Christ's Kingdom--A Standard of Heaven
John 18:33-37
NW in UK
I have to come clean in talking on the festival of Christ the King, and admit that
Im not exactly an enthusiastic monarchist. I have to admit, though, that having a
head of state who is chosen by an accident of birth seems better at the moment than having
one, or rather, not having one, who is chosen by an accident of lawyers in Florida arguing
over whether or not small pieces of paper which are partially rather than wholly punched
should count as legal votes.
Its not just because I have doubts over the whole idea of Royalty, though, that
Im not really sure about this whole festival of Christ the King. Its quite a
recent one, after all. It only got into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925,
and into the Church of Englands calendar in 1997. Whats more, we already had a
perfectly good festival of the Kingship of Christ, on Ascension Day. Jesus didnt
somehow have to wait six months before he was crowned in heaven, he ascended to the right
hand of God the Father and joined him at the centre of Creation. What is good about it is
that its a day which draws to a fitting close the Christian year, which begins anew
next Sunday with Advent. We began the year by looking forward to the coming of Jesus into
the world, and we end it by reminding ourselves that he is the eternal King.
But what does that kingship really mean? Our world has strong ideas of what authority
is, of what power and royal splendour should be like. Pilate was very aware of these
things. Jesus had been dragged before him early in the morning, with the charge against
him that he was claiming to be the King of the Jews. And this reading comes from one of my
favourite passages of the Bible. Its wonderfully written, and it shows Pilate, the
representative of the greatest empire of the day, commander of armies, educated and
cultured, meeting the untutored Galilean Jesus. And Pilate begins full of self-assurance.
You can see it in that last cynical remark, what is truth? But from there on
its all down hill for Pilate, until he finds himself broken.
I hope youll forgive me, but I think that it warrants reading in full.
{Read 18:38 - 19:22)
What broke Pilate? Just that he wasnt in the world of politics here. He asked
Jesus what is truth?, perhaps just because he couldnt imagine that
anyone could be naïve enough to think that ideas of truth had anything to do with being a
king. Truth was fine for the synagogue or the university, but not in the debating chamber
of real life. The real world of government and diplomacy was just a lot more messy; all
shades of grey, not black and white. Not in Jerusalem. Weve seen over the last
months that in that place, of all places, reason and compromise have a hard time. How much
more then. Pilate found himself caught between the irresistible force of the hatred of
priests and people whod made up their mind what the truth was and werent in a
mood to be bothered by the facts and the immoveable object of a man who knew what the
truth was because he saw it in the mirror every morning.
Pilate didnt wait for an answer to his question. It wasnt really meant to
have an answer, certainly not one a carpenter could provide. But he was face to face with
Truth with a capital T Jesus, Gods truth in human form.
Pilate wasnt a strong enough man to face down Jesus accusers over a small
matter such as the complete innocence of the accused. In fact, the chief priests had
already forced him to back down twice over other matters, and he was really broken by this
point. But there was one thing he could do.
Theres a wonderful irony in what is going on here. The chief priests, of all
people, cry out We have no king but Caesar. They had bought into the
worlds idea of kingship. And in that idea of kingship, you only got to be called
King if Caesar said you could be. So when Caesars representative, Pilate, put a sign
over Jesus that said the King of the Jews, the title that Caesar had refused
to Herod Antipas, the man the priests wanted to be king, it must have hurt.
But in the end it didnt really matter. The title of King of the Jews wasnt
for Pilate to give or withhold, or Caesar for that matter. It was Gods gift. And He
acclaimed Jesus as King, raising him to heaven we heard about that in our other two
readings, visions not of Jesus coming down from heaven at the end of time but of him going
up to heaven at the Ascension. And this title, this crown were given to the one who was
truth. As God, Jesus was the source of all truth. As man, he had lived a life guided
entirely by the truth of God. That was why he was King.
So what does it mean, then, to be citizens of a heavenly King? Perhaps that we know
what is the answer to that question, What is truth?. We know the answer, and
we live by it. Yes, there are times when we must live in a world of shades of grey. But we
know that there is truth and there is falsehood, and we know where we must stand.
When Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world he did not mean that his
rule has nothing to do with this world. He meant that his rule on earth consisted of
bringing to earth the standards of heaven; truth, love and justice. The subjects of the
heavenly King must live by that rule. Amen.