Christ the King, B November 24, 2024
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
What makes a king? Riches? Bloodline? Popularity? The power to make other people do things? Maybe. Depends on what you mean by a king. The world plays fast and loose with words and their meanings, changing them to suit whatever goal happens to be convenient at the time. This is why Jesus can be elusive sometimes, answering questions with questions. He knows better than anyone that when two people say the same thing, they do not always mean the same thing. So he asks a question or pivots ideas to draw out what’s really going on.
“Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Although his kingship is a fact, an objective reality, the unique quality is that he wants it to also be a personal conviction. Hearsay is not enough. Political maneuvering is not enough. Pilate doesn’t get it. He can only think about nationalities and power struggles: “I am not a Jew, am I?” Your people turned you in… you’re losing your control over them. What do you have to say about that?
Once again, Jesus does not fall for the trap of a narrow-minded, preconceived idea of kingship by answering the question directly. That would only leave Pilate with the illusion of understanding. So he shifts to put him off-balance, trying to spark some kind of openness, some kind of curiosity in him. “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” I have to interject here that this translation could be misunderstood. The best way to read this is to say his kingdom does not “belong” to this world because it’s bigger than the world. In sense, it’s more like the world belongs to his kingdom. Really, though, the words “belong to” should probably translated as “from.” “My kingdom is not from this world.” Jesus is not saying he isn’t a king on earth – after all we are celebrating him as king of the Universe today. No, what he’s saying is that his kingdom did not come from this world like an earthly king.
The point that he’s making to Pilate is that his kingship and the kingship of Caeser don’t have to be in conflict because they are rooted in two different sources. Kingship is something that is received. It has a source outside the person who holds it. This is probably why kings are so often insecure. If it came from somewhere else, then it can be taken away. That’s why Pilate thinks that, by killing or at least humiliating Jesus, he can protect Caesar’s rule, the empire, and his own position of power. But Jesus’ kingship comes from above and no earthly power can threaten it. That’s why Jesus and his followers don’t need to fight to keep him from being handed over. All the power of the roman empire simply isn’t a threat. They’re not even playing on the same board.
Pilate only kind of gets it. “Then you are a king.” You can almost hear Jesus sigh. “You say I am a king.” Go ahead and use that word if you want. It’s true enough. But that’s just it, truth is what’s at stake here. “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” And this is ultimately the real definition of kingship: authority. Power and authority are often used interchangeably, but they aren’t necessarily the same thing. Power is the ability to make something happen, to compel a certain outcome, whether or not that lines up with the truth. Someone with a weapon or enough physical strength can often “make” a person say something that isn’t true. They can use fear of death to control someone, pressuring them to lie. This is not authority, but raw power. It is exactly the power that the devil has over us. It is the kind of power that so many rulers throughout history have used to control their people: do what I say or I will take away your stuff, your loved ones, your life.
But real authority? That can only come from the truth. A teacher who tells her students that 2+2=4 speaks with authority. A parent who makes their small child behave acts with authority. A duly-appointed judge who sentences a proven criminal to prison acts with authority. And unlike power which can be taken away the moment someone with more power shows up, authority is not so easily removed.
Caesar has power. Pontius Pilate has power. Jesus, however, has authority and power. Because he has real authority, because he is the truth, he doesn’t need to use his power to protect his kingship. No matter how much power comes against him, no matter how much they take from him, anyone who belongs to the truth will still obey Jesus Christ. This is why we make such a big deal out of our martyrs. They are the living proof that no amount of power can override the authority and kingship of Jesus Christ. Kill me if you wish, but I will follow my king.
That is my king. The one who died rather than deny the truth of who he is. That is my king. The crucified one. This is why we hang crucifixes on our walls and around our necks, why we insist on keeping his body there rather than using a plain cross. The most profound moment of all time is the moment the king of the universe proved his kingship beyond the shadow of a doubt when all the evil powers of the universe conspired to strip him of his kingship and failed. Like a sudden light in a dark room, Jesus kingship shines all the brighter precisely when the power of darkness is at its height, when they’ve beaten him, mocked him, stripped, and crucified him and yet he’s still the king.
That’s why there is no question who is the king. That is why we will go out into the street holding him up and praising him as king even while the world around us remains oblivious or indifferent to his authority. He is the king and even death could not change that. And at the end of time, it will be literally impossible to say otherwise.
But until then, there is still a very important question we must answer. Will we follow him? Will we “belong to the truth?” Will we stare down the powers of the world and fear and death and hell and our own sins and say “no, that is my king. I belong to the truth, I listen to his voice, and do what you might, I will die with him rather than deny him.”
Would you die for him? If you would, then will you live for him right now? Would anyone else watching your life be able to tell that he is your king? And if not, what are you willing to do about it?