John 18:33-37
Christ the King
“So, you are a king?”
This is a very troubling question. Or is it really a statement? There is a question mark at the end of the
sentence, but it seems as if Pilate is reaching a conclusion. He had previously asked Jesus if he was “the
King…” It is after a bit of back and
forth that Pilate again attempts to get to the heart of the matter regarding
who Jesus is or at least who Jesus thinks he is.
Is Jesus a king?
Is Jesus “the” king?
Is he your king?
Christ the King Sunday is positioned at
the end of the liturgical year in order to confront and challenge church-goers
to answer this question. Christ the King
Sunday comes after fifty-one weeks of hearing the Jesus story. In these fifty-one weeks we have gone from
looking for a savior, to speaking of a spectacular birth, realizing that many
won’t want to follow, seeing the one in whom we were beginning to find hope
hung on a cross, receiving the witness of some who saw a resurrected Jesus, and
then twenty-six weeks of looking more intently at the stories which flew by too
fast between Epiphany and Easter. Fifty-two
weeks. And now it is time to
decide.
Is Jesus a king?
Is Jesus “the” king?
Is he your king?
There is nothing more which can be told
you on this Sunday, there is no new information or insight to share. It is simply decision time.
And I will be the first to acknowledge
that it isn’t an easy or simple decision.
It has never been easy, or simple.
The Church has not always had a “Christ
the King Sunday.” It is really a rather
recent addition to the liturgical calendar.
Anyone able to recall the year when the “Feast of Christ the King” was
introduced? Well, it was 1925 when Pope
Pius XI instituted this observance. He felt
that folks might need help in deciding, or at least acknowledging, who they
looked to for their ultimate hope and assurance.
1925 – the mood of the times was one of
rising nationalism and autocratic rulers.
Pope Pius XI saw the need for the Church to confront itself as to where
it finds its most compelling allegiance.
Understandably, Christ the King Sunday
has its critics. In the most recent
years, it has been the need to interpret “King” language. I realize that most of the sermons I have
preached on Christ the King fall into the category of trying to draw a distinction
between the types of persons the world identifies as a king and the type of
king Christ seeks to be. The kingdom of
Christ is marked by compassion and service, with self-sacrifice and
self-denial. “Christ is no ordinary
king!” has been a popular refrain in many sermons.
Another criticism is rooted in the
well-worn notion of two-kingdoms. The
critic being that there are kingdoms of this world, then there is the heavenly
kingdom. Preachers fixated on this
notion will often minimize our engagement with temporal or present day
kingdoms; telling us instead to look to the kingdom to come. “What does it really matter?” they may ask, “How
the kingdoms of this world configure themselves?”
What have you heard, over the years? Of course, those of us over forty-four years
old might remember a time when there was no Christ the King. It wasn’t until the 1974 COCU Lectionary
(forerunner to the Common Lectionary ((1983)), which preceded the Revised
Common Lectionary (((1994))) ) that Protestant Churches regularly included
Christ the King. Think about 1974 and
1983 and you can start to understand why most presentations regarding Christ
the King were attempts to speak of an alternative “kingdom to come” in the “sweet
by and by.”
And thus, we might have missed the
challenge inherent in Pope Pius’ efforts; we might have successfully avoided
the questions set before us by Christ the King Sunday.
Is Christ a king?
Is Christ “the” king?
Is Christ your king?
For the record, let’s acknowledge how
confusing all of this was for the earliest of characters. Pilate knows full well the challenge which
Jesus presents to his authority and reign.
Never ever forget that it was on a Roman Cross that Jesus is
crucified. He may be handed over by the
Temple leaders, but Rome is the one who condemns him to death. While it may not have been lawful for the
religious types to condemn someone to death, they do it. Remember the martyrdom of Stephen, in the
immediate aftermath of Jesus’ Resurrection.
That execution was carried out by the folks in the Temple, without concern
for what was legal or lawful.
When Pilate interviews Jesus (our
Gospel lesson for today), Pilate asks him “Are you the King.” I want you to look at your bulletin, and if
you have a pen or pencil, I would suggest you go through this reading and
everywhere you see “Jew”, strike it and write “Judean.” One of the difficulties in reading the story
in English (even Latin for that matter) is the failure to remember that “Jew”
and “Judean” are two separate Greek words.
Pilate asks Jesus if he is the “King of the Judeans.”
The “Judeans,” to Pilate, were the
folks with political and social clout living in and around the region of
Jerusalem. The “Judeans,” to Pilate,
were a political entity rather than a religious affiliation. Pilate isn’t asking if Jesus is the spiritual
leader of a religious people. Pilate is
asking if Jesus is seeking to be known as the ruler of the people of Judea.
What we know, from having just
completed fifty-one weeks of readings from the Gospel of Mark, is that Jesus is
a Galilean. In the north, in the region
of Galilea, he has some bumps along the way.
But it when his message comes into the territory of Judea that the
religious types began to condemn his presentation of the faith of Abraham and
point out how he isn’t living in accordance with the traditions of the Judean
Jews.
Pilate doesn’t care. “Pray to whomever
you want!” may have been the unspoken thought.
But he won’t tolerate Jesus setting before the residents of his territory
those questions which bedevil any who hold power and want to continue to hold
power:
Is Christ a king?
Is Christ “the” king?
Is Christ your king?
Pope Pius XI wanted to remind the
followers of Jesus that ethic identity or country of origin was of little consequence
to us. We are citizens of a kingdom established
on Golgotha; our allegiance is to the teachings and doctrines of Holy Scripture
and the Creeds of the Church.
The Kingdom of Christ is a kingdom
which does differ greatly from the kingdoms of this world. It is also a Kingdom whose time has come and
is as much a part of our daily existence as it will be when we are gathered
with the saints of old.
I want you to hear me say that I know
it is tough to choose the Kingdom of Christ over the kingdoms of this
world. I will confess how difficult (and
at times seemingly impossible) it is for me to choose rightly. You have called me as your pastor. You have given me the luxury of studying
theology and church history. In faithfulness
to that call and in attempting to share what I have learned, I set before you
those three telling questions:
Is Christ a king?
Is Christ “the” king?
Is Christ your king?
Amen.
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