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I don’t like the term, king or queen. The image of king or queen – it doesn’t mean much to me.
It rather gives me a negative image. Power, Privilege, Entitlement, Domination, and even Corruption.
These are not the words I am not so attracted to.
Especially when they use this term for Jesus whom I love, I feel uncomfortable.
King is a political language. Isn’t there a better word than king to describe Jesus?
But when you read today’s passage, Jesus clearly said he was the king.
You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world… (John 18:37)
This statement is so strange.
Because we all know that Jesus was never the king while he was on earth.
He didn’t become the king. He was simply a carpenter. And he became an itinerant preacher. Then he died as a criminal.
Never the king.
Why did he say that he was born to be a king. And for this he came into the world?
That was exactly what they wanted Jesus to say. They wanted to frame Jesus by saying that he acted like he was a king.
They wanted to charge him with a treason. It could be a very dangerous statement for Jesus.
That was why the first question Pilate asked Jesus was this:
Are you the King of the Jews? (John 18:33)
The only real king to Pilate was Tiberius, the Roman Emperor. The most powerful man in the world at that time. That was the image of a king Pilate knew of.
No Power, No King.
Tiberius sacrificed everything to have the power. Including his wife.
Tiberius had a wife whom he loved. He lived a happy life. But to be the emperor, he was forced to divorce his wife.
Why? Because Tiberius was not his blood line of the previous emperor and he Octavius wanted to have his blood line in the next emperor.
So Tiberius had to divorce his wife and marry Julia, the daughter of the first emperor. He wasn’t happy about it.
But he did it to be the emperor. He did it to have the power. That is the kind of king Pilate knew.
Jesus did not look like a king to Pilate. He had no power in the eyes of Pilate.
Just an innocent poor man who was caught up in the political turmoil.
That’s why after meeting Jesus, he said,
…he went out to the Jews again and told them, ‘I find no case against him.’ (John 18:38)
Why did Jesus say that he was the king?
Jesus’ kingdom was different from Pilate’s kingdom.
Pilate’s kingdom was defined by the power. Controlled by the power. Jesus’ kingdom was not Pilate’s kingdom.
This was what Jesus said.
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. (John 18:36)
Jesus’ kingdom is the kingdom of the truth.
Jesus came to testify the truth. Jesus came to proclaim the truth. Jesus came to make us people of the truth.
Because only the truth will set us free.
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)
To Pilate, that was a foreign concept.
So he asked Jesus,
What is truth? (John 18:38)
His question is this: What’s the truth got to do with anything?
The kingdom is all power; nothing but the power. The truth has nothing to do with the power.
To have the power, lies are permitted.
Sometimes, lies are much more effective and efficient. You can lie through your teeth if that gets you the power.
I see that a lot these days. Truth can be inconvenient.
That is very different from Jesus’ idea of kingdom.
In Jesus’ kingdom, we are free. In his kingdom, Pilate was not free.
Pilate met Jesus again. That comes out in chapter 19. He believed that Jesus was innocent for sure but the crowd shouted to crucify him.
So, he came back to Jesus and asked him.
Where are you from? (John 19:9)
Jesus didn’t answer this time.
And he said,
Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you? (John 19:10)
THEN Jesus said,
You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above. (John 19:11)
Pilate did not have the power to release innocent Jesus. Jesus knew that clearly.
Pilate wanted to free Jesus but he couldn’t. He was not free to do what he believed.
Only the truth can set you free. Not the power.
Pilate lived in that kind of kingdom. The kingdom that doesn’t make sense.
The kingdom that benefits only those who are powerful and privileged. The kingdom where the powerless and the voiceless were ignored, rejected, and abandoned.
The kingdom where the prejudices control human thinking. The kingdom where selfishness dictates and overpowers justice and humanity.
The kingdom where there is no eternal life but only destruction in the end.
That is not Jesus’ kingdom.
Jesus’ kingdom is the kingdom where everyone is respected, honored, and loved.
The kingdom where the truth dictates and the justice is upheld. The kingdom where humility takes priority over bragging and pride.
The kingdom where there is eternal life.
Jesus came to be like us.
He denied even his divinity. He emptied all his power to be even like a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.
Who lifted him up?
Not Jesus.
Who lifted him up?
God lifted him up.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)
He became the king not in a palace through grand coronation. He became the king on the cross.
Ironically it was done by Pilate.
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.” ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ (John 19:19-22)
What kind of kingdom do you live in?
The Kingdom of Power?
Or
The Kingdom of Truth?
We are IN this world but we are NOT OF this world.
Who is Jesus to you?
I hope that Jesus is your king. I want to have Jesus kind of king.
That is my true king.
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