Christ the King Sunday (year b)
 

Sermons:

• What is a King? John 18:33-37, Rev. Karen A. Goltz       (see below)
   

• WHEN KINGDOMS COLLIDE John 18:33-38a, by Rev. Rick Thompson
    

• 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
   

• Christ's Kingdom--a Standard of Heaven, John 18:33-37, by NW in UK
   

• Christ has the last word! John 18:33-37, by Sue In Cuba, KS
   

• 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]