If you have been following this blog with the texts of my sermons, I would hope that you have figured out that while I am a Christian, I do not support the Christian Nationalist agenda that is mobilizing to take control of our government. I do not support the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. I do not support mandate that teachers trained in math or science take on the additional role of being a pastor. I do not want public schools to take the place of the church in any way, shape, or form. If you want your child to learn about Jesus and to become familiar with the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit...please...PLEASE...bring them and yourself to church. We would LOVE to see you on Sunday morning!
This sermon for "Christ the King" Sunday was my anti-Christian Nationalist sermon in its most explicit sense. There is simply no basis for anyone to ever claim the Jesus of the Bible as one who ever wanted to have a 'nation'; hence all these efforts to use the power of the state to indoctrinate children into the Christian faith run totally counter to what should be our practice as Christians. Our role is not to dominate, but to serve. And through our service, we show the love of God as manifest in Jesus.
When I preached this sermon at St. Barnabas, not a single person said "Amen." How about you?
Text: John 18:33-37
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All hail the power of Jesus’s name…O King Divine!
Crown him with many crowns!
Because… on this last Sunday of the eternally long season of “After Pentecost”…we celebrate Jesus Christ as
the King of kings…the Lord of Lords…the most mighty of the mighty….
He’s the top dog!
The big Kahuna!
But…
….he never lifted a weapon.
….never called for bloodshed.
….never proclaimed himself “mighty” or a “king” in that strong man sort
of way.
Jesus was never into that type of power.
So as kings go…he’s a really strange one!
That’s why he completely confounds Pontius Pilate.
The brutal and pompous Roman Governor had just arrived in Jerusalem.
He and his army were there for the Passover celebration to make
sure those uppity Jews didn’t get any strange ideas about challenging the
Empire.
In this Gospel exchange…Pilate is suspicious of Jesus.
He seems to have heard a rumor that there was this
Interloper…some
weird itinerant rabbi doing amazing deeds among the people.
Some were saying this new guy was a “king.”
Kings…in the minds of the ancient world…weren’t like a King Charles
in England…who is just a constitutional figurehead.
A king in the days of the Roman Empire would have much more
authority.
They could amass armies and invade territories and pillage and
plunder.
Given that there was a lot of discontent among the Jews…and the
Zealots were looking for a means to overthrow the Roman Empire…anyone claiming
to be a “king” was seen as an insurrectionist.
Pilate was probably expecting this “King of the Jews” to be a more
brash and brazen character.
But the Jesus who appears before Pilate doesn’t come in fighting or
shouting.
He’s in a simple tunic …not even carrying a stick let alone a
sword.
His only weapon is his words. And his words were love.
We might hear the scoffing and incredulous tone in Pilate’s voice:
“Are you…hmmmm….(air quotes) the King of the…ugh…Jews?”
Unphased…and unwavering…Jesus does what a good rabbi does. He responds
with a question.
“Do you yourself know this about me or did you get it from somebody
else?”
Now Pilate is not only puzzled…but Jesus has just insulted his
prejudice.
You see: Pilate despises the Jews…and Jesus just suggested that by
asking if he’s the King of the Jews…Pilate must be a Jew himself…looking to
address his king.
Pilate angrily dismisses this ridiculous idea that HE is a Jew.
But he’s still operating out of this mindset that a “king” must be
some kind of a strong man.
And yet…here’s this non-combative guy playing mind games with him.
He demands to know what’s this really all about?
Why have the Roman sycophants of Judaism turned Jesus over to him?
And that’s when Jesus really messes with Pilate.
“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…”
“My kingdom is not from this world.
I am not the leader of any nation.
I am not an authority riding on horseback…or wrapping myself in any
flag of any kind.
I do not need nor do I seek power over anyone.”
This is the revolutionary vision of Jesus…the totally
countercultural way in which Jesus asserts his kingship.
