AS IT IS
“AS IT IS”
2 Samuel 23:1-7 John 18:33-37
Reign of Christ Sunday, Year B, November 21, 2021
First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Andy Kennaly, Pastor
The Roman leader, Pilate, enters the headquarters and summons Jesus for questioning. Did you get all that? Interesting imagery: headquarters, a leader having power to summons someone, who is then brought before them to answer for themselves. Pilate thinks he is in charge! The Roman State assumes control. Maybe “presumes” would be a better word? Empires haven’t changed much.
The Roman Empire, as the leader of the world, has its reach into this occupied area and Pilate is appointed to keep things under control. For him to have this Jesus situation disturb the peace with the local religious establishment is unsettling. It’s his job to keep order in that part of the Empire. Any sense of rebellion or uprising would destroy the status quo. It’s no wonder the religious elite, from their positions of power and prestige, have Jesus arrested.
Did you hear the racism? Pilate asks Jesus if he’s the king of the Jews and Jesus answers with a question pointing out Pilate’s lack of awareness and disconnection. Pilate lashes out, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me.” Pilate has no love for the Jews and his Roman arrogance shines through his reply to Jesus’ question.
As Pilate rants about not being Jewish and saying Jesus’ own nation and the chief priests handed him over, he simply alienates himself. He is like those thorny people in 2 Samuel, politically strong, culturally powerful, but ultimately without hope because they lack relational trust in God, and they live out of great fear cloaked in the illusion of control.
Jesus is not interested in the title of King; it’s amazing we have so many Christian songs about Christ as King, lots of churches named as Christ the King, and yet Jesus never wants to be a king. When the crowds try and make him king, Jesus retreats to the mountains alone; he won’t have it! Pilate is using the term king as a political category. Jesus is interested in making evident the truth. Belonging to the truth is what helps people listen to his voice. Belonging.
Not kingly coercion, not being forced or manipulated or controlled by fear, as Roman appointed governors do; not from occupation or the need to be different than you are. Belonging, in this sense, is a relational term, not an identity term. Identity has to do with externals. Belonging through relationship is an internal quality where superficial distinctions simply break down. Maybe that’s why Jesus asks Pilate if he asks this on his own, or if other told him about Jesus. In this conversation, Jesus moves, not politically, but poetically, from the head to the heart.
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. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” As it is, my kingdom is not from here. Jesus is not eluding Pilate but does make a statement. This is John’s way of writing a gospel story to illustrate that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” Jesus is claiming this ongoing incarnation as the Christ in him reaches out to the Christ in Pilate. Unfortunately, Pilate is blinded to his own divinity as one created in the image and likeness of God, and he misses the sacredness of all things.
Jesus testifies to the truth. His very life is his authority as he lives and embodies truth. Trust, love, relationship, covenant, grace and peace beyond understanding. Jesus knows what and who he’s up against here in the hard realities of the Earthly realm. He is not backing down from Pilate, but through this scene and the terminology he uses, we see Jesus put his life on the line. His trust in God is sure and certain and his experience in the depths of life is far more than death can contain, even death on a cross. Jesus shares a deep Wisdom, while Pilate is simply stuck with limited knowledge.
As Jesus says his kingdom is not from this world, Cynthia Bourgeault gives us something to consider as we talk about heaven. She says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place. . . The hallmark of this awareness is that it sees no separation—not between God and humans, not between humans and other humans. And these are indeed Jesus’s two core teachings, underlying everything he says and does. . . . When Jesus talks about this Oneness . . . . what he more has in mind is a complete, mutual indwelling: I am in God, God is in you, you are in God, we are in each other. (Cynthia Bourgeault as quoted by Richard Rohr in his daily devotional for Wednesday, November 18, 2020, Jesus and the Reign of God, The Kingdom as Consciousness).
This is the conversation Jesus is having with Pilate. This is the truth revealed in the courtroom of political blindness. As we reflect on this Christ the King Sunday, God’s truth is a larger truth in which belonging sets the stage for awareness as we follow Jesus, who says, “My kingdom is not from here.” Not from the world, not from the level of Pilates and states of external distinctions which deny deeper bonds. But from the divine and inclusive Source of Christ, in whom there is simply belonging, relationship, and love; and this Presence transcends dimensions, modes of thinking, and limited perceptions.
This week, go about your life, which includes Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and a plethora of other consumeristic opportunities that gloss over our nation’s treatment toward Native Americans who helped saved the lives of those first European colonizers. Think about how you come alongside the Pilates of the world who want Jesus to be a certain way to validate your standard of living, the privileges you have, and the comforts we take for granted. Who do you want or need Jesus to be for you right now? Or are you willing to take Jesus on his own terms, AS IT IS? Thank be to God for truthful conversations. Amen.