Christ the King B

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37

I remember when my dad would talk about how things would be different if he were King for a day. Often it involved the interpretation of particular rules of Major League Basketball. (“If I was King for a day, you wouldn’t be able to take four and a half steps on your way to dunking the basketball.”)

How would things be different if you were King for the day?

Maybe your kingly actions would have more important subjects than basketball. For example, if you could command an entire nation of people with just a word, what would you do about terrorist attacks? ISIS? Millions of refugees fleeing from war and poverty?

Maybe at the thought of that terrible responsibility, you’d turn down being the ruler. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

OK, so we may not want the job. But it is natural to yearn for a king, a ruler with authority that can fight our enemies and correct the problems of our world.

• two apocalyptic texts (Daniel, Revelation) today that share the theme that God will send a King, an anointed one.
• both text mention others, other nations, other languages, other cultures

In the Gospel of John, Jesus deals with the issue of kingship directly. The people of his world also yearned for a ruler, a king. Their problem was that they could only think of this kingdom in terms of human rulers. And human rulers all maintain their power in basically the same way:

• use violence …
• threaten violence … (big enough stick) …

Still today we see this way of power at work. There are those who look to increase their power by terrorizing others like the attacks in Paris, Beirut, Egypt, and Mali. To try to restrain evil in the world, we have our own armies, and pray that if we act justly, we can reduce violence instead of just adding to it.

As Jesus tells Pilate, in his kingdom, there is a different way of being.

Jesus points to a kingdom, and a ‘way of being’ not based on force, but on forgiveness. Not based on violence, but truth. Not to take life, but to offer it. In the Kingdom of God, love is more important than winning.

Jesus says his kingdom is not from here. But it is here. Side by side with our own broken kingdoms of power. And so we live in this weird in-between time where we can be filled with hope by God’s word but also filled with fear by images of violence and pain.

We live in a world in which both kingdoms are at work. So what looks like right is often wrong. And what looks like weakness can be great strength. It can be difficult to know how to live in between these kingdoms, especially when we are threatened by violence, like the terrorist attacks that have recently filled our TV screens.

Theologian Brian McClaren’s Terrorism Trilemma:¹

1. Denial (Not my problem.)
2. Transmission (Revenge, scapegoating.)
3. Transformation (Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek.)

As a nation, it’s a hard and complicated task to figure out how to best respond to this kind of hatred. But each of us, also, has to respond as an individual. When we can encounter hatred, we can deny it. Pass it on. Or be transformed.

Transformation requires bold, courageous love. The way that Jesus loved us, even as we hung him on a cross under a sign that mocked him for being a king.

The way of life that Jesus calls us to is not easy. But maybe the hardest part of being transformed is believing that forgiveness is for our enemies, too.

From Revelation:

“Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.” (Revelation 1.7 NRSV)

Every eye will see the King. Even the ones that pierced him. The good news of Jesus is for those who hate. The kingdom of God even comes for those that reject Jesus. And the kingdom of God also comes for us who love Jesus, but struggle to follow him. Especially with the turning of the other cheek to our enemies.

As long as we live in this world, there will be enemies. There will be pain. And we, too, will be a part of it.

None of us will ever get to be king — even for a day. But we know someone who is. Jesus invites us to a way of living together that has a different kind of power. Jesus invites us to live in a kingdom that resists violence and hate, even as it goes on around us. Even as it is committed against us. Even as it is committed by us.

The Kingdom of God is at work in this world when we are transformed by God to love as we have been loved. To forgive as we have been forgiven. To see beloved neighbors even in the faces of those who mean us harm. Not to run from them. Not to hate them back. But to show love to them.

And we can. Not because we’re stronger, or have bigger armies. But because even when we were enemies of God, God first loved us.