Christ the King + 11.21.21
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Saints, Oxnard
(2 Samuel 23:1–7; Ps.
132:1–13, (14–19); Revelation 1:4b–8; St John 18:33–37)
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.”
Anyone remember what Pilate says next? (PAUSE) He says “What
is truth?” Because that is the crux of the matter, isn’t it?
All throughout the gospels, Jesus uses the language of the
people he is with in order to connect with them. With fishermen, he uses the
imagery of fishing. With farmers we hear about sowing seeds and yielding a harvest.
Jesus uses the language of the world each person inhabits in order to widen
their understanding of the world to incorporate a better sense of God’s
Kingdom.
And it is no different with Pilate. What do we know about
Pilate? He was a warrior, a man that knew about control, and representing
Caesar and he lived by the cruel reign of the Roman Empire and furthered its
power. So, Jesus speaks of kingdoms and power. Initially, Pilate’s question is
about whether Jesus is a king because that will make him a threat to Caesar.
But Jesus uses that to reframe the question. You can imagine a subtext
underneath this conversation- yes you may have heard about King David the
Anointed one whom we saw referred to in our earlier scriptures today, and you
may know that in the Jewish tradition the Messiah will be welcomed as a
King-like figure in the line of David. But, Jesus says, that is not the kind of
kingdom I am about. Using more language Pilate would relate to, Jesus goes on
to say that if his kingdom were of this world, his followers would be fighting
to keep him from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But his kingdom
is not about bloodshed and having power over others. It is about truth. Because
the truth is that the expansive quality of God’s entire creation is simply too
big to be fathomed, even to Caesar, the most powerful ruler in the Western world
at the moment. The truth is bigger than them. The truth is bigger than us.
Because to see the truth means we look out and around our own
frames and we can take new actions in our lives, actions that are not entirely
directed by the roles we have learned to play in society.
I have been reading a book about this very topic called Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by
Isabel Wilkerson. Wilkerson posits that our country’s racial relations can be
best understood by comparing the to the caste system of India. By understanding
that our society has placed Black or African-American people in the lowest
caste, comparable to the Dalits or untouchables of India, and white or
European-American people in the highest caste, comparable to Brahmins or other
high caste Indians, and everyone else somewhere in between, we can better
understand the subtle ways our society reinforces caste roles. By seeing these
structures in society, we can begin to understand ways that we, consciously or
unconsciously, perpetuate these structures. This has been a hard book for me to
read so far. Because like many educated White or European-Americans, I like to think
that at my best, and most self-aware, I am an anti-racist. I like to think that
my way of life is designed not to reinforce my white privilege and that I make
substantive efforts to make our society more just by my presence. But reading
Wilkerson’s book, I have been struck again and again by the fact that so many
of these structures are almost automatic and it is really only by understanding
the grim truth of our social structures that we can begin to dismantle the
false notions of caste superiority. Wilkerson points out that caste hurts us
all because there are natural leaders and followers in each ethnic and racial
group and society will be more enriched if members are able to act within their
strengths.[1] Understanding the truth of a
situation can set you free to make a different choice. Unfortunately, in the
outcome of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial this week what we saw was a reinforcement
of a different set of rules for white persons and people of color in the US,
one that I suspect does not actually make anyone feel safer in the long run. So,
Wilkerson encourages us to look at our culture and how we can make different
choices. And seen from a Christian lens I I think that is how we work toward building
the Kingdom of God- a better earth for humans and all of creation, leading into
a better heaven and earth to come. In our All Saints context, I think we have
been striving for a good balance of leadership on the vestry for many years,
and in that we are generally ahead of the game. But we can keep striving to encourage
leadership from all parts of our congregation to better mirror the beloved
community here at church.
Maybe Pilate saw some of that in this conversation with Jesus
we overhear in the Gospel of John today. Perhaps he was able to see his
situation in a new light, and who Jesus was in order to think outside of it a
bit. Because, as I heard this week, “every saint has a past and every sinner
has a story”. And Pilate did indeed have a past. In 36 CE he was called back to
Rome to be put on trial for charges of cruelty. But before he could get there,
his accuser had died. But the Coptic tradition, one of the oldest Christian
traditions, says that Pilate and his wife are saints. By their tradition,
Pilate and his wife were so taken with Jesus and news of his resurrection that
when they retired to their villa, they became Jesus followers and started a
church![2] The truth will set you free.
What is truth? Perhaps for each of us it is a bit different,
because it is the lens that allows us to see our world and understand it
afresh. To see ourselves not just locked into the roles and expectations of our
daily lives, but as able to live in the space and warmth, love and justice and
sometimes the awe and fear of God’s much bigger Kingdom. To live outside the
rules set for us, and to follow a leader who is not of this world. That is the
Kingdom we elevate today. May we, by living into it, help welcome it even as
next week we welcome Advent and the ultimate coming of God’s Kingdom!
Amen.
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