A Reign Forever Now

Today is the last Sunday in the church year.  Next Sunday we begin a new church year starting with the first Sunday in Advent.  Here in the US, we are also celebrating our Thanksgiving Holiday, and to make things even more complex, our lectionary passages introduce today’s theme of the Reign of Christ with stunning words from Revelation and the Gospel of John.  Obviously we cannot give each of these themes adequate attention today, so we must settle on one theme or idea.  So let’s explore who or what rules our lives today.  Who or what is king of your life?

Will you pray with me?  “God who reigns forever, we ask that you be present as we contemplate who the real ruler of our lives is.  Help us to cast off our fear and worry, and consider your Gospel of unconditional love right now.  Amen.”

The Gospel of John has always captivated me.  John saw the life and work of Jesus very differently from Matthew, Mark and Luke in the synoptic Gospels.  Synoptic means common view, and Matthew, Mark and Luke share many of the same stories and themes.  But the Gospel of John strikes off in a different way into the story of Jesus’ life.  Our passage today is an excellent example, because the synoptic Gospels just record Pilate asking Jesus if he is King of the Jews, with Jesus answering, “You say so.”  But John goes much deeper into this amazing conversation.

Pilate is the most powerful man in Israel.  Everybody knows this.  Everybody except Jesus.  Pilate asks Jesus a question, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus does not answer, but dares to ask another question, thereby taking control of the conversation.  Jesus asks, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”  Now Jesus knows full well that his life is in Pilate’s hands.  Jesus is not delusional or a fool.  But Jesus also knows that Pilate could care less about local internal Jewish arguments, unless, of course, the arguments begin to threaten Roman rule and the peace of Rome, Pax Romana.  But Jesus’ question really asks Pilate, are the Jewish leaders telling you what to say? And as the conversation continues, it becomes increasingly obvious that Pilate is really afraid of losing his power and control of Jerusalem.  And so, a homeless peasant Jew is bringing Pilate to the very question that haunts Pilate’s life.

Pilate watches and learns from Jesus’ actions that Jesus is not afraid of losing control or power—in fact Jesus plainly says if he had any earthly power that his followers would now be fighting Pilate.  Instead of acknowledging Pilate’s power, Jesus declares, “My kingdom is not from here.”  First Jesus dares to challenge Pilate, and then Jesus tells him that there is a power that is greater and beyond Pilate’s control.  Imagine Pilate talking to this peasant who has now taken control of the conversation and has challenged his Roman authority by asking why Pilate is acquiescing to the fears of the Jewish leaders.  Jesus invited Pilate to be open and authentic with him.  Jesus invited Pilate to talk about the very foundation of his fears about losing control of the Jews.  Jesus challenges Pilate here and says—you think you are the most powerful person in these parts, but you and I know differently.  You are terrified of losing control, aren’t you?

Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter with Pilate—probably the most honest conversation Pilate has ever had with anyone.  Jesus asks Pilate, “Who rules you?”  Pilate must face the fact that that preserving his control and power is even more important than his fidelity to Rome.  Jesus lays Pilate bare, exposing the truth of Pilate’s life.  Pilate can only scoff by denying it all by sneering at Jesus right after our passage, “What is truth?”  Jesus showed Pilate the truth of the matter.  Pilate was consumed with preserving his control and power, and Jesus than challenged Pilate, showing him that there is a power above earthly power.  Pilate met his match in Jesus.  Pilate was ruled by his need to control and wield his Roman power, trapped in fearful terror of losing control.  He rejected any other greater power and control was available in the world.  But I imagine Pilate had nightmares about Jesus’ conversation that day for the rest of his life.

Of course, we could also imagine Jesus having this conversation with us.  Where would Jesus note that our lives were focused?  What would Jesus say to us about control and power and who or what rules our world?

The Reign of Christ poses a difficult question to each of us as Christ-followers.  On the one hand, are you waiting for a Reign of Christ where Christ comes in the clouds and eliminates all opposition with violent power?  Isn’t this what first century Jews and early Christ-followers waited for?  And when Jesus instead, came as a suffering servant rather than a political and military victor, they were deeply disappointed and then re-imagined that Jesus would come again, soon, as the political-military controlling power that would sweep away all of the Pilates of the earth.  And those that believe in this type of kingdom of God are still waiting for this vision of a power-saturated Jesus. 

