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.
Pilate’s not the only one to have trouble
getting his mind around that; it’s hard for us, too. It’s hard for us to put
our trust in someone else to look out for our best interests because that trust
is so often misplaced. Obviously the corrupt leader isn’t going to look out for
everyone’s best interests, but even the ethical, moral, well-intentioned leader
is going to fall short. Any earthly leader will have inadequate information,
inadequate power, and inadequate resources to truly serve everyone’s best
interests. And each of us individually will also always stand guilty of
prioritizing our own interests over everyone else’s, to a greater or lesser
degree. Political leaders have some power over many lives, each and every one
of us has some power over our own lives, and none of us wants to give up that
power. We are all kings over our own personal realms. Power corrupts, and we
have all been corrupted by our power.
But God in Christ has absolute power, and God
in Christ is absolutely incorruptible. God in Christ has the information, has
the power, and has the resources to serve everyone’s best interests. That
doesn’t mean everything’s always great right now. In this world there is
poverty, there is sickness, there is war, there is injustice, there is evil.
But all of those are bound to this world, and have only limited power. Christ’s
kingdom is not of this world but does encompass this world, and we don’t have to
wait until pie in the sky by and by to see his power. Because just like any
earthly kingdom, the kingdom of God has citizens, subject and obedient to the
will of the King, and working according to his purposes. Because Christ is
King, there are those helping the poor to build better lives for themselves.
Because Christ is King, there are those healing and comforting the sick.
Because Christ is King, there are those working to bring about peace. Because
Christ is King, there are those fighting for justice to be served. And because
Christ is King, evil may exist, but it will never prevail. Because Jesus, the
Christ and our King, accepted death on the cross, allowed sin and the power of
evil to have its final say, and then he rose again. Christ our King spoke the
final word, and that word was grace, and neither sin nor evil can stand
against it.
You do have power in your lives, and that power
was given to you by God to fully participate in his kingdom. Use that power
wisely, in service to the one who gave his very life for you. As it turned out,
the accusations made by the chief priests to Pilate were right; Jesus was
a threat to Caesar’s power. After all, how much does Caesar influence your life
today? How much does Jesus influence your life today? Look at your
surroundings, how you chose to spend your Sunday morning. That’s a power that
endures. That’s the power of the one who is, and who was, and who is to come.
That’s the power of Christ the King. Amen.