John 18:33-36
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.”
So where is Jesus’ kingdom?
John’s depiction of Jesus before Pilate is by far the most elaborate of the accounts in the Gospels. Perhaps not surprisingly – both because of its length and because, well, it’s John! – it’s also rather theologically dense. And so we will benefit from slowing down in our reading to unpack this scene a bit.
But perhaps we should first back up a little. There is again an element of movement, as Pilate withdrawals from his conversation with the religious authorities into his headquarters and summons Jesus to be brought to him. Unsatisfied, perhaps, by the answers offered by Jesus’ accusers, Pilate demands an account from Jesus himself.
Except that he doesn’t simply ask Jesus what is going on, he instead asks him quite specifically whether he is “the king of the Jews.” Perhaps that’s what Pilate has heard about Jesus, although it’s the first time this phrase is used in John’s Gospel. Perhaps Pilate deals so frequently with politicians and rulers he assumes Jesus must have some such title. Or perhaps Pilate guess that it is political rivalry that is driving this whole affair. Truth be told, we don’t actually know from where Pilate got this idea, only that he asks Jesus to declare himself.
But Jesus is having none of it. In fact, he pushes the question back in Pilate’s face, asking him, essentially, why he wants to know. And Pilate then gives as good as he gets, reminding Jesus that it’s his own people who have sent him here for death and asking more directly what he has done.
At this point, Jesus returns to Pilate’s original question, saying that his kingdom is not of this world. And this, I think, is where things can get confusing. If Jesus is from the kingdom of this world, what kingdom is he from? Heaven? Seems simple enough, but then what of Jesus’ earlier profession that God so loved the world – this world – that God gave the only Son… (Jn. 3:16)?
Our hearts? That is the evangelical response, of course, that Jesus is to rule in our hearts. But again that can get mighty disembodied and rather self-centered quickly, as if the only thing God cares about is the salvation of a few individuals.
Where, then?
I think our confusion may stem from equating “kingdom” with a place. Do you know what I mean? This world. Heaven. Our hearts. We think of kingdom as a location. But perhaps it is more about God’s authority and rule. Jesus, later Christians would confess, sits a God’s right hand, which wasn’t so much a place as it was a role and responsibility and represented the very authority of God. That is, Jesus’ kingdom is wherever God’s authority rules. Jesus’ role is to exercise God’s authority to love and redeem us through death to life. And Jesus’ followers are those who live according to the rules and logic of God’s kingdom…wherever they are.
Which means, among other things, that you can participate in God’s kingdom right now, wherever you are sitting, riding, walking, working. Look around. Ask yourself what God sees, what God would have you do, how God might use you to love and bless the people and world all around you. And when you do, you will sense Jesus joined to you, the one who came so that this world might know of God’s great love for all.
Prayer: Dear God, let us sense your voice leading us and your hand guiding us to love those around us as you have loved us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: “Christ Before Pilate,” by Hans Multscher.
Not equating “kingdom” with a space is a reflection of both Jesus’ and Paul’s words in Luke 17:21 and Romans 14:17, respectively: “…the kingdom of God is within you” and “the kingdom of God is not food or drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The challenge, when forces around and within come against us, we temporarily lose sight of the wonder of God’s kingdom and it is in the re-finding, accessing and re-resting in the righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit that we discover God’s wonderful kingdom was there all the time. And we wonder how we could have let go of something so precious, despite the depths of physical, mental, emotional or spiritual chaos we may have just encountered. We experience coming back home to the place (but not space) where we love to live.