A sermon preached by the Revd Dr Trevor Jamison at Saint Columba’s United Reformed Church, North Shields, 24 November 2024
(Feast of Christ the king / The Reign of Christ)
Unfortunately for technical reasons, it was not possible to livestream this service
“It’s life Jim, but not as we know it,” is a quotation attributed to Mr Spock in the original Star Trek science fiction television series, when confronted with an alien entity, the starship’s scanners are unable to analyse it because they have never an encountered such a phenomenon before.
That quotation often comes to my mind when I encounter today’s Gospel reading – the conversation between Pontius Pilate, the Roman Empire’s representative in Judea, and Jesus, on trial for his life … and for the sake of ours.
It’s a Bible passage appropriate for today because the conversation is about kingship. Jesus, having been seized by a group of his political and religious opponents, has been dragged off to Rome’s representative. The charge, calculated to concern an empire always on the lookout for potential opposition or insurrection, is that Jesus wants to install himself as ‘King of the Jews.’
Hence, Pilate’s question to Jesus: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ (18:33) Jesus’s first response is to ask whether this question really comes from Pilate, or from those who want Jesus dead: ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate’s answer implies that it’s the action of others that have led to his question. (8:34)
That’s when Jesus starts talking about his kingdom and kingship, which are, to echo Mr Spock on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, kingdom and kingship alright … but not as we know it.
In this world, kingdom and kingship – ‘politics’ and ‘political’ authority – are about power, backed up with the threat or use of force. At the everyday level political authority is enforced through laws. Sometimes this involves force and the application of penalties, including imprisonment. It might even extend to the waging of war.
Jesus’s description of his kingship and his kingdom – his authority – however, is completely at odds with the usual notions of kingdom and authority. He spells this out for Pilate, representative of Rome, whose idea of ‘peace’ was the military destruction of all opposition. Jesus says, ‘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.’ (18:36)
And just remember, as always in John’s Gospel, here, the phrase, “The Jews” should not be taken as describing all Jews or their descendants. It’s shorthand for those Jews who at that time opposed Jesus. After all, at this point, Jesus himself, and all his followers were also Jews.
So if Jesus’s kingship is kingship, but not as we know it, what sort of ‘kingship’ is it? It’s important to think about that because the answer or answers we give to that question influences or decides the ways in which we seek to live in this world; what sort of kingdom we are seeking to create.
And we are called to be different in comparison with the ways of the world. The first point that Jesus puts to Pilate is that his kingdom is different: ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world,’ he says. (18:36)
One of those sayings that most irritates me is, “you’ve got to live in the real world.” I don’t want to live in what’s called “the real world” because when people talk about the world in that way their picture of it is a disappointing one. The so-called real world is one based upon self-interest, where “charity begins at home”, which usually means not caring about anyone else. In the “real world”, so-called, you “look after number one,” and all of this is quite at odds with Jesus’s core teaching that you look to God (not self) first, and that you treat others on an equal basis to yourself. Being a citizen in Jesus’s kingdom is to be out of step with the ways of the world.
And an essential element of life under King Jesus is that it is a positively peaceful life. Having said that his ‘kingdom does not belong to this world,’ Jesus’s first piece of evidence in support of that is that if it were, ‘my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.’ (18:36) Political entities in this world depend upon their armies, and are ever-ready to deploy them. Jesus’s followers, he says, comprise a non-army, one that refuses to be at war with others. There’s something to ponder when you consider the history of this nation.
And then this Kingdom of Jesus, which ‘does not belong to this world,’ and whose followers decline to go to war to protect it, is a Kingdom of Truth. Having listened to what Jesus has to say about his kingdom being not of this world and his followers avoiding conflict, Pontius Pilate responds, ‘So you are a king?’ (18:37)
Jesus next words are, ‘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.’ (8:37) Now that may be kingship, but if so, it’s not kingship as we know it. What sort of kingdom is based upon the king being the one who tells the truth, and who expects the members of his kingdom to be committed to that truth? That’s not something I’ve ever encountered in “the real world.” In fact, whether through character defects, or because political necessity has pushed them in that direction, we tend to think of political leaders as likely not to tell us the truth; to be people we need to keep an eye on; people whose words we regard with suspicion.
Yet to be committed to the truth is more important than ever in our twenty-first century world. It is very difficult to arrive at agreement about what constitutes the truth today. Technological change has played a large part in this situation. Where before there were a limited number of entities that provided information on a widespread basis – newspapers, radio, television, and governments – nowadays pretty well any individual can share their views (including their prejudices and their ignorance) with the entire world via the internet.
One reaction against this to retreat into online groups that say the things you agree with, or only watch those tv channels that reflect your views. Increasingly we inhabit echo chambers where we hear only our own views. It has become much more the norm to broadcast one’s opinions or desires as if they were “the truth” and simply label other views as false or fake. Once everyone appears to be doing this, there follows a massive loss of trust in anything you hear others say. That’s why it is so important that members of the Kingdom of Jesus are known for telling the truth, in a peaceful way, and with the interests of others, not just themselves, in view.
Pontius Pilate, and all the representatives of governmental “business as usual”, found themselves at odds with what kingship meant for Jesus. Jesus’s kingship – his kingdom – is at odds with much of what goes on this world; it is a kingdom of peace (not war or violence); it is kingdom of truth (the opposite of “fake news”); it is the sort of kingdom that this world needs. So next week, as Advent begins, as we turn our thoughts towards Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ, may we celebrate and share the news of God’s decisive step in making that kingdom of peace and truth come upon earth. Amen.