St John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – Christ the King
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37
33Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36Jesus answered, “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.” 37Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “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.”
NRSV
The Reign of the Crucified
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from him the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the earth, Jesus Christ.
When I arrived on my internship congregation, people asked what they should call me. I had no idea. I asked around and I was told they should call me vicar, because I was not a pastor yet.
It did generated some confusion at first. Except for the confirmation students who had a kick out of it, vicar Mauricio this and vicar Mauricio that. Until this day, if we bang heads when I am visiting Champaign, it’s vicar Mauricio! Last time that happened the now young adult caught himself in mid-sentence and said “sorry, it’s Pastor Mauricio now.”
But I digress.
The confusion happened because those in the congregation who grew in faith traditions derived from the Church of England, were quick to tell me that vicar supposed to be the minister and I wasn’t even ordained yet. How could that be? I said, I don’t know. That is what they told me to say. It seems it is a old traditional word about pastors in training in the Lutheran Church.
The dispute about the truth of my title was amusing, but of no interest to me. You say that I am vicar, sure! I did, in fact, had learned some stuff about church and theology. You say that I am not, that is OK too! All that mattered to me was that it was one more step I needed to learn how to be a minister to the Truth, Jesus Christ.
Finally some humorously declared that vicar Mauricio rolled out of the tongue better than intern Mauricio. So the issue was settle amid the perceived ambivalence of the term. Depending on the point of view, my title meant that was at the same time less than some and more than some.
It is a bit like the lion being the king of the jungle. The lioness will probably contest that “you say that he is a king?” Let me tell you something, I am the one doing all the heavy lifting here, hunting and feeding the kittens. He only fights with other lions and poses for the cameras. Obviously, in the real world, neither the lion or the lioness cares for what human beings think. I am sure they just do what they gotta do to keep their little kingdom going, even if that means they will fight to the end in the wild to keep it.
But again, it is not to be so among us, followers of Jesus Christ.
First, if it was, his followers would be gathering around with rocks, clubs, swords, whatever they could find, and the Lord knows what else, to storm the building. They would fight reckless, dirty, and bloody to the end to free him. However, we know by now this is not what he wanted. The only blood to be spilled was suppose to be his own.
So is he a king? It depends on what one thinks. In this case, what Jesus thinks should matter a lot to us because what we think matters everything to him.
So poor Pilate is digging himself into a hole here, for is either playing with him in our gospel scene, or he is flat out clueless about Jesus. Either way no one out thinks the Christ.
See, Pilate does not have what it takes to understand Jesus and what his reign means. In Jesus kingdom, the law of the jungle, the survival of the strongest or the most ferocious does not apply. Pilate only understands brutality, intimidation, and patronage. He is a snob, a liar, and a thug with no appreciation for human life. He is a ruthless killer who crucified hundreds – so one more is no big deal for him – and because of it, considered an incompetent governor by his superiors, apparently unable to manage the people he considered so inferior to him. He was doomed to be forgotten by history, but he happened to be the one which we come to confess every Sunday as the failed murder of our Savior. Luckily for him, when Jesus descended to hell, or to the dead, depending of your preference, he did so to rescue all who have been condemned, including the ones who tried to kill him (Revelation 1:7).
Luckily for us, we know what the reign of the crucified is. We don’t need to fight for this kingdom. It was handled to us as a free gift, sufficient, complete, finished. We don’t need to fight for it. All we need to do is surrender to Jesus Christ as the only one with power to forgive and save us. We don’t need to fight for it. It cannot be passed way, it cannot be destroyed (Daniel 7:14).
We can, however, serve this kingdom and this king, with repentance, justice and solidarity.
We can serve this kingdom and this king, with compassion, forgiveness, and love.
We can serve this kingdom and this king, by not taking life away, but giving away our lives.
We do this and we will belong to him, to the truth, to the Christ. We do this, and everyone will know that we are his, and he is our king, said the Lord our God, the Alpha and the Omega, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. Amen.
Bridging Faith 