Reflection on John 18:33-37

 

He seemed to live in his own world.  Every once and a while, one of our seminary professors would show up late for class.  Now, at my seminary, there was a rule that students could leave the class if the professor did not show up within 15 minutes of the beginning of class, and there were certainly times that the professor was pushing the boundaries of this time limit, but we never left.  Instead, we waited patiently. 

To everyone else, this man seemingly did live in his own world and did not care about inconveniencing others, such as students waiting to start class.  But, for those who knew him well, the professor was living in a different world…a different kingdom you could say…but it was not of his own making.  He was living in Christ’s world, doing Christ-like things, and he always prioritized those things over small things such as starting class on time.

“Sorry, I’m late,” he said one day as another student came into the classroom at the same time.  She later told us that she was struggling with…well it was a confidential conversation…but, she was struggling, and the professor took the time at the very start of class to minister to her struggles.  To this guy, there was nothing more important at that moment than offering some healing words to the young woman.  This professor did not live in his own world; he lived in Christ’s world.

And, that is what living in Christ’s kingdom is like.  As followers of Christ, we walk down the same sidewalks, and go through the same doors, and smell the same flowers, and see the same people as anyone else, but where everyone else sees the world as an obstacle to overcome, followers of Jesus Christ see the world as something and someone to love.

Do you want to know what has always struck me as strange about Jesus, even as a little kid?  It was how he did not struggle against these people who were trying to put him to death.  I just did not get that.  Like in today’s reading, Pilate (the governor of the land) is questioning Jesus, after Jesus’ own people have handed him over to die at the hands of the Romans.  Pilate is giving Jesus an opportunity to defend himself. 

“Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Pilate asks. 

And, here is the part that I have always been baffled about.  Jesus responds, “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.”

All my life, growing up, I have been taught that it is OK to defend yourself.  I still remember clearly the message coming at me in black and white from the TV, where Andy, the sheriff in the Andy Griffith show, tells his son that it is OK to punch another kid if he needs defend himself.  I also remember teachers turning a blind eye to students setting the class bully in their place, sometimes with fists.  Our culture has taught us that sometimes you need to take the kingdom by storm in order to save it from falling apart.  We have seen plenty of people, on our televisions, taking our kingdom by storm in order to save it over the past number of years.

So, why do we not do the same for Jesus?  After-all, if Jesus is truly the way, the truth, and the life, why do we not try harder to take the kingdom by storm in his name?  Why are not we storming the halls of congress in his name?  Why are we not taking to the streets with masses of human bodies, marching to preserve and glorify Jesus’ name?  Why do earthly leaders and earthly causes get our blood and sweat, but Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, does not in the same way?

Before you run into the streets and grab your wood and cardboard protest signs, you need to know that there is a reason we do not.  First, Jesus simple does not want it.  When Peter tries to defend Jesus during Jesus’ arrest, drawing a sword and cutting off a servant’s ear, Jesus yells at Peter to put away his sword!  Jesus’ kingdom is different. 

Again, I remind you that Jesus tells Pilate, “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.”

It is as if Jesus walks in our world, under the rules of our world, and facing the leaders of this world, but acts as if he were actually walking around in a completely different world.  Like my professor, Jesus sees things differently.  Jesus sees the world as a place to love and save, and not a place to control.

And, as followers of Christ, we too walk around in the world, under the rules of the world, and face the world and its struggles and games of power.  But, we follow Jesus, and it looks to everyone else that we are playing this game called life by different rules.  And, it looks like that because we are.  We are in the world, but not of the world.

I think of Paul and Silas, chained up in prison, singing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.  The tune filled the air of the prison and filled the hearts of the prisoners and the prison guard with the gift of the Spirit.  Is not prison supposed to be depressing and demoralizing?  To everyone in the world it looks like we live in a different kingdom and follow different rules, because we do.

I think of the pastor who only employs gang members from the streets in his ministries of care to the neighborhood.  Because, in these men, through the tough and dangerous exteriors, he sees the fingerprints of God and he sees the spark of the Spirit.  It looks like we live in a different kingdom and follow different rules, because we do. 

And, I think of the professor who is not beholden to the concept of “time,” but is instead beholden to the concepts of “love” and “healing.”  He will never be accused of not taking the time to help.  He will never be the one to pass up the beaten man on the side of the road.  He is a Good Samaritan, living the ways of the kingdom, following different rules because he knows the truth, and the truth sets him free. 

Jesus says, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  And, to the dismay of seminary administrators, that professor listens to the voice of Jesus very well.  He lives in a different kingdom from the rest of the world: the kingdom of God.  He follows the way, the truth, and the life. 

That means that sometimes the dean needs to talk to him about timeliness.  And, he will continue to graciously say thank you for the correction, and then he will continue to ignore the correction, because he knows who he follows, and it is not a page filled with administratively created schedules.  He follows the Lord of love, Jesus Christ.

And, so do you.  Christ has made you a part of his kingdom because he loves you and wants you to be there.  The world cannot see this kingdom, but you can.  It is a kingdom in which Jesus’ love dictates everything.  It is a kingdom in which the Spirit leads and inspires, even on the days when you are slammed away in prison, or a boring meeting…there is no difference, right?  It is a kingdom that uses the same streets, but is guided by different signs: signs of love for the world.  “For God so love the world.”