“Christ the King”
Revelation 1:4-8
John 18:33-37
“My kingdom is not from here.
For this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”
Kings and kingdoms; truth. Words
that have lost their meaning in our pluralistic, modern, or post modern,
age. We are still proud of our revolution, of escaping from the
rule of a king. In our non-judgmental society, we have become
accepting of multiple truths, of living with truth as a relative concept.
I want to use an ancient fable from India to reintroduce some definition
into our modern concepts.
A king led a number of blind men up
to an elephant. The king then individually led each blind man
to a different portion of the elephant. The first blind man walked
into the formidable side of the huge mammal and declared with certainty
that what he found was a wall. The second took hold of the elephant's
tusk and asserted that it was a spear. The third blind man felt the
squirming trunk of the elephant and jumped back saying that it was,
without a doubt, a great snake. A fourth bumped into one of the beast's
large legs and declared it to be a tree. Another was led by the king
to the elephant's flapping ear and proclaimed that he had definitely
found a fan. The last blind man groped for what was before him, and
grabbing the elephant's tail was convinced that the thing before him
was a rope.
None of the blind man could see what
the elephant really was; each only grasped a portion of what this thing
called an elephant was like. Each blind man had in mind a different
truth; none of these truths were correct, for the elephant is not a
tree nor a snake nor a fan. The elephant is not even a composite
of these partial views - one can not add them together and get the truth
called an elephant. Most importantly, the fact that each blind
man had a different concept of an elephant, a different truth, does
not change the elephant, it remains an elephant in spite of the conflicting
statements of the blind men. There is still the truth called an
elephant. Our failure, just like the blind men's failure, to fully grasp
something does not make it conform to our concept of truth.
A factor in the Indian fable that is
often overlooked is that the king could see the elephant; the king took
each of the blind men to a different part of the elephant knowing full
well that each would come away with a different understanding.
This is where Scripture, where Christ,
differs from the Indian tale. While the Indian king allowed the
blind men to be confused, Jesus desires just the opposite for us.
Desires to not only provide a complete view of the truth of God but
to also cure our blindness so that we may grasp the immensity and complexity
of God.
The king of the fable, Christ the King,
“The King” (Elvis), “King of the Road”; what is a king to us
today? Perhaps we think of living royalty such as Queen Elizabeth.
She is charming and gracious; but she has little impact on her people,
even less on the government. But in Jesus' day, being a king was
really something, to be a king was to be powerful. Then, a king
spoke, common people trembled. Being a king was to be important:
time itself was measured by the start of the King's reign: in the 5th
year of the reign of Julius Caesar, in the year of our Lord 2006.
Today, we have done all that we can
to erase the power, the importance, of a king. We claim that we
are each equal, we are each equally important. No one is worthy
of our unquestioning obedience or unending dedication. We do not
offer respect to kings, we even assume that many of our modern equivalents
(politicians) are corrupt and ought to be in jail. The laws they
pass are good for others; when applied to us we call them unfair and
arbitrary; we seek to avoid them.
Christ the King. How do we grasp such
an image? What does it mean, really, to us today?
Pilate knew what a king was; he was
a king and served the most powerful king of the era. He had absolute
power, he made and enforced the rules, he demanded unquestioning obedience
and had the power to compel whatever obedience wasn't voluntary.
Pilate had only two constraints. He had to raise the taxes Rome
demanded and he had to keep the peace; he had to squeeze the people
for their money but not so hard that rebellion, false kings, would challenge
the peace, incurring the cost of military intervention, cost Pilate
his kingship. Pilate could not allow false kings; he willingly and
rapidly executed any who claimed to be a king
For the Jews, to charge Jesus with being
a king was a sure way to have him executed. Yet Pilate knew what
a king was like: a king exudes power, inspires obedience, readily proclaims
his kingship. Jesus, this beaten man standing before him was surely
not a king. Not a king in our earthly sense, a thought confirmed
by Jesus as he said that his kingdom was not of this world.
Pilate could not imagine Jesus as a
king. Nor can many of us today. Pilate knew kings and this
wasn't one. We do not know kings, yet we still rebel at the very
thought of submitting to one.
