Sermon – John 18:33-37 – Jesus Our King

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – John 18: 33-37 – Jesus Our King

Reign of Christ Sunday

November 25, 2012

Today is the Sunday we celebrate the Reign of Christ. This is the end of the Ordinary Time which has lasted since Pentecost Sunday, and today marks a transition to Advent and the beginning of a new church year. Worship today is centered on the risen Jesus Christ who rules over all of creation. As King, Jesus is due loyalty and honor from everyone on earth. And Christ stands with anyone who claims that Jesus is Lord. But people often misunderstand what it means to call Christ the king. These misunderstandings are a result of our expectations that a king is either a political or military ruler. In the case of Jesus we see that the word “king” means something different from how we normally use that word.

Sometimes two people can see the same thing, the same event, but understand it in two radically different ways. This happened just this week at Pitts Creek Church. At about 6:15 Tuesday morning I was praying in the lounge. The lights of the church were on and the door was open just as it has been for two and a half years to welcome the community to prayer. There is even a large banner out front telling people that they are welcome to come pray with us every morning at 6. Last Tuesday I heard and saw that some people had entered the sanctuary. This is what I hope for every day, that people would come into the church at dawn for prayers. But I found that the people in the sanctuary had a very different idea about what was going on. They were Pocomoke police who responded to a call that someone had left the church open and the lights on. The police entered the sanctuary not for prayer, as I had hoped, but to find out what the problem was. They saw the evidence and thought something was wrong. I saw the evidence and thought people were coming for prayer. This happens all the time in court trials, and juries have the job of sifting through the evidence and finding out what really happened.

Today we will be looking at Jesus' trial before the Roman Governor, Pilate. And we will see that different people will see the same evidence and reach different conclusions. We are the jury and we will sift through the evidence and the competing clams, but first lets pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

John 18:33-37 ³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" ³⁴ "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" ³⁵ "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" ³⁶ Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." ³⁷ "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

The issue at hand was whether or not Jesus is the “King of the Jews”. And Pilate was interrogating Jesus to find out. For Pilate the word “king” had a political meaning. A king would have control over a particular people living in a particular region. For Pilate, a king could be problematic because loyalty to a king could challenge the people's required loyalty to the Roman Emperor. Pilate's job was to make sure that there were no challenges to the Emperor's authority in the Provence of Judah. And so someone claiming to be the King of the Jews was potentially a threat, someone who could cause trouble. And trouble was the last thing Pilate needed. So he questioned Jesus to determine if Jesus was a threat to Rome.

Jesus needed to know if Pilate was using the word “king” in its political sense or in some other way. So he asked Pilate if his questions were motivated by his own needs or the needs of some other group. Pilate assured him that he was not asking these questions from the perspective of the Jewish leaders. And Jesus assured Pilate that he had nothing to fear politically because his kingdom was not of this world. Jesus is a king, but not in a political way.

Outside in the courtyard was a group of people demanding Jesus' crucifixion. They had a completely different understanding of what in meant to be the King of the Jews. The crowd understood the word “king” in an military sense. When they heard “King of the Jews” they thought of David. David had been the King of the Jews a thousand years before. He had united the twelve tribes and defeated their hated enemy, the Philistines. This ushered in a period of peace and prosperity which lasted hundreds of years. The crowd expected that one day a descendant of David would return and lead them to overthrow the Roman tyrants. And when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey it appeared to them that the son of David, the messiah, had finally come. But Jesus was not the great military ruler that they expected. He did not come with an army ready for battle with the Romans. Rather he let himself be arrested. The people thought that Jesus was a fraud, a false messiah. So they demand that he be crucified.

Jesus was neither the political king that Pilate feared nor the liberating king the people expected. Jesus was the King of the Jews, but in a different sense.

The ancient Hebrews had a king. His name was Yahweh. We know him as God. God freed them from slavery in Egypt. God led them through the wilderness as a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire at night. God led them as they settled in the Promised Land. And when the Hebrews needed help to defend against invaders God sent judges to form them into temporary armies for protection. God was their King. But to deal with the threat of an invasion of the Philistines and their superior iron weapons and shields the people demanded an earthly king. God allowed this provided that the people remembered that the king must always act in accordance with God's will because, in reality, God remained the King of the Jews.

This should have been the understanding of the Jewish leaders during Jesus' trial. They should have known God was their king. But they had forgotten this. They understood the word “king” only in it's political sense. And so as the crowd demanded Jesus crucifixion the high priests declared: John 19:15 "We have no king but Caesar.”

There's the trial and you are the jury. You job is to sift through what you have heard and determine the truth about whether or not Jesus is the King of the Jews and what this might mean. It seems pretty clear that Jesus is not a political king who has come to rule a particular territory for a limited time span. Jesus is no real threat to Pilate. And Jesus is not a military leader like David who will lead the people in a revolution to overthrow the Roman occupation. In what way is Jesus the King of the Jews? Of course God is the King of the Jews. If the King of the Jew is God and if Jesus is the King of the Jews then Jesus must be God. This is the conclusion that Pilate, the Jewish leaders and the crowd are all running from. The evidence it there. The truth is obvious. Jesus is truly the King of the Jews because Jesus is God.

As Christians we don't to Jesus as “King of the Jews”. Rather we use the equivalent term “Jesus is Lord,” On this Christ the King Sunday we affirm the fact the Jesus is our Lord, not in a political or military sense, but in the sense that since he is God he has authority over all of creation. The kings and presidents of this world must bow down to Jesus and do what he wants done. Businesses and schools must bow down to Jesus and follow his commands. Churches must bow down to Jesus and follow wherever he leads. And all of us must bow down to Jesus as our Lord.

According to our earlier reading from Revelation, our Lord Jesus has made us into a kingdom and equipped each of us Christians to serve a priests in that kingdom. As priests you are able to speak directly to God in worship, Bible study and prayer. Though this you come to know what the will of God is for our church and community and nation. And you are empowered by our Lord Jesus Christ to go out into the community and make God's will a reality. So bring food to distribute to hungry families this Christmas. Contribute to the relief effort for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Invite people to come to church this Christmas. Worship, pray and study your Bible to hear what God is telling you to do. And then do it because God is your king.

Lord Jesus Christ we have assembled today as your priests ready to hear what you have to say. We pledge to do whatever you want us to do. We will follow you into our community bringing your love and hope to people who desperately need it. We ask that you empower us so that your will be done on earth as it is heaven. We praise you as our heavenly God and king. Amen.