What is a King?
based on John 18:33-37
Rev. Karen A. Goltz

            “Are you the King of the Jews?”  What a loaded question!  On the one hand, it would be ludicrous for this simple Jewish peasant, son of a carpenter and citizen of a conquered people, to answer yes.  On the other hand, as Son of the Living God, how could he answer yes when doing so would suggest that he is king only of the Jews?  It’s not in our lectionary reading today, but Pilate ends this exchange by asking Jesus, “What is truth?”  I think a better question to ask is, “What is a king?”

            Pilate had much the same problem that we do.  To him, like us, ‘king’ was a political term, used to identify the person in charge, the one with all the power.  The king was the one who made the laws and saw to it that they were enforced.  He kept the peace within the borders of his kingdom, and he protected those borders from external threats.  Sometimes he also had to protect himself from internal threats.  Particularly in Jesus’ day, the king of Ancient Rome, Caesar, was believed to be the Son of God himself, though not the god of Jewish worship and understanding, and any challenge to Caesar’s authority was a challenge not only to Caesar’s person, but a challenge to the divine order of the world.

            As governor of Judea and an agent of Rome, it was Pilate’s job to help neutralize any threat to Caesar.  This is why he begins questioning Jesus as he does; the chief priests had denied that their problem with Jesus was an internal matter of religious doctrine, as Pilate suspected, and rather suggested that Jesus was indeed a political threat to Rome.  So, with this accusation in hand, Pilate asks him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Or, more to the point, “Are you a threat to the current king’s power?”

            Because ultimately, earthly kings and rulers are as much or more concerned with obtaining and maintaining their own power as they are with governing.  Some of it’s legitimate and pragmatic—you can’t govern if you don’t have any power.  But some of it’s ego.  It’s quite intoxicating to have people bowing to your every whim and seeing to it that everything happens according to your wishes.  We’ve all heard the old saying, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  The more power one has, the more likely one is to become addicted to that power, corrupted by it, and to elevate keeping that power over and above using it for the good purpose for which it was given.  So Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

            Jesus doesn’t give Pilate a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.  How can he?  Neither ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ answers the question adequately.  Instead he answers a question with a question.  “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”  “Do you think I’m a political threat to Caesar, or are you just asking me this because other people want you to think I am?”  Pilate claims ignorance of the internal motivations of the Jewish people and finally asks Jesus directly, “What have you done?”  And finally Jesus begins to educate him on what Christ the King is all about.

            Christ’s kingdom does not consist of a small parcel of land with protected borders separating it from the rest of creation.  Christ’s kingdom is creation.  All of creation.  All lands, all seas, all sky, all creatures.  Christ’s kingdom is not from this world, but it encompasses all of this world, and more.  Christ’s reign does not last for a single lifespan, or even a dynasty.  Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who is, and who was, and who is to come.  Christ has always been king, is king now, and will always be king, forevermore.  Pilate can’t see beyond his own small definition of king, and Jesus tries to explain to him that yes, he is indeed a king, the King of the Jews, the King of the Romans, even the King of Caesar himself.  But far from being a political threat, Christ the King is a life-giving promise.

            Pilate’s not the only one to have trouble getting his mind around that; it’s hard for us, too.  It’s hard for us to put our trust in someone else to look out for our best interests because that trust is so often misplaced.  Obviously the corrupt leader isn’t going to look out for everyone’s best interests, but even the ethical, moral, well-intentioned leader is going to fall short.  Any earthly leader will have inadequate information, inadequate power, and inadequate resources to truly serve everyone’s best interests.  And each of us individually will also always stand guilty of prioritizing our own interests over everyone else’s, to a greater or lesser degree.  Political leaders have some power over many lives, each and every one of us has some power over our own lives, and none of us wants to give up that power.  We are all kings over our own personal realms.  Power corrupts, and we have all been corrupted by our power.

            But God in Christ has absolute power, and God in Christ is absolutely incorruptible.  God in Christ has the information, has the power, and has the resources to serve everyone’s best interests.  That doesn’t mean everything’s always great right now.  In this world there is poverty, there is sickness, there is war, there is injustice, there is evil.  But all of those are bound to this world, and have only limited power.  Christ’s kingdom is not of this world but does encompass this world, and we don’t have to wait until pie in the sky by and by to see his power.  Because just like any earthly kingdom, the kingdom of God has citizens, subject and obedient to the will of the King, and working according to his purposes.  Because Christ is King, there are those helping the poor to build better lives for themselves.  Because Christ is King, there are those healing and comforting the sick.  Because Christ is King, there are those working to bring about peace.  Because Christ is King, there are those fighting for justice to be served.  And because Christ is King, evil may exist, but it will never prevail.  Because Jesus, the Christ and our King, accepted death on the cross, allowed sin and the power of evil to have its final say, and then he rose again.  Christ our King spoke the final word, and that word was grace, and neither sin nor evil can stand against it.

            You do have power in your lives, and that power was given to you by God to fully participate in his kingdom.  Use that power wisely, in service to the one who gave his very life for you.  As it turned out, the accusations made by the chief priests to Pilate were right; Jesus was a threat to Caesar’s power.  After all, how much does Caesar influence your life today?  How much does Jesus influence your life today?  Look at your surroundings, how you chose to spend your Sunday morning.  That’s a power that endures.  That’s the power of the one who is, and who was, and who is to come.  That’s the power of Christ the King.  Amen.