Loving God, you invite us to see ourselves in your word and to make our response to Jesus.  Guide and teach us by your Holy Spirit, helping us to know the truth and thus to be set free; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Pilate is forced to make a decision about Jesus.  Pilate is forced to decide if he is for Jesus or against him.  Pilate actually doesn’t want to decide at all.  He wishes that the religious leaders and Jesus would just work things out on their own and leave him out of it.  However, like it or not, Pilate has been asked for his decision.

    The religious leaders insist that Jesus deserves death.  Jesus answers Pilate with a calm authority that seems to convince Pilate of his innocence.  And so, several times, Pilate goes back and forth and back and forth – outside to talk to the religious leaders and inside to talk to Jesus.

    Interestingly enough, in Pilate’s conversations with Jesus, it seems as if Jesus is actually the one putting Pilate on trial.  Questions are answered with questions, and Jesus is actually asking Pilate what he believes.  When Pilate asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?,” Jesus’ reply basically asks, “Do you really want to know?” (Jn. 18:33-34).  Jesus is asking Pilate if this question comes from him personally, or from others who have told him something about Jesus.  Does Pilate really care if Jesus is the King of the Jews?

    Pilate’s next question for Jesus is, “What have you done?”  This is simply the wrong question to ask, as the issue is not what Jesus has done, but who Jesus is.  And so Jesus answers a totally different question:  His kingdom is not from this world and is not like any earthly kingdoms.

    Pilate’s final question in today’s gospel is, “So you are a king?” (Jn. 18:37).  Jesus’ reply once again tries to get at what Pilate believes.  “You say that I am a king.”  Pilate is the one who came up with the title “the King of the Jews.”  Does he believe it?  Is Pilate even interested in the truth and in the knowledge of God?  Surely Pilate had no idea who he was dealing with!

    Of course, in the end, Pilate was forced to make a decision either for or against Jesus, and Pilate chose human authority and power over the power of God.  As it turns out, Pilate really wasn’t interested in the truth, and hastened to wash his hands of the matter.

    As with many gospel stories, however, this story is not just about Pilate, but also about us.  Are we not also asked to make a decision either for or against Jesus?  Aren’t we asked who we believe Jesus to be?  Aren’t we questioned in the same manner that Pilate was, and asked if we are interested in the truth?  Aren’t we asked to declare who is our Lord and King?

    Actually, in some ways our decision is easier than Pilate’s was, for we are told far more about Jesus than Pilate ever was.  We have the entire witness of the Scriptures, as well as the witness of people both past and present who live for Jesus and exhibit the Spirit of Christ to everyone they meet.  If we want to find out more about Jesus, we have the means to do so.

    Let’s start, though, simply with what we learn about Jesus in a few short sentences in our reading today from Revelation.  The first and most important thing that we learn about Jesus as he relates to us is that he loves us (Rev. 1:5).  Keep in mind that Jesus didn’t have to come to earth at all.  Jesus didn’t have to leave his heavenly home in order to live among us humans.  Jesus didn’t have to do any of what he did, but he loves us.  And so he “freed us from our sins by his blood”.

    Now that’s a statement that deserves a little bit of thought.  He “freed us from our sins by his blood.”  In fact, it’s a statement that holds little meaning for us unless we believe that we actually need to be freed from our sins.  If we think about humanity in general, it seems relatively easy to look at our world and see that sin is, in fact, a problem.  Most of the heartache that we see, and poverty, and violence, are a result of people living sinful, self-centred lives.  When people live only for themselves and have no love for God or for the people around them, the world as we know it is the result.

    However, the Scriptures tell us that this is not God’s intention for our world or for us.  We were created to live in loving relationships with God, and with others, and with all of creation.  It is sin that destroys all of these relationships, and so Jesus came to break its power with his own blood.

    As the only person in history who has ever lived a sinless life, Jesus was uniquely qualified to do this.  He took the whole weight of human sinfulness upon himself on the cross, breaking its power because of his sinless life.  Just as blood was always used for purification by the Hebrew people, so Jesus’ blood became a healing and purifying sacrifice for sin.

    Because of Jesus, we are not doomed to live under the power of sin and under the threat of judgment and death.  Instead, when we put our faith in Jesus, we are set free to live the lives that God intended for us – in relationships of love rather than of violence and selfishness.  In this we get a glimpse of the kingdom that Jesus calls us to be part of.
 
    This kingdom is made up of those who have decided in favour of Jesus and who want to live with Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.  Revelation says that Jesus “made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father” (Rev. 1:6).  Now, before you object that you’re not about to become a priest, make sure you know what it means.  A priest, in fact, is somebody who has direct access to God and who shares God’s message and God’s love with other people.  Martin Luther always insisted that all Christians are priests – in other words, we are all called to serve God and to share the good news with others.

    As for this being made into a kingdom, those who belong to Jesus are called to live, not according to the ways of the world, but according to the ways of God.  And so, in the midst of a world that still very much reflects the presence of sinful humanity, we are called into an alternative way of being.

    We are called to respond with love rather than with hatred and violence.  We are called to live for God and for others, rather than only for ourselves.  We are called to exhibit the power and presence of Christ in all that we say and do, and to share God’s love in such a way that others are drawn to Jesus.

    Now, we started out by saying that we are asked to decide for or against Jesus, just as Pilate was.  We are also asked who we believe Jesus to be, and who our Lord and King is.  Of course, we are not asked to decide whether to put Jesus to death or not, but whether we recognize him as our Lord and Saviour.  We are also asked if we are willing to live as if Christ is king.

    Let us then give a response to the one who loves us and who freed us from our sins by his blood, the one who came as our Lord and Saviour.  Amen.

Christ the King (B)                                John 18:33-37
November 22, 2009                            Revelation 1:4b-8
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2009 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved