Every King needs a Kingdom

November 25, 2018 Christ the King Sunday John 18:33-37 Year B Children’s Time……. Jesus answered, "My kingship is not of this world; if my kin gship were of this world my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world." (v. 36) Object: A gavel. Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to talk about kings and kingdoms. How many of you have ever met a king? (Let them answer.) Why not? Have you heard of kings? (Let them answer.) Of course you have heard of them, but we have very few kings left in the world and none of them are in this country. A king is a person who is in charge of his country. Once upon a time they made the laws and they made people obey the laws. People fought for their king and even died for him if they had to. A king was in charge of his country. I brought with me this morning a tool that helps some people be in charge of other people. (Show them the gavel.) Do you know who uses one of these? (Let them answer.) That's right, a judge uses one of these, and so do presidents and committees. This shows that they are in charge of the meeting or the court. It is called a gavel, and it helps to keep order in a meeting. I don't know if a king used a gavel, but he probably used something like it to show that he was in charge. Many people wanted to know if Jesus was a king, and if he was the king, was he in charge of them and their country. Jesus tried to explain to them that he was a king, but not just their king. That didn't sound right to them. He lived with them, worked with them and ate with them. How could he do all of that and not be their king. He was a king, he said, but a different kind of king. They already had kings of their countries. Jesus was a king because the Father in Heaven made him the king over all the countries, all the people, and all the world. Jesus was the "king of men" who live a long time before they died, and he would be the king of men who lived after they lived. That is hard to understand. They wanted Jesus to either be their king, or no one's king. But Jesus knew about God's plan and how people were going to live forever with him in heaven. Jesus knew that men would need a king who did not love some people and hate other people. That was the kind of king that Jesus would be. Jesus did not want people to fight for him, and fight against other people. Jesus was the king of all the people and that was what he was trying to teach them. But they would not listen. They did not understand that he was the Son of God. Now we know what he meant. He was not going to be the king of some people for a little bit of time. Jesus is our king now, because he is in charge of our world, just like he has always been in charge. The next time you see a gavel, or you hear about a king, I want you to think about Jesus and how he is the king of the world for all time and for all people. Amen. John 18:33-37 Common English Bible (CEB) Pilate questions Jesus 33 Pilate went back into the palace. He summoned Jesus and asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others spoken to you about me?” 35 Pilate responded, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your nation and its chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.” 37 “So you are a king?” Pilate said. Jesus answered, “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.” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible There is a story of a little boy who was in a hospital in England in the days of King George V. George V was king of Great Britain from 1910 until his death in 1936. This was when marriage was used as a political tool among the royal houses of Europe. So George was a grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the first cousin of both Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. And yet George was far less pretentious than many of history’s monarchs. The patients in this particular hospital where the little boy in our story was being treated were told that the king was going to pay them a visit that day. So everybody put on their best clothes as they were lying in their bed, waiting for the king to come. This little boy was eager to see the king. All day long there were a number of visitors, because it was visitor’s day. And along about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, a man came in with a number of other men with him. He spoke to some of the boys and girls. He even spoke to this young boy who was waiting so eagerly to see the king. He patted him on the head. He spoke very nicely to the boy and left. That night, as he was being made ready for bed, the little boy spoke to the nurse. “Nurse,” he complained, “the king didn’t come!” And she said, “Oh, the king did come. Don’t you remember that nice elderly man that came over to you and patted you on the head? And spoke so sweetly to you?” And he said, “Yes, I do.” She said, “Well, that was the king.” The boy protested, “But nurse, he didn’t have on his crown!” This is what most disappointed the people who came to see Jesus. He wore no crown… Well, as you can see, I don’t have that problem. You don’t have to tell me to wear my crown. I look forward to this day all year, the day when I can wear my crown to church. Christ the King Sunday – the last Sunday of the Christian year. Next Sunday is a new year, a new day, a new gospel to read. We begin year C – where we will be reading and studying the gospel of Luke. Mark has some valuable lessons, but Luke makes is clearer. As I have gotten older, I have learned to put my democratic meaning ruled by the people bias aside and the think about what it means to declare Christ as my king, my lord. I think that it is important for us all to ponder that question individually, but also as a people in these trying times. Our scriptures have been preparing us for this day. Last week we heard the