When I read this exchange between Pilate and Jesus, I can’t help but think of the game, “questions.” In this game, you answer a question with a question, and the first one to make a declarative statement is out. In fact, I think that would be a good way to start. Sam, would you come up and help me?
[Sam and I trade questions, beginning with, “Can you imagine what it would be like to have Jesus as our King?” He responds with, “Are you saying that he isn’t?” from there we trade questions on the same topic.]
OK, you win. I guess at some point we all just have to realize that faith requires us to make some declarative statements from time to time, and not just in church! In fact, the whole idea of celebrating the “Reign of Christ” came from our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters as recently as the 1920’s as a way of encouraging faith beyond the borders of nations.
Pope Pius the 11th established a feast in the name of Christ the King in order to tell the world that the church answers to a higher power than any nation. His hope was also that the leaders of all nations would recognize the authority of Christ, and that faithful people would be encouraged to know that Christ reigns over their hearts and minds; over their impulses and desires.
Of course, we can see that didn’t go so well on an international level, given that the world was engulfed in a war about 15 years later. Taking the long view, one might ask what is the point of celebrating the reign of Christ today?
You could certainly argue that it has become a church festival that hardly anyone but the clergy really care about. I confess that I have always wrestled with it, especially when we call it Christ the King. It’s not that I reject the authority of God. It’s that we don’t really have a concept for what it means to have a king, and whatever construct we do have doesn’t really track with our belief about a just and merciful God.
So, the reign of Christ seems to have become something that is inherently liturgical and essentially personal. In the words of Tony Compolo, “We ask if Jesus is our savior, but do we ask if he is our Lord?” Do we truly submit to him in all aspects of our lives? Do we lay our burdens down at the cross as an offering only to pick them up again, as though the cross of Jesus has blessed every burden that we bear?
Sometimes we all do that because so often we forget what it means for Jesus to be our Lord. So today, at the close of the church year, we have these strange and wonderful texts to remind us that Jesus is, in fact, our savior and our Lord.
Our readings from Daniel and from Revelations are both pulled out of larger sections of prophecies that are just plain confusing and possibly a little scary. I’m not getting into the larger section today, but I do want to say that even those parts need to be seen more from the lens of truth-telling than fortune telling. These prophetic visions were given as a way for desperate, occupied people in fear for their lives to know that fear is not the final answer.
So, they were given these testimonies, just as we have been given them, as a way to be assured that there was a God and that God would bring about order out of chaos. We also have to remember that these are about the only accounts of God personified in the Old and New Testaments, and God is perceived as old to recognize that the reality of God predates all other realities.
Then there is this Human One that personifies God’s promise to reign not like a beast but like a person. This is the person of Jesus that promises to conquer sin and death, and we have to recognize this person in light of the message of hope to desperate people. We also have to recognize him in light of the gospels that tell of his humanity and of his divinity.
That’s why we end up in Pilate’s chamber at the end of the year, just before Advent, proclaiming Jesus as Lord while he stands before Pilate having just lost a game of questions. Are you a king? Who’s asking? What have you done that your people have handed you over? Well, that did it. Jesus had to set him straight.
The people of Jesus go far beyond the boundaries of ethnicity and religion. The people of Jesus are those that listen to the truth, but Pilate responds, “What is the truth?” He can’t bear the fact that there is another power beyond death. He can’t fathom the idea that his control over his situation – which requires his control over others – is not the source of power.
So, Pilate’s question comes to us. It comes to us just before Advent and right after Black Friday. It comes to us in an era that has been defined as “post-truth” where politicians and pundits and we, the people, live as though an individual’s perspective is the only true determinant of reality.
In some ways it is. We all have our own reflections to answer in the mirror, but I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant when he said that he has a kingdom not defined by nations and states. Don’t get me wrong. I still need to think about what it means to say that Jesus is Lord when making my choices of what I eat, how I live, how I interact with others. Am I going to play nice? Am I going to share?
So the question is not whether or not there is a universal truth. The question is whether or not we will let it rudder our ship. The question is whether or not we are actually listening to Jesus and the truth he proclaims.
And here is the truth. There is a God. It’s not me. It’s not you. God was revealed Godself through the person, the teachings, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. It’s not so much a matter of proving as it is receiving and responding, because the rule of Christ is not about oppression. It’s about freedom.
Now, I’ve told you stories in the past about some amazing people who do things because their faith compels them to do it. There’s the professional football player that quit and invested in a farm to give away food. There are cafes and restaurants bubbling up in different communities that allow customers to pay if they can. There are people fighting fires in California, and there are others who feel called by God to fight for freedom around the globe.
The question of the gospel is not, “why aren’t you them?” The question is whether or not the same truth will compel you to live a life that is free from sin and self-centeredness? Really, the truth of the gospel is more of an invitation than anything. It invites us to this table – to this feast – to be reminded of the depth of God’s love and the hope that it brings.
If you are hurting; if you ever feel lost; if you are even the slightest bit afraid of what the truth of God’s love might do to you, this table welcomes you. This table assures us that there is a God and that God’s desire for us is life in all its fullness. That means more than riches and power. That means connectedness and relatedness and the expectation that all shall be well. Let us feast upon grace, and let us respond with all that we have and all that we are to the truth that sets us free. Amen.
Comments