John
18:33-37
33 Then Pilate entered
the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King
of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did
others tell you about me?" 35 Pilate 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?" 36 Jesus 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."
37 Pilate 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."
But as it is, my kingdom
is not from here.
· Okay, if your kingdom is
not from this world, where is it from?
· Okay, if your kingdom is
not from this world, what sort of king are you?
· Pilate expected that the
man he was questioning might call himself a king, as some of his follower had
been saying. He also expected that such a king could command those he reigned
over to rescue him. Jesus acknowledges that, but goes on to say he is not that
sort of king. He is not what Pilate or all the other authorities expected.
· Jesus is a different kind
of king. To say my kingdom is not from here tells us that much. We call
him king because we lack the language to call him anything else, even if we
know who and what he is. We use terms that make sense to our way of living.
Even if we’ve never met a king, we have an image of what a king is. The image
of a king in crown, robe, and sceptre comes to our mind and we see Jesus
through that lens.
· The Roman soldiers who
mocked him used that same lens when they crowned him with thorns, placed a reed
in his hand as a sceptre, and put a rough soldier’s cloak over his shoulders.
In an ironic way, John’s Gospel has the soldiers acknowledge Jesus as king in a
reversal of the intended mockery. They called him a king, thinking they would
humiliate him and they honoured the sort of king he is.
· Jesus is a servant-king
whose kingdom is not from here. He is the unexpected king everyone was
waiting for. He was not blinded by the lure of power or honour as so many are,
even in our day. He came to serve and not to be served, unlike so many who seek
high office for what they can take from it.
· Let’s lay all this history
and doctrine aside for a moment. What Pilate or the authorities or the
disciples expected makes for an interesting discussion and a powerful teaching.
It helps us know who Jesus is and who he is not.
· What is important for us is
how we live out our discipleship today. We could consider who Jesus is for us…
and that would be most effective if we actually do something about it. It would
be most important if who Jesus to us actually make a difference in our lives.
· As a servant-king, a king
in poverty and humility, a king who eats with tax-collectors and sinners, Jesus
places himself with those most in need. Many were poor in the most brutal
sense, living in hopeless poverty and without the respect of the so-called
Righteous. Some of the needy were not poor in the earthly sense; a
tax-collector could make a good living for himself and some of the others
rejected by the “Righteous” and the “Perfect” had done well, but because they
were rejected and called sinners, they expected to be rejected by the
all-righteous God as well. Jesus showed them the compassionate and loving face
of God and treated them with acceptance, something they may never have
expected.
· This is the good news
today. Our king accepts us as we are right now and wants to serve as our
healer, our saviour, and our gracious way to the Father. He proclaims
forgiveness and a new way of life and he calls us to do the same.
· We all know the Christmas
carol, “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Well, I found a new verse – one that doesn’t
call on the Faithful, the Joyful, or the Triumphant. It calls and invites those
who really need a walk to Bethlehem. It’s not an ‘official’ verse and it’s a
bit early in the season, but it’s well worth hearing:
Oh, come, ye unfaithful
Broken and polluted!
Oh, come ye, Oh, come ye,
To Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the Friend of
Sinners.
· I need to hear that
unofficial verse in every season. It helps me to live a life of service. It
helps me to wish to live a life of testimony to the truth of God – namely that
Jesus came into the world to bring love and forgiveness. That’s the kingdom we
are all citizens of and the kingdom in which we serve one another.
W
No comments:
Post a Comment