story of Hannah – the mother of Samuel. Samuel is the prophet who anointed a new king. Remember I said that it obviously was a time of transition. A time when things were not working out, and something new needed to happen. Samuel was obviously able to think about what the people needed, yet he had a relationship with God, so he prayed and listened to God – and he anointed a king. First Saul and then David. David became a great king – (according to the bible, history can find no record of David) but David declared that his kingdom would last forever. The kingdom ended, but Jesus was a came from his family. That brings us to the present moment in the book of John – where Jesus is on trial, standing before the Roman authorities. The romans have the authority to kill him. But it is the Jews who are putting him on trial – saying the he is no king of theres, so he should die. So Pilate as judge – asks Jesus the question of the day - Are you the king of the Jews? And as it happens much to often in our world today – Pilate and Jesus are two people in the same room, using the same words having two different conversations, with to totally different understandings of what those common words actually mean. What does it mean to be King? For Pilate, it means being in control, ordering others around, if necessary taking actions against them, ruling people by force. Jesus says that my kingdom is not of this world. When Jesus says that he is king – he is saying that I am a witness to the truth of God in this world. He is not trying to show power, but the love of God. His kingdom is not one to be ruled by an iron hand, but a caring heart. You don’t need to wear a crown in order to do that. Hellen Keller once said, "The world is moved along not only by the mighty shove of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." That's who we are and that's what we are called to do. In life, it is not the huge things that make a difference. It is the little things that we do everyday that change the world. The Kingdom of God is not about the solitary leader who is giving orders, it is the ordinary people who choose to be faithful. I remember the advice of colleague, when I needed to stand up for a truth when I was being unfairly treated. He told me never go to war with the powers that be, unless you have an army. Well also, you cant be a king, unless you have a kingdom behind you. Jesus is encouraging us to be that kingdom. The ones who follow Jesus to God. The ones who believe and keep the faith in a world that is changing before our eyes. For Pilate, a kingdom is a place. For Jesus a kingdom is an attitude. An attitude of gratitude and love. A character to rule from the heart and not the hand. You cant see the kingdom of God, but you can see the affect it has on the world. The key to the kingdom is how we treat one another. Last week we heard Hannah’s song. In a few weeks Mary will sing the exact same song – a song celebrating the day when the world is turned upside down. Those who were on the bottom are on the top. Those who were royalty are normal and those who are normal are royalty. Both songs celebrate the time for a change, a time of transition, a call for something different. I think it is a song for our time. That is why I am wearing my crown today. Christ the King Sunday. It sounds like some arrogant, pompous thing that the Catholic church would come up with. But the pope came up with this Sunday in the 1920’s. WWI had just ended, a lot of dictators had started to take affect, people were looking for something to believe in that made sense. In the midst of confusion, the pope reminded us that Jesus is the truth and the light. It is sort of like the story of Rip Van Winkle – he fell asleep just as the revolutionary war got started. He didn’t wake up until it was over. So the people asked him if he was a federalist or a democrat-republican – having slept through the declaration of independence – he declared I am a loyal subject of the king – always will be. It didn’t go over well for him. But today – a church billboard puts it clearly – when the donkey and the elephant are fighting – follow the lamb. Jesus the Christ our lord and savior. I think that we are indeed in transitional times, and that is a message to remember. I wanted to show you this short video on why Christ is king. If we ever needed to Lord before – we sure do need him now. Let us pray. Amen. King and Kingdom Ironically, it is not so much the priestly or prophetic aspect of the work of Christ which John highlights in his narrative of the crucifixion. Rather it is the kingly role of Christ as the dying Savior which dominates John's account of our Lord's final hours. I say ironic because John's gospel does not feature the kingdom of God; nor does he focus upon Christ's claim to be the coming king—until chapter 18. Whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke from the very beginning of their gospels describe Jesus proclaiming the imminence of the kingdom of heaven—the miracles of Christ as signs of the kingdom breaking-in to history—the parables (which are completely absent from John's gospel)—as parables of the kingdom, John only mentions the words "king" and "kingdom" six times prior to chapter 18. The kingdom of God and the kingship of Christ are written boldly over the first three gospels. But John's gospel is remarkable for few references to this theme—until chapter 18; and then, in the short space of two chapters, the words "king" and "kingdom" literally explode on the page. The arrest and trial of Jesus before Pilate is full of regal language: "my kingdom is not of this world" (18:36); "so you are a king?" (18:37); "shall I crucify your king?" (19:15); "we have no king but Caesar" (19:15). Sixteen times in two chapters, the Greek words for king and kingdom appear. James T. Dennison, Jr., Witnesses to the King