King Jesus said that his kingdom is
not of this world. Perhaps this 'other worldly' kingdom gives
us an out; we don't have to have a king here on earth; we can wait and
acknowledge Jesus as king after we leave this world. Or perhaps,
the other worldly nature means that his kingdom is some form of spiritual
kingdom; so long as we are properly spiritual, pray often and go on
retreats, fast, and have a pious attitude, then we don't have to demonstrate
our obedience in changed attitudes or actions. Or perhaps we could
make excuses for our behavior rather than follow the king. Surely
he did not mean to love our enemies not when we are at war! Surely
we are not bound by the great commission, “Go and make disciples of
all men.” If we tried to do that, we might be thought of as
pushy or judgmental. Feed the poor is such a hopeless, never ending
task. Why Start? Other worldly spirituality. Excuses.
King Jesus said that his kingdom was
not of this world. Pilate's kingdom was of this world; Pilate
received his power and authority from this world, from Rome. Jesus
received his power from beyond this world; from God. Pilate exercised
his power by demanding obedience. Christ exercised his power by
serving others. Pilate enforced his power be executing false kings
and any others who disagreed with him. Jesus enforced his power
by healing the sick, feeding the poor, reconciling lost sinners.
Pilate made sure that he came first; that he would have the best and
longest life possible. Jesus made sure that he came last; that
we would have the best and longest life possible, eternal life.
Truly, the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, not of this world
as we know it.
Pilate built his kingdom on truth as
he saw it; if he even cared about truth. Jesus builds his kingdom,
even today, on God's truth.
And this brings us back to the ancient
fable. The king who led the blind men to the elephant had vision;
he could see. Yet he allowed each blind man to experience a different
aspect of the elephant and failed to correct their proclamations of
false truths. Jesus the King focused on teaching us truth. These
last weeks, Mark has been leading us in a search for truth, a search
that requires that we see with new vision, hear with freshly opened
ears, to see the same things that God sees; to see truth as God sees
truth. We could easily be like the blind men. Just as the people
of Scripture could be, were often, like the blind men. For blind
Barteameus, Jesus is the great healer who restored his sight.
For the scribe, Jesus is a great rabbi who understood the commandments.
For the woman caught in adultery, Jesus was the compassionate and forgiving
judge. Each with their own view, each with a truthful but incomplete
view of the fullness of God. Unlike the blind men, each saw a
true part of a greater truth. Jesus as King came so that we can
grasp the fullness of God.
As king, Jesus first revealed the truth. Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed himself in ways the people could understand. In Jesus, God become man, God fully revealed his truth. Jesus said: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
As king, Jesus allowed us to experience,
to know, truth. Each miracle pointed to the source of his power,
the truth of a loving and compassionate God. Each teaching opens
our eyes to see truth as God sees truth; to learn how to put truth into
action.
As king, Jesus demonstrated the passion
that truth encourages. Truth is not just an intellectual exercise.
We do not see truth, experience truth, and remain the same. “Then
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Truth transforms, demands a response. We will feed the poor; we
will tell others of our faith; we will love our enemies; we will pray
and fast. We will be obedient to our king.
Pilate's questions to Jesus - Are you
a king? What is truth? - are still the questions that we must ask ourselves
today. Do we desire to declare partial truths, or even falsehoods,
as we remain in our blindness, trying to imagine an elephant made up
of a tree and snake and fan? Mark has been working to correct
our vision, to see the world as God sees it, to see truth as revealed
by and in Jesus. If we accept this as truth, then we are called
to declare Jesus as King of our lives. Not a cruel tyrant who
grasps power at our expense or forces loyalty, but a king unlike any
other this world has ever seen. A king who leads by love.
Perhaps it all comes down to sovereignty, about who rules our lives.
Who is in charge when it is dark and the world is falling apart?
Who can we turn to when we are in need or when others are in need?
Who should we go to when we seek justice for others ?
Who should we go to when we look for mercy for ourselves?
Jesus
answered that he is in charge, he is King not in the way of the world,
not with force and violence, but with love and with life.
It is this truth that I believe in; that I pray you also believe in. May this truth lead you to passionate action; to new attitudes. As we look forward to advent and Christmas, may we see the baby Jesus as our king, the Lord of our lives.
It is this king that I name today and seek to follow.
It is this king that I pray you will also name and follow,
for
in him is life, and that abundantly. --- Amen
November 26, 2006
Rev. Al Hammond
First Presbyterian Church
Logan, Utah