Sermon for Reign of Christ Sunday – John 18:28-37

Today we celebrate the Reign of Christ. Traditionally this is what we used to call “Christ the King Sunday”. A lot of churches still call it that. You can even find a lot of Christ the King Lutheran Churches out there. Why the name change? Well, there are some folks out there who are a little uncomfortable with “King Jesus”. It doesn’t bother me so much, but it does seem a little weird to picture Jesus sitting on some kind of throne barking orders. Because that’s what kings do. Now, I don’t know about you – I don’t think of Jesus in that way, but I do know some Christians who do. Folks with bumper stickers like this (“If Jesus has a gun, he’d still be alive today”)…… But here’s another thing. Have any of you ever lived under an actual king? So it’s worth going back to what Jesus has to say about what king means. Especially because it’s part of what got Jesus killed….

So that’s why we have part of the story of Jesus’ passion today. When he goes to Jerusalem to be arrested and crucified and killed. The chief priests have dragged Jesus in front of Pilate. So here’s the thing. Rome wants to keep the Jewish population under control. But Rome also demands that everyone worship the emperor, and these folks are seriously not on board with that. They’re always ready to fight about it. Now, Rome could send troops and weapons and an iron fist, but that’s not an efficient way to control folks. It’s way easier to just give these priests a taste of freedom and power, and then let them keep everyone in check instead. Kind of like a bunch of middle-managers with delusions of grandeur. As long as they keep taxes flowing upstream, who cares? So what if they start a religious police force that silences and stones troublemakers, or drags folks off the street for interrogation, or builds their own jails. Maybe a little like the Gestapo. Give them a little power and they want more.

Then we’ve got the everyday folks who have to live under all that oppression. But not just from the religious police. King Herod too. He’s authoritarian. He’s paranoid about rivals. He’s always trying to impress Rome for his own gain. He’s not the kind of king you can depend on, because he’ll sell you out in a hot minute. So you start praying for someone who’s everything Herod’s not. Someone like Jesus! He’s compassionate. He’s inspiring. He’s got miraculous powers. So when he feeds a crowd of 5000 with a few loaves and fishes, that clinches it. They try to take Jesus by force and make him king. Jesus hides, but that just makes everyone want him more. So Jesus goes up to Jerusalem before the Passover and guess who’s waiting? A huge crowd chanting “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”

The priests lose their minds. They say, “What do we do? If we let him keep going, then the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” But Jesus is too popular to put in jail. Besides, he has a knack for escaping. How many times they tried to arrest him or stone him to death, but kept slipping away. So they only have one option – crucify him. Except they can’t do that. Crucifixion is an abomination to the Jews. And to God for sure. But what if they can get the Romans to do it? If they can pin the blame on Rome, then they get plausible deniability. So the priests drag Jesus to Pilate. Of course, they can’t go inside, because Pilate stands for the pagan cult. They’ll be marked unclean for Passover. So Pilate comes out and asks, “What’s your accusation?” Now, they know Pilate doesn’t care about blasphemy. He only cares about matters of state, like someone trying to depose King Herod. But Jesus never called himself “king”. The priests can’t lie and say he did. Ethics, right? So they’re evasive. “Well, if he wasn’t a criminal we wouldn’t hand him over.”

Now, Pilate just wants this to go away. So he asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Are you threatening Herod? That would be a capital offense. Jesus answers, “Are you accusing me, or did they?” Jesus is calling out Pilate on his fake charge. Pilate doesn’t want to admit that. So he says “I’m not a Jew!” Like, “Look, I don’t know. But your own people are handing you over. What did you do?” So Jesus puts Pilate on the spot. “My kingdom is not of this world. Otherwise my followers would fight for me.” Pilate doesn’t understand so he takes the bait. “So you ARE a king?” Jesus replies “You say that I’m a king, but I came into the world to testify to the truth.” He’s calling Pilate a liar. But Pilate knows that even if Jesus contests, the priests won’t listen. So he plays them. He keeps bringing out Jesus and calling him “King of the Jews.” Finally the priests blow up. “Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor!” There it is. Jury finds treason. Now Pilate can judge. “Shall I crucify your king?” The priests answer, “We have no king but the emperor.” The truth comes out by their own admission.

Maybe our truth isn’t much different. What idolatries do we hide? Maybe we wrap the cross with an American flag, where we can’t tell the difference between patriotism and faith. Maybe we use Jesus’ name like a badge of superiority. Maybe we pass laws and say we’re just trying to preserve life, but we really just want to punish desperate people. It’s not just a Texas thing. Maybe we resent folks who keep railing about injustice because why can’t we all just get along – the God of nice. We all have idols of some kind, and we don’t really want to give them up. Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world, but we’re dying to stay in this one. The one where Jesus is crucified and dies.

But the good news is that Jesus rises from death in the glory of his resurrection. Because he makes a promise to us that’s so important that he’s willing to die for. He promises us that his kingdom is not from this world, and that he has claimed us as his people. A kingdom where there are no winning or losing, but only Jesus’ forgiveness to set us free from all our idolatries that bind us. Because that’s what idolatry is really all about. We all desperately want to be accepted. For someone to tell us that we’re ok. That our lives have not been wasted. But in this tired world, the only way we find that kind of acceptance is by competing for it. Proving that we’re worth it. In the kingdom of this world, we think we have to ration acceptance because we have to have a carrot to dangle and make people shape up. Or we show tough love and think grace means giving folks a chance to rise to the occasion. Or not. But that’s not grace. Grace means the undeserved gift of Jesus’ love.

That’s why Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world. It’s too much for this world. It’s so overwhelming that it’s beyond our understanding. But Jesus knows this, and he’s determined to not let us lose hope. So he gives us a taste of it right here and now. He tells Pilate that “everyone who belongs to the truth hears my voice.” Our translation says “listens to”, but can also be “hears”. When he talks to Pilate, we hear him speak to us too. Jesus’ voice comes in our ears whether we like it or not, and we can’t unhear it. It sticks. It makes faith in us. The kind of faith that trusts Jesus will always claim us as his beloved children.

And that changes everything. We don’t need idols, because Jesus is our assurance. We can rock the boat so that maybe all of God’s children CAN get along. When others accuse us of who knows what, we can respond with humility, because that’s the last thing that anyone ever expects. It’s disarming. When we speak up and tell the truth but others poke holes, we can admit that maybe we don’t know all the answers, but love will prevail in Jesus’ kingdom. Even so, may Jesus’ kingdom come about in us, and may our king keep speaking in our ear.