In the Kingdom

Christ the King Sunday, November 25, 2018
Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-38
First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL
Christina Berry

Our first reading this morning is from the first chapter of Revelation, a kind of introductory text that lets us know something about Jesus. As we hear this text, let’s keep in mind that the book of Revelation is not a terrifying prediction of the return of an angry Jesus. “Revelation is not a script for the end of the world!” It is, instead, a prophecy of the fall of earthly empire and the coming reign of God in a new heaven and a new earth. Let’s listen for God’s coming kingdom in Revelation 1:4b-8:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

God’s word for God’s people.
Thanks be to God.

The gospel reading today is from John’s gospel and takes us to the inner court of Pilate, where Jesus is put on trial prior to his crucifixion. Pilate is not concerned whether Jesus is king of the Jews, but he is intensely interested in why Jesus has been brought to him. Their exchange is more conversation than interrogation, and is layered with political nuance.

Pilate is concerned with control, order and empire. He does not care about the Jews; he cares about his position vis a vis Rome. He is callous and indifferent to truth, and contemptuous of hope. Jesus, on the other hand, is not concerned with control and empire. Jesus is unafraid of Rome, or of Pilate. Jesus is deeply focused on the message of his incarnation: That he IS himself truth, and he IS himself hope. I’ve added verse 38 to the reading, as it is the appropriate final verse. Let’s listen for God’s word to us in John 18:33-38

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?"

Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?"

Jesus answered, "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."

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?"

Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”


The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.


I’ve been thinking about birth certificates and baptismal certificates. It used to be that a person who was born at home didn’t get a birth certificate, and had to use other documents to prove citizenship and date of birth. My dad told a story of a client of his who needed a birth certificate to prove his date of birth so he could start receiving Social Security. He couldn’t find any documentation at all among his family papers, but the Social Security clerk had told him that a record in the family Bible could serve as proof of his date of birth. The fellow went down to the flea market and bought the oldest, biggest Bible he could find. He opened it to that glossy center section for recording dates of birth, marriage and death, and wrote his own name in it, with his date and place of birth. Then he presented it to the Social Security office!

That’s a much more pleasant story than that of a friend of mine who was born in the Philippine Islands during World War II. Her father was Swiss, which was neutral during the war, and so he and his family were living in the Philippines, where he worked, even though the islands were occupied by the Japanese. When my friend went to file for her Social Security, the office wouldn’t accept her naturalization papers as proof of her date of birth, nor would they accept her baptismal certificate from Switzerland. “Call the Philippines,” they told her. She pointed out that Manila was not likely to have maintained a record of the birth of Swiss baby while they were occupied by Japanese forces, in the middle of a world war.

Imagine being born into a time and place
when occupation by foreign powers is the reality!

Imagine being born in a time and place when the earthly powers
are primarily concerned with wealth and power,
and with the wealthy and powerful.

Imagine growing up in a time and place where the government
cares nothing for the lowest strata of society,
but is entirely focused on self-enrichment and self- aggrandizement.

Imagine being a citizen in a time and place when the administration
gives lip service to a kind of civic religion
that is devoid of love, compassion, hope, or the search for truth.

Imagine living in a time and place when those who resist this government
are branded as weak, unpatriotic, liars, and criminals,
or they are belittled, dismissed, persecuted or silenced.

Imagine in that time and place that there is utter disregard for the truth.

Now imagine that into this deplorable state comes Jesus,
who walks among the people, offering healing and hope;
who speaks against the principalities and powers, offering a way of love;
who invites all people to encounter God’s truth.

That is the clash that is described in this scene from John’s gospel.

Faithful Jews have come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, 

a celebration of God’s deliverance in which they affirm 

“We have no king but God!” 

But now they have handed Jesus over to the authorities, 

and they eventually tell Pilate: “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. 

Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”
When Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your King?”
The chief priests answered, “

We have no king but the emperor.”

It’s a brutal and ugly truth, that one.
The powers that be are in cahoots with one another,
and they have repudiated God’s sovereignty in favor of the empire.

The behavior of Jesus, however, is entirely contrary to this capitulation.
He is offering up himself as a new kind of king.
In fact, Jesus offers up himself not only as king, but as kingdom.

That’s a notion that runs contrary to the way some of us think of the kingdom of God.
We may see that kingdom, or kin-dom, as I prefer to call it, as a promise of a world that is to come, a final but still eventual act of God: thy kingdom come. We may see that kingdom as out of reach, beyond our grasp. But in John’s gospel, that kin-dom is present, here, at hand – with us.
Because in John’s gospel, every time Jesus draws near, the kin-dom of God is near.
In John’s gospel, the kin-dom is in Jesus, and it IS Jesus.
That’s where our citizenship is – in the kin-dom – in Jesus.

In our baptismal liturgy, which you will hear in a few moments,
we ask the parents or the person being baptized:
“Do you renounce all evil and powers in the world
which defy God’s righteousness and love?”

That first renunciation affirms that our baptism initiates us into a new kin-dom, a new kind of family. When we are born, we receive a birth certificate, a document that can be used to prove our citizenship in this country. When we are baptized, our baptismal certificate functions as a kind of birth certificate too, a documentation of our citizenship in the kingdom of God.

So imagine living in a time and place when the entire community
is primarily concerned with connection and love as the body of Christ,
and with caring for the poor and the humble.

Imagine living in a time and place where choices about government
are based on what is best and most life giving for all people,
even those in the lowest strata of society,
the alien and the stranger, the outcast and the broken-hearted.

Imagine a kin-dom where self-enrichment
and self- aggrandizement of a few are not only not encouraged,
but are actively discouraged, in favor of the entire body.

Imagine living in a time and place when the religion of all people,
no matter what their faith,
gives way to love, compassion, hope, and the search for truth.

If you can imagine that, you are coming near to the kin-dom of God,
in which Christ is king and in which he reigns forever.

Imagine that kin-dom, because that is where our citizenship lies.
Imagine that time and place, because it is here with us now,
and we are in it.

AMEN.