“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.”
Jesus speaks these words to Pilate, the fifth prefect of the Province of Judea, an outpost of the Roman Empire which ruled a great deal of the world at that time.
But ironically, as he judges Jesus, Pilate ends up getting judged.
You see, Pilate has to make a choice.
He must choose between the earthly kingdom of the Roman Empire and the kingdom that Jesus describes, a kingdom not of this world.
Not surprisingly, Pilate chooses what he knows, and what he’s pledged his allegiance to, the Roman Empire.
We are reminded of this choice of Pilate every Sunday when we say the Nicene Creed.
“For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried.”
Every Sunday, we remember that Pilate chose to perpetuate the way of injustice, violence, suffering and death by which the Roman Empire maintained its power when he set his earthly kingdom over the kingdom of God to which Jesus claimed allegiance.
Pilate’s choice continues to echo down through the centuries with a resonance and power that we Christians must take into consideration as we struggle with what it means to live as Christians in a broken and dangerous world that is constantly calling on us to choose.
God’s kingdom or earthly kingdoms?
Even the ordinary moments of our lives put us in the position of making choices for or against the kingdom of God.
The arc of the church year itself brings us to this place of decision.
At the beginning of the church year, in Advent, we wait for and prepare for God to come among us. During Epiphany, we hear the stories that point toward the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. We hear the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in a nutshell during Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.
And then, the Holy Spirit shows up at Pentecost and the church is born, and during the season after Pentecost, we as the church get to see the life and witness of Jesus up close—we hear that this very kingdom Jesus refers to in today’s gospel has come near, and we see the signs of the truth of that statement as Jesus heals people, casts out demons, feeds the hungry, eats with outcasts and sinners, and makes space for his saving acts not only among the chosen people, the Jews, but also among the Gentiles.
And then, finally, we come to today, the last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday, and to put it bluntly, we get put on trial.
We have to decide.
God’s kingdom– The way of justice, love, freedom, peace, and healing?
Or earthly kingdoms—which inevitably go the way of injustice, violence, suffering and death?
Remember, the writer of Revelation points out that when God’s kingdom comes on earth, ALL the tribes of the earth shall wail on Jesus Christ’s account.
And the first thing that we as individuals and we as a nation who claim to be Christian will be judged on is what kingdom, and whose power and glory we have actually claimed, and chosen to submit ourselves to in this lifetime.
God is merciful, forgiving, loving and faithful.
But God is also just and we will be judged.
So Jesus taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer and ask first, before anything else, for God’s kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
These days, “kingdom” seems to be an outdated term that we can’t relate to—but that is the whole point!
When we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we are praying for a particular order which requires that we submit to something greater than ourselves.
And that something greater than ourselves is none other than God.
God’s kingdom puts all nations and all people, as our Eucharistic Prayer B puts it, into subjection under our Christ.
Personally, I’m resistant to that word, “subjection.”
And yet, every time I pray for God’s kingdom to come, I’m at least giving lip service to the fact that I’m claiming to be a subject of God’s kingdom, right now.
I’m admitting my powerlessness in the face of God’s power, accepting God’s role as ruler, and my role as a subject who longs with my whole heart to follow Jesus and to live a life of submission to God and of loving service to all human beings, just as our Lord and Savior asked us and showed us how to do during his time among us on earth.
On the national level, our nation can claim to be Christian only in as much as it chooses to be part of something greater than itself—part of God’s kingdom, and understands itself as subject to God and to God’s desire that, as a nation, we live according to God’s commands to love God and to serve the common good.
Whether or not we choose God’s kingdom in our lives will be evident in how well we have tried to love God with our whole hearts, and souls, and strength and minds, and how well we have tried to love our neighbors as ourselves, neighbor being as widely and as expansively defined as possible.
When we choose God’s kingdom above everything else, then in the midst of what is going on around us, we live as people of hope and humility, trusting that our hopeful prayer will be answered and that God’s kingdom will indeed come on earth.
When we choose God’s kingdom over earthly kingdoms, we are choosing to have faith that in spite of all the chaos in the world, God is in control, and we hope in God’s goodness rather than to fear for our own safety.
When we choose God’s kingdom in this world, we see signs of that kingdom coming to birth in ourselves and also in the world. We can feel the birth pangs of hope in the midst of despair, we can see signs of life in the desolation of death, we can feel God’s love and peace present even in the midst of hatred and anger.
When we choose God’s kingdom in this world, we wrestle with the tough issues that can be found on the pages of any newspaper on any day of the week—tough issues that include things like what the criteria for transplants should be and how much should wealth influence who gets life saving treatment, what should be done about homeless people camping in public spaces and panhandling, what should be done about immigration, what should be done about refugees fleeing from war, and locally, whether or not the mosque in Spotsylvania should be allowed to move into larger quarters….just a few of the many issues about which we form opinions and respond out of our perspective as Christians who claim to be part of God’s kingdom.
A little later in his gospel, John tells us that Jesus, carrying his own cross, is taken to Golgotha, The Place of the Skull, where he is crucified and with him two others, one on either side of Jesus.
Luke zooms in on this scene and provides us with the conversation that takes place among the three. One of the men mocks Jesus. “Are you not the Messiah? Then save yourself and us!” But the other says, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” And then he says to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Two men—both guilty.
One still chooses the ways of the world—Messiah, use the earthly power you must have as a Messiah to save my life.
The other chooses the kingdom of heaven.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He could have been praying those very words that Jesus has taught us all to pray.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”
So on this Christ the King Sunday, as the door of the old church year is shut behind us and we pass through the open door before us into the year ahead, may we choose God’s kingdom, so that we can wait with hope for its coming while we live as if it has already arrived in all its transforming and life giving glory.
Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.
Amen.