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Sermons:
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What is a King? John 18:33-37, Rev. Karen A. Goltz
(see below)
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WHEN KINGDOMS COLLIDE
John 18:33-38a,
by Rev. Rick Thompson
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Two Kings, Two Kingdoms John 18:33-37,
by Rev. Randy Quinn
The Truth About Jesus The King, John 18:33-37,
by Rev. Thomas Hall
God's Long-Term Faithfulness, 2 Samuel 27:1-7,
by Rev. Thomas Hall
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Christ's Kingdom--a
Standard of Heaven,
John 18:33-37,
by NW in UK
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Christ
has the last word!
John 18:33-37, by Sue In Cuba, KS
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Alpha and
the Omega, Revelation
1:4b-8, anonymous
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What is a King?
based on John 18:33-37
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
“Are you the King of the Jews?” What a loaded
question! On the one hand, it would be ludicrous for this simple Jewish
peasant, son of a carpenter and citizen of a conquered people, to answer yes.
On the other hand, as Son of the Living God, how could he answer yes when doing
so would suggest that he is king only of the Jews? It’s not in our
lectionary reading today, but Pilate ends this exchange by asking Jesus, “What
is truth?” I think a better question to ask is, “What is a king?”
Pilate had much the same problem that we do.
To him, like us, ‘king’ was a political term, used to identify the person in
charge, the one with all the power. The king was the one who made the laws and
saw to it that they were enforced. He kept the peace within the borders of his
kingdom, and he protected those borders from external threats. Sometimes he
also had to protect himself from internal threats. Particularly in
Jesus’ day, the king of Ancient Rome, Caesar, was believed to be the Son of God
himself, though not the god of Jewish worship and understanding, and any
challenge to Caesar’s authority was a challenge not only to Caesar’s person, but
a challenge to the divine order of the world.
As governor of Judea and an agent of Rome, it
was Pilate’s job to help neutralize any threat to Caesar. This is why he begins
questioning Jesus as he does; the chief priests had denied that their problem
with Jesus was an internal matter of religious doctrine, as Pilate suspected,
and rather suggested that Jesus was indeed a political threat to Rome. So, with
this accusation in hand, Pilate asks him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Or,
more to the point, “Are you a threat to the current king’s power?”
Because ultimately, earthly kings and rulers
are as much or more concerned with obtaining and maintaining their own power as
they are with governing. Some of it’s legitimate and pragmatic—you can’t govern
if you don’t have any power. But some of it’s ego. It’s quite intoxicating to
have people bowing to your every whim and seeing to it that everything happens
according to your wishes. We’ve all heard the old saying, “Power corrupts, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The more power one has, the more likely
one is to become addicted to that power, corrupted by it, and to elevate keeping
that power over and above using it for the good purpose for which it was given.
So Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus doesn’t give Pilate a ‘yes’ or ‘no’
answer. How can he? Neither ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ answers the question adequately.
Instead he answers a question with a question. “Do you ask this on your own, or
did others tell you about me?” “Do you think I’m a political threat to
Caesar, or are you just asking me this because other people want you to think I
am?” Pilate claims ignorance of the internal motivations of the Jewish people
and finally asks Jesus directly, “What have you done?” And finally Jesus begins
to educate him on what Christ the King is all about.
Christ’s kingdom does not consist of a small
parcel of land with protected borders separating it from the rest of creation.
Christ’s kingdom is creation. All of creation. All lands, all
seas, all sky, all creatures. Christ’s kingdom is not from this world, but it
encompasses all of this world, and more. Christ’s reign does not last for a
single lifespan, or even a dynasty. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end, who is, and who was, and who is to come. Christ has
always been king, is king now, and will always be king, forevermore. Pilate
can’t see beyond his own small definition of king, and Jesus tries to explain to
him that yes, he is indeed a king, the King of the Jews, the King of the Romans,
even the King of Caesar himself. But far from being a political threat, Christ
the King is a life-giving promise. {conintue]
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