It’s what we’ve been hearing every week from Mark…which then gets
picked up by Matthew and Luke…and each one of them adding a little more to the
story here…fleshing out this scene over there.
It’s the Jesus of John’s Gospel…the Jesus who is the Word made into
mortal flesh to live…teach…heal…and die as one of us.
Every time the people tried to make Jesus a king in the way it was
understood in the First Century…Jesus would somehow manage to dodge the crowd
and make his escape.
When he was famished and out in the wilderness and Satan kept
whispering in his ear that if he would just give up on God and worship this
Tempter of his soul instead…he could be king.
Not just of one country.
He could have the whole world be a single Jesus Nation!
And Jesus said no to it all.
“My kingdom. Is not. From. This. World.”
It’s one of the most curious things about the Christian faith.
Those of us who follow Jesus…have met and come to know God through
the life…ministry…death…and resurrection of Jesus…are aligning ourselves not
with dominance…and some bullying political power source.
We are following a compassionate man.
A king who rules not from a throne…but from the cross.
We see in this one we call our Savior: a man who sits down with those who others see
as the expendables…and the unimportant of society.
This king was born on the road…in a stable full of animals… to
human parents living under an occupation.
From the very start of his earthly life…Jesus’s kingship was to
live and move and have a kinship with the vulnerable of creation.
This is not very king-like…even by our standards here in the 21st
Century.
Conventional wisdom of the rest of the world counts the life of
this Jesus as weak.
So then what do we make of this idea of the poor and weak…and the
willing-to-suffer Jesus being our “king of kings”?
Why is our king not a warrior?
It’s a really tough and sobering question for the church…which was
only made more difficult when the Emperor Constantine in the 4th
Century had his big “a-ha” moment…and converted to Christianity and decided
that the worldly kingdom of the Roman Empire was now also the kingdom of God.
The Church has gone through ups and downs and schisms and break
ups…as generations upon generations call for it to remember as the old hymn
says that it’s true “one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” (Hymn #525)
And the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world.
The citizenship we hold in this kingdom as ones aligned with Jesus
calls us to a different land…and bigger understanding.
We are ask to see beyond borders and barriers.
It’s not about any one nation;
it’s about being called into a relationship that lifts our hearts
and minds…our bodies and souls…to a place where there is no longer “us” and “them.”
The kingdom of Jesus is a spiritual and mental shift to put aside
all our earthly aspirations to dominate another.
Our citizenship in this kingdom is about transformation…and learning
once and for all that we are all siblings…adopted children of God…created for
the purposes of helping each other…caring for the disenfranchised among
us…rejoicing with one another in good times…while holding space and being
present to each other in our moments of pain and doubt.
In African culture…this is called Ubuntu…a recognition of the
humanity of another person.
The late Nelson Mandela used Ubuntu as the philosophical practice
to help move South Africa beyond its sinful past of apartheid.
It speaks to the idea of human kindness…mutual caring…and
connection that builds up a community.
That takes an intentional effort to make it happen.
It takes each person having the willingness to do the work of
living and growing into our faith by seeking “peace and justice for all people
and respecting the dignity of every human being.” (BCP, 305)
Being at someone’s hospital bedside…taking food and clothing
donations to the shelter…preparing meals for people: all of these are examples
of the way we put our faith into action…and build and strengthen ourselves and
each other. Demonstrate what it means to follow a king of Love.
Growing up into the people of God…standing taller on the side of
Love…even in the face of those bullies who call our compassion “foolish” or
“weak” in fact makes us stronger…and better citizens of the kingdom of Jesus.
Because to those who are the marginalized…our weakness looks bold
and bright and amazing against a backdrop of anger…fear and hatred.
The more visible we are as the followers of a Jesus who served
rather than sought to be served…the more we conform our lives to his ways…the
more we will be a helper to those seeking love and acceptance.
Earth will become just a little bit more like heaven.
And there will be much rejoicing in the kingdom of Jesus.
In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.
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