Christ the King B: Not of this World
Dear Partner in Preaching,
As I read the Gospel of John – and, indeed, all the Gospels – I am increasingly convinced that I have missed the more radical nature of the message of and about our Lord. Today’s reading offers a perfect example, as of late I’ve come to suspect that I have misread a key, and perhaps central, portion of it.
Here’s the verse in question: “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’” (John 18:36).
For most of my interpretive life, I’ve read Jesus’ statement as disavowing his connection to this worldly kingdom of which both Pilate and Jesus’ own accusers are a part. Jesus, in this sense, is asserting his independence, that this world and its powers ultimately cannot determine his fate, reminiscent of his words in John 10: “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again” (v18). Jesus is essentially saying that if this conflict were happening in his kingdom, then indeed his followers would fight, but since it was happening in this other kingdom, a kingdom that cannot keep hold of him, his followers do not get involved.
But not too long ago, a colleague suggested I’d been misreading it entirely, and I’ve come to believe she’s right. What Jesus might be saying, this colleague proposed, is that were he and his followers of this world, then naturally they would use the primary tool this world provides for establishing and keeping power: violence. But Jesus is not of this world and so Jesus will not defend himself through violence. Jesus will not establish his claims by violence. Jesus will not usher in God’s kingdom by violence. Jesus will make no followers by violence.
Rather, Jesus has come to witness to the truth, the truth that God is love (John 3:16), and that because we have not seen God and have such a hard time imagining God (John 1:18), all too often our imaginations are dominated by our experience. So rather than imagining that God is love, we imagine God to be violent because we live in a world of violence. Rather than recognize the cross as a symbol of sacrificial love, we assume it’s the legal mechanism of punishing Jesus in our stead because we have way too much experience with punitive relationships. Rather than believe that God’s grace and acceptance are absolutely unconditional, we assume God offers love, power, and status only on the condition that we fear, obey, and praise God – and despise those who don’t – because so much of our life is quid pro quo.
But Jesus is not of this world. And therefore his followers will not fight for him because to bring the kingdom about by violence is to violate the very principles of this kingdom and cause its destruction.
Could there be a more timely passage to reflect on after the atrocities perpetrated last week in Paris? Or after the increasing number of protests over the last year or two of the excessive use of force of some police, particularly against persons of color?
We live in a world dominated by the view that the only answer to violence is more violence. And the end result of that view is death.
Does that mean Jesus is calling us to be pacifists? Some traditions – particularly Mennonite, Quaker, and Church of the Brethren believers – have given vivid testimony to the power of Christian non-violence. These courageous and counter-cultural witnesses have at times shaken the powers that be and cannot and should not be quickly discarded. My own tradition, influenced by Martin Luther’s sense of God’s two hands (also called governments or kingdoms), has stressed that temporal authorities like armies and law enforcement have a critical role to play in creating a more orderly and more just world. (Which is why it is particularly painful when law enforcement falls short of its calling.) Standing in this tradition, I think the perpetrators of the violence in Paris and terrorists everywhere should be opposed vigorously, fought tirelessly, and brought to justice whenever possible so that there is less such violence in the world.
But as members of the Church and followers of a very different kind of king, we need also to witness that there are limits to the reach and outcome of force. As Martin Luther King, Jr., another champion for Christian non-violence, wrote,
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.(1)
What does this mean for our preaching this Sunday? I wish I had a definitive answer. What I think at this point, still reeling from the details of this weekend’s violence and looking again at a world that seems less safe for my children than the one in which I grew up, is that we gather this Sunday to pray and to witness. To pray that God will comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who seek to thwart terrorists and bring them to justice, change the hearts of those who can see no other way forward but through violence, and equip all of us to work for a peace born of equity, for only such a peace will last.
And after our praying, we are called to witness:
to witness to the One who demonstrated power through weakness,
who manifested strength through vulnerability,
who established justice through mercy,
and who built the kingdom of God by embracing a confused, chaotic, and violent world, taking its pain into his own body, dying the death it sought, and rising again to remind us that light is stronger than darkness, love is stronger than hate, and that with God, all good things are possible.
Thanks be to God for this message, as the world has never needed it more. And thanks be to all who proclaim the radical gospel of Christ, the King so different than the world’s kings and the One who testifies to the truth and calls us to do the same.
Yours in Christ,
David
(1) From “Where Do We Go From Here?” as published in Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 
Thank you for this article, David. I think it adds something to some reflecting I did on the Gospel from last week(Nov. 15) where Jesus speaks about how the times of war, etc., are beginning of the birth pangs. I thought especially on the idea of birthing, because currently I am going through discovering concerning my life and feel that something is coming, I just don’t know what or when yet. I am now turning my attention to the Lord asking what he is birthing in my life. It could be as we face things in our lives as a church, community, and as people in this world, we might want ask this question more. What is God birthing.
