The Message: “We Have One Purpose”
November 24, 2024
Today is Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the culmination of a whole year of scripture reading, discernment, and prayer. We have walked with this Jesus from the time he was a child, to his calling of the disciples, and the teaching and healing that followed. We have been with him on trial and watched helplessly as he died on a cross. We were surprised at his rising. Now on this Sunday we are asked, what does it mean to make him the King of our lives? In the gospel lesson today, the Roman governor Pilate is focused on the charge of kingship toward Jesus. This seems to be a strange thing to get in a lather about. Why should Pilate care? It matters a great deal more to Pilate then we casual observers might think.
The theologian Dr. Susan Hylen says, “Yes, he tells the waiting Jewish authorities that he finds no case against Jesus. But Pilate should not be viewed as an innocent bystander swept along by the will of the Jewish authorities. It is Pilate that plays against Jewish aspirations for political independence by taunting the Jews with the idea of Jesus’ kingship.” Imagine a kingship not based on Roman appointment but a kingship that is independent of Rome. Pilate plays up Jesus’s kingship by having him dressed in a purple robe, and a crown of thorns placed on his head. Then he presents Jesus to those Jewish authorities who demand his crucifixion. It is Pilate who maneuvers the Jewish leaders into a position of demanding the death of their own king. Granted they don’t see Jesus as their king, but by rejecting Jesus, they reject any king that is independent of Roman power. On top of this, the whole scene plays out during the time of Passover. Passover is the time of the year that the faithful ought to be reminded of the power of God. The power that helped the people of Israel to face off against the might of the Egyptian empire. A power to set the oppressed free and caused the angel of death to Passover them. It is a time when the centrality or kingship of God in their lives, should be most present. So, when Pilate asks, “shall I crucify your king?” And they respond, “We have no king but the emperor.” The Jewish leaders are proclaiming that God is not the ruler of their lives nor do they want independence from Rome. This willy Roman governor has won a major blow in the court of public opinion.
Another part of the irony, says Dr. Hylen, is that Pilate is using his own authority at the trial and crucifixion of Jesus to declare that Jesus actually is the king of Israel. He even has a sign placed on top of the cross saying, “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” The writer of the gospel of John goes to great lengths to point out the abuse of power or more precisely the abuse of authority within Rome and the religious leaders. It is one of the reasons that earthly kingship rarely if ever works out. Those with power, even if they start off with great intents, in no time, care more about holding on to power than using power for the good of those who gave them that power in the first place. In the words often ascribed to Lord Acton, in the words often ascribed to Lord Acton:
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The way of Jesus is different. Jesus never starts with power or the use of power. Instead, Jesus begins with purpose and not surprisingly is ending his life with a statement of that purpose. In response to Pilate asking, “So are you a King?” Jesus responds, “You say that I am a king.
I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me.”
Sadly, in all the political maneuvering of Pilate and the Jewish authorities the truth is what is lost. And what is the truth, that to love God, and love your neighbor, is the highest and most life-giving endeavor of our short existence on the planet. Whenever we get sucked into some power play no matter how small we are literally taking years off our lives. And not just ours but all those who are equally caught up in the use of power to get our way instead of seeking truth.
I greatly admire my friend Susanna who has opened the door of Non-violent Communication to me. I am presently on the Condo Board with her, and she is the chairperson. Whenever there is a conflict, she listens intensely to what I call the symptoms of the conflict which are the originating incident, the words spoken afterwards and how people are feeling about what happened. As the chair she has the power to, like a judge or Queen, to pronounce a judgment or discernment on the way forward. But that is not how she chooses to use her power and authority.
Following the NVC principles Susanna gently tries to get at what are the unmet needs of those involved the conflict. Once people can, in many cases, uncover for themselves the truth of those unmet needs, the energy of the group, the power of the group can be used to answer the needs of those involved instead of being wasted on discerning who is right or wrong. The kingship or power of Jesus was based on deep truth and not the superficial truth of right or wrong. The truth of where we need acceptance, healing, love, compassion and grace. This kind of power confounded Pilate and the Jewish authorities who sought to grab and hold power for what it could do for themselves and not what it could do for others. Therefore, to place Christ at our center and declare him King means that the purpose of our lives will mirror the purpose of Christ’s life which is to use whatever power we have to love, to forgive, to accept and to offer grace to those closest and those farthest from us. This is power of Christ the King, and it gives us a purpose to live into. Amen.
