Today is Christ the King Sunday. This festival was added to the church calendar in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. If you think we are living in tough times, imagine this: it was a terrible time, and the Italian Pope saw Mussolini in power and Hitler’s Nazi Party gaining strength. Mein Kampf had just been published. Pope Pius felt that in these desperate times, if people recognized Christ as King, they could be free from the evils of leaders like Mussolini and Hitler, in fact, everyone could be free of all tyranny.
The idea of Christ as a king may be a bit uncomfortable to Americans as we founded our whole democracy as a bulwark against the idea of kingship. Despite that, just as in Jesus’ time, there are American citizens who long to be ruled by a king who is above the law, with no check on his power.
Our gospel begins in the middle of Christ’s trial before Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judea, serving under the emperor Tiberius. Pilate’s job is to keep the peace in his province. Now he’s been presented with this troublemaker, and he needs to act quickly.
The crux of today’s Gospel is this question: ‘Who is Jesus?’ Pilate is working very hard to figure it out and his question is genuine. He has been asked to kill this man and he wants to know why, he wants to know who Jesus is.
The two men have an interesting dialogue. Pilate asks: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Now this seems to be a silly question because it is the Jewish elders who have brought Jesus to Pilate. Why would they bring their Jewish king to a Roman official, asking for his death? Jesus answers this question with another question, a very Jesus thing to do and a very Jewish thing to do: “Do you say this on your own or have others spoken to you about me?”
He and Pilate go back and forth. Jesus addresses this “king” charge by saying that his kingdom is not from this world. Pilate hears the word ‘kingdom’; “So you are a king?” Now Jesus sighs, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.” Our reading stops here but I love the next line where a very puzzled Pilate asks: “What is truth?” I think he has a headache by now.
In this dialog Pilate is keeping things secular: if Jesus is a king, then he’s guilty of treason because the emperor Tiberius is the king of everyone, everywhere, including the Jews. Jesus keeps things holy: “My kingdom is not from this world. My kingdom is not from here.” These two stand little chance of understanding each other.
Who is Jesus? He doesn’t refer to himself as a king, but he sure refers to his kingdom, the kingdom of God, all the time. We, also, refer to the kingdom of God very often, whenever we pray the Lord’s prayer: “for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.”
Listen: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." We pray all the time to find God’s kingdom here on earth. We pray for an overwhelming change in the nature of the world. Our earthly kingdoms are about money and power. The kingdom of God is about love and humility.
The concept of kingdom is central to our faith. Jesus tells us over and over that the kingdom is at hand, and I always envision it right here, in my own hand. We don’t have to die and go up to some cloudy place with angels and harp music to enjoy the kingdom of God.
This kingdom is a state of being, a way to live. This kingdom is a gift from God, and it is up to us to bring it about ourselves. We bring the kingdom of God to life right here in Montesano, right here at St. Marks by doing our best to live God’s love, God’s truth.
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Jesus said, “I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.” I join Pilate in asking, “What is truth?” Last week, amid all the warnings we were getting about the coming bomb cyclone, I saw people questioning the weather service, sure that the storm warnings were some sort of conspiracy. So now the weather service is out to get us! What is truth?
We hear so much these days, we have so much information flung at us. How do we know what is true? You know what I always say: a simple way to determine God’s truth is to look for love. If you are hearing a lot of hate in a message, then it is not God’s truth.
Here are some simple truths:
Truth: God loves us so much that he comes to us as Christ.
Truth: God loves us so much that his grace extends to every single one of us.
Truth: God’s kingdom is right here on earth with us now.
Truth: It is our task to usher the kingdom in, not by right belief, but by right action, as we seek to love others, help our neighbors, and heal the broken ones.
King of truth, help us to listen to your voice first so that your voice drowns out all of the false voices that surround us. Keep us focused on you and your love and mercy for everyone. Show us daily how to help the needy in our midst and shower them with your love.
Today is a joyous day when we recognize the truth of Christ’s kingship. Today we remember who rules the world. Our Christ is the King of Love, as we sing:
"The King of love my shepherd is, whose goodness fails me never. I nothing lack if I am his, and he is mine forever.”
Alleluia.