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The Rev. Dr. Dennis E. Morey, Pastor
Scripture: John 18:33-37
Are You The King?
In the scripture for today Pilate, the Roman governor, asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” An admission to this charge would have been a threat to the present King Herod, the puppet king sitting on the make-believe throne as King of the Jews.
Jesus answered with a question. “Is this something you have heard from someone else, or does this question come from you?” Pilate reminded Jesus he was arrested because his own people had accused him. Pilate asked, “What have you done? Why are you here?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not a kingdom like the kingdoms of this world.” Confused, Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king, then?”
Pilate did not know about any other kind of kingdom other than the kingdoms of this world. Pilate was a practical man, an educated man, a man who had a job to do: keep peace among the Jews. He had been appointed by Rome and given troops to enforce his word, but the Jews seemed to cause constant turmoil.
One Jewish leader after another and one good idea after another—some claimed to be the new leader who would free the people, and some were plainly political lunatics who had to be stopped before they gathered enough support to attract the attention of Rome and require more troops to be sent in to stop such a rebellion.
There was no real king but Caesar. Rome would not allow it. The Jewish high court that brought Jesus to Pilate was counting on the Roman zero tolerance policy of new leadership. Using Rome was the one sure way to get rid of Jesus.
Today is Christ the King Sunday. On the Church calendar it is the last Sunday of the church year, always the Sunday before the Advent season begins. Today is our opportunity to declare Christ as the King.
But before we can do that, we have to answer Pilate’s question as if it were asked of us, “Are you a king?”
You and I sit on a throne in our own opinions and practices. We believe ourselves to be the first priority, the King, the big dog, numero uno, and, in every argument, the only one who is right.
Now we may not actually say it, but we certainly believe it.
There is only one throne, only one number one spot and most of us claim it to be our own. In answer to the question, “Are you a king?” we say, “As a matter of fact, I am. What I say goes. I make choices that benefit me. I rule in my business. I rule in my household. I rule over my body, what I eat and drink. If I sacrifice anything of myself, it is for those I love: my family, my friends.
In our stress-filled lives we struggle to maintain our throne, all the while destroying it as we draw it closer and closer to us, demanding more control.
It is known that those who are married live longer. Most men who are married will die 7-12 years before their wives. While it is true that in most married couples the man may be older than his wife, she lives many more years past the age he was when he died.
Whether we like it or not, we still live in a society that is ruled by men. While it is true that there are many women in powerful positions with many men working in lesser positions, and women’s salaries are creeping ever more equal to that of men, we are also seeing the rates heart disease and other stress-related diseases in women racing closer to those of men.
Women are being called on to be not only the best in their class, but the best at their job, demanding the best salaries. They must also be the best wife, the best mom, the best cook, and number one in so many areas that we are finding women don’t stand the stress of being the king any better than men.
We are finding that the privileges of being number one, the king, bring with them the responsibilities of being the one who is looked to by all the others.
The king may rest his or her head on a silk pillow, but that silk pillow does not bring rest from the stresses that are killing the king.
The king may have the best clothes, but those clothes often cover a body that is deteriorating quickly. Although there is a crown upon his or her head, there is a stress-related depression depleting the royal soul.
For the one who answers, “Yes,” to the question, “Are you a king?” must also be ready to live out all the responsibilities accompanying the office.
This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving. Besides all the things we will list as reasons we have to be thankful, the one I am most grateful for is this: I’m not the king.
How long do we have to live until we can declare, “I don’t have to have all the answers and don’t have to be in all places at once. I’m not a king. I am released from always being right and always having to have my own way. I am free from having to do it all so it is done right. I am free of enforcing my will, demanding my opinion be adopted and my way of doing things be the general practice of everyone around me.”
Children, in your group of friends, in your classroom, outside on the playground, you don’t have to be the king. Yes, there are times when you will be called on to lead and to stand up for what is right, but there are also times when it is better to listen to someone else.
Teenagers, you are in such a struggle to become the king. You may think that your parents hold the throne. They have the authority, they call the shots, they have the money, and they make the decisions. You’d like to have that position. You’d like to be the one who says how the money is spent, and how often you need to pick up the forty T-shirts on the floor of your bedroom. You’d like to decide when you want to go to school, and what you learn there.
There is such a struggle to gain that independence when you are finally in your own kingdom.
Give it up! You are not a king!
If and when you become the king of your own kingdom, you will find there is a constant struggle with others who believe themselves to be the king and challenge your position on every matter. That stress will eat away at who God has made you to be, and what God has for you to do.
None of us, I don’t care who you are, is intended to be the king.
You were not created with what it takes to live with the stress of being the king. Declaring yourself to be king will always cause stress that will eventually kill you, and your supposed kingdom will end, only to be handed to another.
Life is a gift from God and must not be reduced to a competition for kingship. “Are you a king?”
When we answer, “Yes,” we are led into further and further darkness and stress and further and further away from what God intended for us.
“Are you a king?”
The answer is, “Only Christ is King, and his kingdom shall have no end.”
If you aren’t the king of your life, who are you? These words come from I Peter 2:9-10 from the Good News Translation: Listen to their wisdom and gain direction for your life.
“You are a chosen race, the King’s priests, the holy nation, God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light. At one time you were not God’s people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God’s mercy, but now you have received his mercy.”
Amen.
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John 18:33-37 (From the
New Revised Standard Version of the
Bible) |
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