What Kind of King Are You? Lectionary Reflection for Reign of Christ Sunday (John 18)

 

John 18:33-37 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

³³ Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 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?” 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.” 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.”

********

             Democracy is not a perfect form of government but to this point, it's the best governmental system that humanity has developed. Right now democracy is threatened across the globe including in the United States where anti-democratic/authoritarian forces have been at work undermining the institutions of democracy. While democracy is not always efficient and the populace is often uninformed about the issues and the people who seek office, it offers checks and balances that other systems don't allow. Of course, there were few democracies present in the first century. Monarchies of some form were the norm. 

             Although there are still a few monarchies left in the world, many of those feature a monarch who is more or less a figurehead. True power lies in Parliament and the Prime Minister. So, should we update our theological language to reflect the current situation, as we know it here in North America and similar nations? That is, should cast Jesus in the role of President rather than King? Of course, we would have to think of other wording for the realm, but first things first. 

           The only problem with declaring Jesus to be President is that we don't elect Jesus to this position. Instead, God is the one who elects Jesus to reign. As this is Christ the King Sunday (Reign of Christ), we are invited to ponder what it means for Christ to be king (not the president). The Gospel reading comes from John. While this is the last Sunday of the Church Year (next week we start all over with the first Sunday of Advent), the Gospel reading takes us to Good Friday. Jesus has been arrested and he is being questioned by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Pilate represents the reigning power—the emperor of Rome, Tiberius. Now there are kings of a sort in the empire, people like Herod Antipas, but they derive their power from Rome. In other words, they’re really Roman governors with a fancier title. Pilate is of the understanding that Jesus has been claiming the title of king, and has been doing so without the permission of Rome. So Pilate wants to know: what kind of king are you?

                 The problem, as Pilate sees it, is that when people claim to be monarchs without first getting permission from the Emperor they can be perceived as a threat to Rome's power. It's his job, as governor, to make sure that the province remains peaceful and obedient. Pretenders to an ancient throne can be a problem, especially if there is a restive populace who could gather around that person and set up a rebellion. Judea was that kind of province! And if a rebellion broke out, Pilate would have to unleash his troops. That action would likely lead to his removal from office. Now, if Jesus doesn't have a following, Pilate can easily dispense with him and move on. That thought leads Pilate to question Jesus about his intentions and his authority. It's possible that Pilate sees all of this as an annoyance—just another pretender with no real following, and obviously no military capability. But, he has to make sure. 

                 So Pilate asks Jesus rather bluntly: “Are you the king of the Jews?” I think Pilate wasn't prepared for the direction this conversation took. It should be a yes or no answer. While Pilate is thinking politically, especially geopolitically, Jesus answers theologically. Though it’s important to note that theology and politics generally ran hand in hand, the form it took surprised Pilate. Now, perhaps it shouldn't have.  After all, the Emperor was considered by man to be divine in some form. So, if Jesus is the son of God, what does that say about Caesar?

                 Now, Jesus doesn’t come outright and admit to being the king of the Jews. Instead, he accepts the premise that he is a representative of the heavenly kingdom.  He tells Pilate that he might be a king, but his “kingdom doesn’t originate from this world.” But what does that mean? Pilate wants to know and so do we. Too often Christians have read these words in such a way as to devalue the earthly experience. There is a tendency among some Christians to think of the faith in terms of escaping this world for the next. Therefore, Jesus would be talking about heaven and not earth. But is that what Jesus has in mind here?

                John doesn’t provide us with a version of the Lord’s Prayer, but if we take a look at the prayer that many of us recite each week, we pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It is not that Jesus has a heavenly kingdom that is of no earthly value, but that whatever the heavenly kingdom is, it has an earthly component.    

Jūrgen Moltmann writes of Jesus’ statement about the kingdom not being of this world, suggesting that Jesus speaks of origin, not location.  According to Moltmann, Jesus is saying:  

It comes from God.  If it didn’t come from God it couldn’t heal the sick of this world.  But in and through Jesus it is in the midst of the world, and when Jesus said these words the Kingdom of God in person was standing in front of Rome’s imperial governor, Pontius Pilate.  [Moltmann, Jesus Christ for Today, p. 20].

 Moltmann goes on to say that while this kingdom has both invisible and visible dimensions, it is “as earthly as Jesus himself was.”  It is revealed through an implanted through the cross and the resurrection, and the resulting message is that “the earth is worth it.”  This is not a vision of escape, but being present in and through the world, Christ works to redeem and transform it.  As king, Jesus says, his purpose is to bear witness to the truth.  Pilate might want to debate the notion of truth, but Jesus reveals it in his being, for truth is the realm of God revealed in his life here on earth as well as in heaven.

                What then is our response to Jesus’ claim to rule?  What difference does it make? What claim is made on our allegiance? Pilate is concerned about whether Jesus is a threat to Rome. He has no problem with Jesus claiming to be king if he will agree to put his flag under that of Rome, even as many churches appear to do when they fly the American flag high over their buildings so that all will know that even though they claim to follow Jesus they're ready to pledge their allegiance to the flag and nation that stands behind the flag. Sometimes it appears that the state comes first. When church and state merge such that the church reflects the values of the state, values such as militarism and “love it or leave it” patriotism, when the Bible become an icon of the state, used by the state as the guarantee of oaths, then there’s no problem. 

                The problem of Pilate is that Jesus is claiming to be a king without permission from Rome and that he is claiming to have been born for this purpose (remember that we will be moving quickly into the story of birth). He incarnates the realm of God in a way that Pilate cannot understand, for his vision is clouded by the idea that might makes right. It is a vision that those who claim to be superpowers often indulge in. But Jesus offers an alternative vision. And those who belong to the truth will listen to his voice. When all is said and done, they will give their ultimate allegiance to the realm of God— “on earth as it is in heaven.” With this affirmation, we bring the church year to a conclusion. The circle is complete. Christ reigns. Hallelujah!

Ge, N. N. (Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich), 1831-1894. "What is truth?" Christ and Pilate, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55296 [retrieved November 13, 2021]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:What_is_truth.jpg.