Or, on the other hand, are you waiting for a peaceable Kingdom of God come now, here, in this place?  A Kingdom of Christ that does not rule by power and force, but rather through the power of love.  Jesus said that Kingdom is already here among us.  This Kingdom is not coming, it is already here for all who acknowledge it and claim God’s unconditional love as real and alive today.

How we answer the question of how and when Christ’s Reign will come has a huge impact on our worldview and how we live our lives.  If Christ’s Reign is only in some future supernatural time, then we do not need to care for our earth or for one another because everything will be swept away and made anew in some future supernatural time.  But, if Christ’s Reign is now, then we need to take responsibility now for the earth and being loving stewards of one another.  If the Kingdom of God is now, then we need to live it now.

Christ’s Reign is not a kingdom of this world—that is what Jesus told Pilate in our passage today.  Just as Pilate was so confused about the not-of-this-world kingdom that Jesus claimed, the world also remasins confused.  Our world measures kingdoms by power, money, fame and control.  But Jesus challenges us to be candid and upfront with him about who rules our world every day.  Do we ask and worry about what others tell us to think, or are we asking the questions that truly move our own souls?  Can we be honest about our lives, our worries, our beliefs, whom we trust?  What motivates our lives?  Or, do we hide behind someone else’s ideas of what makes the world go around like Pilate asked Jesus?

Looking around for examples, one might quickly think of the crowds of shoppers on Black Friday, and this year on Grey Thursday, acting as if they can only do what the commercials tell them to do, as if shopping and consumerism were their true gods.  Of course, this might be too simplistic a view.  Some of those shoppers might be stretching what few dollars they have to go as far as they can.  Maybe they are only coping with poverty as best they can, but there are also certainly also shop-a-holics in the crowd.  Sometimes idolatry and necessity walk closely hand-in-hand.  We cannot be too quick to judge other people’s journeys.  But the masses do seem to be asking someone else’s questions.

During the past few weeks, I have been deeply struggling with these very questions.  And I must confess to you that I have realized that sometimes worldly power and control have come to center stage, rather than living in the always-present loving kingdom of God.  I wish I was perfect and always lived in God’s Realm, but I confess to you I do not.  Has this realization and confession of straying away from God’s Realm been easy for me?  No.  Has the realization and confession deepened my faith life?  Yes.  For two reasons.

  One, I have been reminded that we must live our lives moment-by-moment before God.  We cannot decide just once that we will live with God and Christ as our ruler.  We must live with God as our ruler in each day and in each moment.  And second, humbly coming back to God has reminded me of God’s grace, shown by God and by the daily living grace of those around us in Christian community.  None of us are perfect or blameless before God and without sin.  We grow spiritually in community and in God when we travel on this messy journey of life together, tripping, stumbling and helping one another along, sins and all, faults and all, mistakes and all.  The realm of God is not made up of blameless sinless people in some future utopia with Jesus ruling forcefully from the clouds.  Instead, the Realm of God, the Reign of Christ, is made up of real, stumbling, living-breathing, mistake-making, sinning people in this broken world here and now.  We stand back up in God’s grace after falling and dare to continue to walk with God—not because of what we have done or have not done, but because of what God is always doing by loving us unconditionally.  The Reign of Christ is not about some perfect far away time when God’s controlling force will finally override evil.  The Reign of Christ is about right now, today, when the power of love challenges control and forceful power, winning the struggle in our lives not with force, but with unconditional love.  The Reign of Christ appeared before Pilate that day when Jesus asked Pilate, “Who is your king?”  The Reign of Christ appears before us each day, as Jesus asks us, “Who or what is your king right now, today?”

May the loving Reign of Christ be real and present in every moment of your life and in all your days to come.  Together, as loving community, we can help one another live into Christ’s Reign, today and every day.  In Christ’s Name and Reign, now and forever, Amen.