Sermon "Another Kind of Kingdom"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday November 23, 1997
John 18:33-37
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Another Kind of Kingdom
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus andasked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" "Isthat your own idea," Jesus asked, "Or did others talkto you about me?" "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied."It was your people and your chief priests who handed youover to me. What is it you have done?" Jesus said, "Mykingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fightto prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is fromanother place." "You are a king, then!" saidPilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am aking. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I cameinto the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side oftruth listens to me."
John 18:33-37
In the silence of the stars, in the quiet of the hills andin the heaving of the sea, you speak O Lord. In the words of theprophets and the message of the apostles, you speak O Lord. Nowwe pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and thelonging of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen.Amen.
Every year, at the end of the church year, we observe atradition that is 2000 years old. We name Jesus, here in ourworship together, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. We hold himup as the one anointed by God, to be the Messiah, the King of theJews, the one chosen by the ancient of days to be the delivererand the Savior of the world. Jesus the King - it is aninteresting and an important title in our tradition about Jesus -a title that we look at this morning.
Being a king really meant something in Jesus' day. A king wasthe most powerful human being on earth. A king speaks, commonpeople tremble.
For nations, the king was the only means of securing order andpeace. The king was, civilization and domestic tranquillitypersonified in one person. He was to be honored and respected andserved. He was to be revered and feared and obeyed.
A king was everything and everybody rolled up into one. He wasof utmost importance - so much so that time itself was calculatedon the basis of when the king began his reign. In the fifth yearof the reign of Julius Caesar, in the twenty-fifth year of thereign of King David, in the year of our Lord, nineteen-hundredand ninety-seven...
What does it mean for us to name Jesus king? The image ofJesus as king, is an image that is hard to get hold of, and oncegotten hold of, it is an image that is hard to take seriously. Itis, I believe for most of us, a fantasy image, an image thatbelongs to stories that begin with the words "Once upon atime, in a land far far away..."
What does it mean to call Jesus king? In our scripture readingthis morning Pontius Pilate clearly wondered it's meaning.Pilate, who served the most powerful king in the world, knew whata king was. He knew about the power that a king has, theauthority that he commands, the unquestioning obedience that hedemands, and the power that he has to compel that obedienceshould it not be volunteered.
One of the rules that Pilate was called to enforce was therule that anyone who claimed to be a king, anyone who dared toset themselves up as an authority over and against the lawfulauthority of Caesar, was to be executed. It was a rule thatPilate had no scruples about enforcing. It was a rule that he hadenforced countless times throughout Galilee. And so when Jesus isbrought before Pilate the charge that is laid against him is thathe is a revolutionary - that he is one who unlawfully claims tobe the Messiah, the King of the Jews.
The very idea that the bruised and beleaguered man that stoodbefore him could be taken for a king must have seemed ridiculousto Pilate. He knew what kings acted like. He knew what theylooked like. He knew what even those who pretended to be kingsacted like and looked like. Nevertheless Pilate does his duty. Heasks Jesus if the charge against him is true. He asks Jesus if heis, or if he claims to be, king of the Jews.
Jesus answers Pilate that he is a king - but that his kingdomis not from this world, and then he says: "If my kingdomwere from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep mefrom being handed over to the Jewish authorities."
Pilate understands this - he knows what a king is, and afterchecking Jesus once more by asking him "So you are aking?" And hearing Jesus respond that he was born to testifyto the truth, he tells Jesus' accusers that he finds there is nocase against him.
Pilate cannot imagine Jesus as a king, the image that he hasof a king, like the image that many of us have, just doesn't fitJesus.
And so - while in the end Pilate allows Jesus to be crucified
With the word's "King of the Jews" posted over hishead, Pilate himself does not believe what he has caused to bewritten. And today I wonder if it is the same for us. Do we, likePilate, name Jesus as King but for one reason or another justdon't believe it, or take it seriously, or understand what itmeans. We take a lot of things about Jesus rather lightly afterall.
For example: in a recent gallop poll conducted in the UnitedStates revealed that more than 86% of all Americans consideredthemselves Christian, but less than half knew who preached theSermon on the Mount. The same poll showed that sixty percent ofthe country was in church last Easter, but one out of four didnot know what Easter celebrates.
What does it mean for us to name Jesus King? His power is notfrom this world, nor is it meant to be exercised in the way thatwe are accustomed power to be exercised. Jesus exercised hispower by serving others, by forgiving others, by healing others,by giving to others, by sacrificing himself for others. His poweris the power of truth, the power of faith, the power of hope, thepower of love - the power of life itself.
On the other hand Jesus' kingdom is not something that is inthe sky by and by. It is real, it is present, and it makesdemands upon us. Jesus calls us to obedience, to faith, and tolove here and now. But Jesus does not force or compel us. Hecalls us to allow God to enter into our lives and to rule ourlives. He invites us to walk by the light he himself has shed.
Pilate found Jesus not guilty of being a king like the kingswe normally think of. His question to Jesus - are you a king -remains as an important question - a fundamental question. It isa question about sovereignty, about rule, about who is in chargewhen it is dark and the world is falling apart, about who we canturn to when we are in need or when others are in need, about whowe should go to when we seek justice for others and when we lookfor mercy for ourselves.
Another kind of kingdom, a kingdom of forgiving love with noroyal trappings. He welcomes us to this kingdom, a kingdom whichis among us. --- Amen
