are faithful to Christ the King, our lives will show a faithfulness that will cause something being done for God’s kingdom.

Pilot asked Jesus “What is truth?” Here is the answer: The truth, God’s truth, is the Kingdom of God. A kingdom that is known in the self-giving love of Jesus, a kingdom that is known in the self-giving love of you and me.

Is Jesus your king? Are you living a NEW LIFE following the commandments of God? Are you living in Jesus’ Kingdom… Remember: All other kingdoms are obsolete.

Kevin Higgs