“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.
But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.
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.”
Pilate next asks
“What is truth?”
but Jesus has already answered it.
It’s Pilate,
not Jesus,
who’s on trial here.
His rhetorical question
seals his answer:
he will not listen to Jesus’ voice.
We hear this passage –
and a lot more of this bigger story –
on Good Friday every year.
We need to note
that John has shifted blame
to Jewish leaders
because by the time he’s writing
Jesus Jews
have been expelled from synagogues.
But Jesus isn’t on trial in front of them.
Jesus can’t face death
at the hands of Jewish leaders.
That is solely
at the feet
of the Roman Empire.
That’s why Pilate is on trial
and why he has such a hard time
understanding any of Jesus’ answers.
Pilate asks
“Are you the king of the Jews?
What have you done?
So you are a king?”
Jesus doesn’t claim the title.
Pilate has heard accusations
of claiming to be a king
and has to ask
if this is going to be a problem
for his authority
or Caesar’s.
Rather than talking about being a king
Jesus talks about his reign
his kingdom,
the kingdom of God
the reign of heaven
that is at hand.
“For this I was born,
and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.”
The Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus is talking about
isn’t like the borders on a map
that we see on globes
and that are in a state of constant flux.
He says,
“If my kingdom were from this world,
my followers would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over.”
These are people who are following a rabbi
not – much to Peter’s disappointment
as well as many others’ –
subjects following a revolutionary
King-in-waiting.
Jesus calls his followers
followers
because they have listened to his voice
and they have believed into the truth
that God’s reign is at hand
and the whole world is being made new
through God’s acts of salvation
in Jesus himself.
He doesn’t call them subjects
and he’s told them that he came
not to be served
but to serve.
That’s not how someone
trying to overthrow the empire
Talks!
That’s exactly what following Jesus does, though.
It unseats powers and principalities
and removes our bonds
from those of our countries
to our connection to heaven.
The author of Revelation writes,
“To him who loves us
and freed us from our sins by his blood,
and made us to be a kingdom,
priests serving his God and Father…”
Paul and Timothy write to the Philippians
that our citizenship is in heaven.
Pilate doesn’t get it,
and people who think that taking power here
and enforcing some kind of Christian laws
or Christian nationalism
don’t either.
Jesus’ call to his followers
to be in the world but not of it
is echoed in how he addresses
his kingdom to Pilate today.
It’s also how we got this feast in the church
in the first place.
When it was first instituted in the Catholic church
in 1925
it was to remind Christians
that God reigns supreme
not Benito Musolini.
We hear texts on the Reign of Christ
the Sunday before Advent every year
whether we are facing potential authoritarianism
or not.
When we’re comfortable
they should challenge us
to look toward heaven.
When we’re scared
they should comfort us
and remind us that
Jesus is the king of kings
and Lord of Lords
and his kingdom of not of this world.
I normally try to address
something specific happening in the week,
but right now,
everything is always happening all at once.
I can’t keep up with who’s in
and who’s out
in cabinet nominations.
I’m not going to try much
and will instead focus on day to day
and how policy impacts
those on the margins
and the intersections of margins.
In the midst of the chaos and chaos agents,
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,”
says the Lord God,
who is and who was and who is to come,
the Almighty.
We know of wars
and rumors of wars.
God is the Alpha and Omega.
People are dying,
and more people
will be hurt, injured, and killed.
Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.
Rather ignoring the sorrows of others
God’s reign breaks in –
we see that kingdom that’s not of this world –
when we or others
provide aid, assistance, and care.
Pilate and authoritarians
are concerned with who will submit
and how they can maintain their power.
Citizens of heaven
follow Jesus who came not to be served
but to serve.
When we offer ourselves –
when we steward the whole gifts of our whole lives
in service to Jesus –
we see the kingdom of heaven at hand.
When we gather at the font and the table
when we sing
“Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might”
we step into the eternal
and bring it back with us
to our temporal realm.
Being in the world but not of it
doesn’t mean ignoring it.
It means giving of ourselves,
like Jesus gave of himself
when the word became flesh
and lived among us.
For this I was born,
and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
The Reign of Christ
is at hand. Amen.