Thank you for this! I think if the idea of non-violence is the topic we see then we need to address the idea of Holy war in the OT.
I mean if we are to take that approach we (perhaps only me) are bound to hear from someone who sees the “OT God” as a vicious God who wiped out tribes. Yet here is Jesus submitting to the violence inflicted on Him.
I love your thoughts on the reason Jesus is not a part of ‘this world’, but if he is the incarnate God I can imagine someone asking me who is the guy we see in the OT.
Will have to think and pray about how to do that smoothly in a sermon!
Bless you for this thought provoking insight!
Thank you for your excellent reflection (as usual). You might find this hymn goes well with it:
Our Lord, You Stood in Pilate’s Hall
AZMON 8.6.8.6 (“O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”)
Our Lord, you stood in Pilate’s hall, His judgment to endure.
Yet all he ruled would one day fall; You reign forevermore!
You are our King and yet you said It’s not by sword or might;
Where truth is lived and love is spread, Your reign comes into sight.
Where people live in deep despair, Forgotten, hurt, alone,
We hear their urgent, whispered prayer: “When will your reign be known?”
And where your Christian church today Is mighty, rich and strong,
Lord, may we not forget your Way, Nor lose your kingdom’s song.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” Not just in heaven above;
May we on earth obey your Son, Who reigns o’er all in love.
Biblical Reference: John 18:33-38
Tune: Carl Gotthilf Gläser (or Glaeser), 1829; in Lowell Mason’s Modern Psalmody, 1839 (“O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”) (MIDI)
Text: Copyright © 2007 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Copied from Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Upper Room Books, 2009).
Email: bcgillette@comcast.net New Hymns: http://www.carolynshymns.com/
Thanks for this excellent hymn.
thank you, David, for directing my thoughts once more this week. In my small city, the local mosque was firebombed last weekend in the wake of the Paris attacks. My congregation is hosting the Muslim community tomorrow for Friday Prayers.
Peace through justice: thanks again.
Thanks for the breakthrough on “this world.” Yes, to Jesus not being part of Pilate’s world of power and violence. This truly helps my own reflection get beyond “this world” being our current world of flesh and blood.
Thank you once again David, for your work and commitment. Your thoughts are so appreciated.
Thank you too for reminding us of the words of Martin Luther King Jr…. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Words that direct us back to the Word of God. The light shines in the darkness……(John 1) What a glorious hope the people of “Christ the King” have and what an honor to be witnesses of Him who is the Light.
And one more thank you, David. Thanks for Preaching Days, very refreshing and inspiring. May God bless you,
Shalom,
Lucretia
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reflection on this text. I have been wrestling with how to demonstrate the idea of how violence only begets violence, particularly as France reigns more bombs down on Syria. The most troubling political cartoon I saw this past week was of the Statue of Liberty treading across the Atlantic Ocean with an assault rifle held high, captioned “I’m on my way!” Our response to acts of terror is unsurprisingly the same every single time… and we wonder why things don’t change.
A nicely worded reflection on this passage in John!
I have to admit, I always thought this passage was about non-violent resistance. I guess that goes back to a wonderful professor I had in divinity school who taught me, early on, to look closely at the Gospel, that is is all about a “differing” response, in this world. MLK saw that, but we have been sometimes slow to catch on that he did. I heard a clergy person on the radio the other day proclaim that Kind did not get his non-violence ideas from the Gospel, but from Gandhi. He had it exactly wrong, King himself stated that he took his ideas from the Sermon on the Mount, and his techniques from Ghadhi.
Thanks for another helpful reflection on what could be a difficult text in the midst of the turmoil we seem to be facing over the last few months. The aspect of non-violent response to the violence, both physical and verbal, that many are facing as a result of terrorism both abroad and nationally is especially timely.
I have found it difficult and unnerving to say the unpopular thing in preaching when there are folks in the congregation who believe it is the police who are victims and that there are reasons to fear potential Syrian refugees. In John, Jesus gives us the words to speak when we come up against those who want to follow Christ in a more adversarial way, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice”. Not the voices of the pharisees or scribes, or even the voice of Pilate, we listen to the very voice of God who meets us in the mess, gets messy with us, dies and reveals the power and might of God in rising again.
My only disappointment with your post is that we do not know the name of the brilliant “she” that allowed you and the rest of us to read this text in this way. Perhaps she did not want to be mentioned by name, in that case her humility is honorable. May God continue to bless her and all of us with wisdom to see texts anew in ways that make the good news even better.
Brilliant,brilliant sermon…
I had to go sit on the floor after reading it,
rub my temples and offer a sigh of gratitude.
Thank-you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAbw5JlS6SE
I’m using this youtube video about a little boy and his father in Paris. Jesus talked about flowers when he was cautioning us not to worry…