Christ the King
Christ’s Kingdom is Not of This World
John 18:33-37
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. December 5th, 2021
Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church year. This particular Sunday may seem stranger than most. We are Americans after all, we have no kings. And saying Jesus is King threatens to get fairly political. If Jesus is King that may mean someone else is not. But we just heard this morning that Jesus Christ is, "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” This is a truth we can’t simply ignore. Jesus Christ is King of all the earth. He rules over all the kings of the earth. “And made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” What does any of this mean?
The earliest creed of the Church is not the Apostles’ Creed. The earliest creed is simply “Jesus is Lord.” Lordship, rule, sovereignty, is reserved to Jesus alone. He who died and lives forevermore. He who calls us by his grace. This is no small thing. It is central to the good news. It tells us something about the world we live in, but it also tells us something about the life to which we are called.
Our gospel reading this morning gives us an opportunity to explore Christ’s kingship because in it stands a confrontation between Jesus and an earthly ruler. Pontius Pilate was a governor sent from Rome to bring peace to the unruly city of Jerusalem. He was born to a noble family, and this meant he was born to conquer and to rule. His whole upbringing was centered around athletics, military prowess, and politics. He was some of the best Rome had to offer, the very image of the sort of man bred to run an empire. He knew he held the power of life and death and knew how to wield it.
Across from Pilate stands Jesus, a carpenter’s son from Nazareth. By this point he has been beaten into a mess. He was a pitiful figure bleeding over Pilate’s headquarters. As much as we might imagine Pilate did not want to put up with this man, the local authorities were forcing his hand. It was the Passover, the Jewish feast of liberation. And this man, so they claimed, threatened to upset the fragile peace Pilate had established.
So Pilate asks him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus simply responds, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
Pilate gets a little impatient. "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus then answers the question, "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.”
Now here we might think we have an answer to what it means to say Jesus is King. Jesus is a spiritual King. He has a spiritual Kingdom that floats effervescently over reality, and his subjects are those who accept him and his teaching into their hearts. His kingship is not a public thing, but a private thing. But Pilate, as I said, was a man born to rule. He could recognize a king. And responds, “So, you are a king, then?”
When we hear Jesus say, “My Kingdom is not from this world” we need to ask what Jesus means by world. Because throughout John’s gospel world has a different meaning than simply this rock we call earth. Jesus says in another place “ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.” And “fear not, I have overcome the world.” He doesn’t mean “everyone” when he talks about the world. And he doesn’t mean “everything on this rock.” But he means a sphere of existence that is dominated by Satan, by the enemy. Jesus overcomes the world, meaning he overcomes the devil. His kingdom is not of this world not because his Kingdom is spiritual and private. But because his kingdom is not like earthly kingdoms.
He clarifies, “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.”
Jesus is King, and he is truly ruler of the Kings of the earth as we heard from the Book of Revelation. But he is not a worldly king, and he is not a king in the sense that Pilate ruled as a King. Pilate ruled by force. Jesus rules in love. Pilate ruled with fear. Jesus rules in peace. Pilate did not care what was true or false, only what he could accomplish. Jesus rules in truth, and all who listen to the truth listen to his voice.
Pilate rules with armies of soldiers, with centurions ready to go on the attack. Jesus rules not with armies but from his cross. It’s on his cross that he is given a crown, of thorns. Is given a robe. Is given a throne, the very cross on which he is nailed. And above his head is written in three languages, “Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.” Jesus is truly King. But in a different way than Pilate. Not because he is private and spiritual, but because he is love and forgiveness.
So if we are those who proclaim “Jesus is Lord” and accept him as the true King over all the Kings of the earth that means that we follow him. We follow him in his teaching, and we follow him in his example. We forgive as he forgave. We give as he gave. We seek to mend what has gone wrong. We seek to live peaceably with all. We hope beyond hope. We share love with all who come across our path. Because Jesus is our King, and that is what subjects of the King are expected to do. And we can do these things not simply on our own power, but because Jesus has “overcome the world.” Because Jesus has won the victory on our behalf. Because he has shown us the way. And he lives, and reigns forever. There is no stronghold he cannot tear down. There is no force that can stand in his way. He has shown us the way of life and peace. And beckons us to follow.
So let us follow our king.