Not of this World

Year B: Christ the King

This is the last sermon of Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary. I’ll post a reflection of my experience preaching the lectionary and the video for this sermon on Monday at 3:00pm. My sermon posts are going to change soon, which is why I’m posting this on a Friday. I’ll explain more as I work out the details.

Year B, Christ the King, November 24, 2024

First Reading: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

Psalm: Psalm 93

Second Reading: Revelation 1:4b-8

Gospel: John 18:33-[38a]

Not of this World

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to 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.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “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. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” John 18:33–38

Unlike the other gospel accounts where Jesus simply offers a “if you say so…”, Jesus gives more of a defense for himself here in John’s account of Jesus’s trial before Pilate (Matthew 27:14).

Here, Jesus’s responses tell us about (1) his kingship, (2) his kingdom, and (3) the truth to which this king and kingdom testify.

What Kind of King is This?

By Jesus’s very presence at a civil trial, we know that Jesus is a king not of this world. What I mean is that had Jesus been like an earthly king, he would be sitting in the governor’s seat, or he would have died trying. Instead, Jesus hasn’t demonstrated any act of violence or preached any message that suggested he had plans of being an earthly king, which is why Pilate is confused by the whole matter.

Instead, Jesus went about doing good through healing, feeding, and encouraging the most poor, destitute, and forgotten of society.

And despite all of his fame, Jesus never once demanded that anyone follow him. When faced with the decision to change his message and purpose to keep the crowds gathered in John 6, Jesus decided to let them leave peacefully after doubling down on his “not of this word” kingship.

Jesus didn’t demand that Pilate bend the knee. He didn’t tell the religious leaders to fall down and worship him. Was he within his right to do these things? As the Son of David, Son of Man, and Son of God, he certainly could. But love doesn’t operate in the world of demands and threats.

Love offers a choice.

This is why America could never be a Christian nation, and it is why no President could ever rule like Jesus. Because if America ever did become a Christian nation or if Jesus ever sat in the Oval Offie, then America would cease to exit as we know it today.

Kingdoms of this world would never survive in their current state if Jesus became king because the kingdoms of this world depend upon threats of violence, imprisonment, fines, fear, and inevitably produce economic injustice (e.g. 1 Samuel 8:1-18).

And unlike earthly kings, Jesus never asked his servants to fight on his behalf, at least any kind of physical warfare.

What kind of King is this? A King not of this world!

What Kind of Kingdom is This?

Jesus proves his kingdom is not of this world through making a simple observation: if Jesus’s kingdom were of this world, and therefore a potential political threat to Rome via violent uprising, then were are the disciples with their swords and chariots? Where is the riot?

Instead, Pilate probably heard the strange story of Jesus rebuking his right hand man for trying to defend him with a sword (John 18:10-11).

So the citizens of the kingdom may be in the “Lord’s army,” but they would never march in the infantry, ride in the calvary, or shoot the artillery. Why? Because that is not how the kingdom of God operates.

The kingdom’s growth is not dependent upon other people’s defeat but through the “enemy” being reconciled to God and sharing in the victory.

The kingdom isn’t interested in winning this plot of land or that; instead, the kingdom can operate and thrive in any culture, under any regime, and in any condition.

While this kingdom is in the world, it is never of the world. That is, you’ll never be able to find a physical address for the kingdom of God, and you’ll never see its citizens take up arms in Jesus’s name. The good news doesn’t mean that some must be put down so that others can be lifted up; instead, the good news hopes that all will be reconciled to Jesus, even those who might be considered enemies in the present moment.

What kind of Kingdom is this? A Kingdom not of this world!

What Kind of Truth is This?

In response to all this, Pilate simply asked, “So you are a king?”

Notice that Pilate is sincerely searching for truth, but he doesn’t know who to believe. At the start, he simply asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” You would think a governor would know this already, so Jesus said, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”

Jesus is basically saying that Pilate would know if Jesus was king since he is in charge of this region, so since he doesn't know this, he must have gotten this information from someone else.

Pilate’s response reveals his exasperation with the whole matter. He was gotten out of bed to deal with some religious dispute over a title? It seemed to Pilate as if Jesus hadn’t done anything worthy of this trial, but whatever he had done had caused such a commotion so as to draw the state’s attention.

Eventually, Jesus reveals why he is in the mess he is in: he came to testify to the truth.

Now, you would think that most people would want the truth, but when the truth threatens everything someone knows, loves, and cherishes, it is much easier for them to embrace a lie or perhaps a lesser truth than to sacrifice everything they know for the Truth.

“Truth” in John is all about Jesus’s purpose in revealing who God really is. This Truth undermines the Serpent’s lie in Genesis 3, which brought death and chaos to the world. In fact, Truth isn’t an idea; it is a Person (John 14:6). His very existence tells us who God is and shows us True reality. As the eternal Word of God, he sets us apart from the world and makes us his own special people who are in the world but no longer of the world (John 17:16-17).

Truth doesn’t just change people’s definition of God; it changes their definition of what it means for Jesus to be king and what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom.

When your power, money, and influence are tied up in these old ways of viewing the world, it’s easy to see why some would go as far to shout, “Crucify! Crucify!”

The Truth calls us to crucify ourselves with Christ, to drink the cup of suffering, and to lay down our lives for each other, which is the greatest expression of love.

From this perspective Jesus doesn’t die instead of us; he dies ahead of us.¹

But this death doesn’t end in death. This death ends in resurrection.

It is this last fact that causes most to stumble at the Truth because everyone wants resurrection, but not everyone wants “the world to be crucified to [themselves] and [themselves] to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

This Truth asks you to give up everything, but it IS everything.

What kind of Truth is this? A Truth not of this world.

Second Reading: Kingdom of Priests

In the first century, the church faced widespread persecution from two different worlds: political and religious.

The political world, represented by the Roman Empire, persecuted the church because through claiming that Jesus is Lord, they were arguing that Caesar was not. The religious world, represented by the Jewish leaders, persecuted the church because through claiming that Jesus is High Priest, they were arguing that the priesthood and covenant was changing.

In Revelation, John begins his account of his various visions by writing, “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:4–6).

Notice how John affirms Jesus’s role as both king and priest in this text. It is Jesus who rules over the kings of the earth, not Caesar, and it is Jesus who freed (or washed) us from our sins by his blood, not the blood of bulls and goats.

John then does something incredible: he claims that you and I are kings and priests in the kingdom of God. We aren’t passive observers in the world or passive recipients of Jesus’s kingship and priesthood; instead, we are invited to participate in spreading the good news that Jesus is king as well as the peace that comes with the forgiveness of sins.

What are you doing with this calling? How are you using this time God has given you to be part of the kingdom? How are you acting as a priest to the people in your life?

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1. I’ve heard this idea expressed by different people, but most recently I read Andrew Remington Rillera’s work Lamb of the Free in which he uses this phrase several times.