Reflection on John 18:33-37 and Revelation 1:4b-8

 

Revelation 1:4b-8

4b Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

7 Look! He is coming with the clouds; 

every eye will see him,  

even those who pierced him, 

and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.  

So it is to be. Amen.

 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

John 18:33-37

33 Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 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?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to 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.” 37 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.”

Reflection

There are some days when I feel like I need a king.  I do not know about you, but there are some days when I am just trying to get by, bumping around from one thing to the next, trying to get everything accomplished, and maybe even do a couple of those items on my list pretty well. 

Would it not be nice to have a king that just said, “Do this, and then this, and then just leave the rest alone.  Do not do them.  They are unimportant.  I will make sure there are no repercussions.  I am the king.”  Would it not be nice to have someone who could just make life so clear?  Would it not be nice to not have to worry about so much stuff and have someone just make the decisions for you?  Some days you just get to the point where you just do not have the where-with-all within you, and you just need someone who you can just follow and in whom you can put your trust.  Some days, I think that I could use a really good king.

I am not the only one.  Just the other day a parent of a 14 year old quipped to me, “My 14 year old finally knows everything, which I am super excited about because I have needed a vacation and I have been waiting for someone to come and take care of it all!”  I honestly could not tell if they were being sarcastic or brutally honest.

There are these days when I feel like I really need a king.  It was once said that “Everyone would to prefer to have a king, as long as they are a good one.”  I am right there.  So, that is why the scriptures for Christ the King Sunday really sort of struck me, and even excited me.  John of Patmos, the writer of Revelation, talks about the grace and peace that comes from God on the throne, and from Jesus Christ who he says is, “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

John says that Jesus is the “ruler of the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5).  Jesus is the king of kings.  You cannot get any better than that.  And, when I need a king, I want the best.  No second rate dictators for me.  Move over Kim Jong Un, I need someone powerful, who also has my best interest in mind. 

Jesus is my king.  Jesus is my Lord.  Jesus is the only one powerful enough to save me from my mess.  Wait, I never thought just how bad that makes me sound.  Even so, John of Patmos says that Jesus is my king!  I have the best, most powerful king in the world on my side.  As Paul says in Romans, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). 

Jesus, you are on my side.  Jesus you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!  You are my king!  Shower my life with some of that divine power!

“You say that I am a king” (John 18:37).

What?  That phrase, right there, singlehandedly is able to stop my celebration dead in its tracks every single time.  What is that about?  Where is that from?

“You say that I am a king” (John 18:37).  That phrase comes right from Jesus’ discussion with the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, while Pilate questions Jesus before sending him to be crucified. 

Pilate asks Jesus if he is the “king of the Jews” (John 18:33).  Pilate further presses Jesus for some background information, saying, “Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” (John 18:35).  Jesus responds that his kingdom “does not belong to this world,” that it is “not from here” (John 8:36). And, the fact that Jesus seems to have a kingdom makes Pilate wonder then if Jesus is claiming to be a king, claiming a title that might be a threat to Caesar.  Pilate asks, “So you are a king?” (John 8:37).

This is where Jesus issues his statement, “You say that I am a king” (John 18:37).  And, the statement makes us pause because Jesus does not say to Pilate, “Yes, I am the king of kings” like John of Patmos declares.  In fact, Jesus does not talk with Pilate about kingship at all after this, and this saddens me because I so wanted him to describe himself as my vision of what a good king looks like.

So did the people in Jesus’ time.  Many of them expected a king like David, who would charge in, cut down their enemies, reestablish their kingdom on earth like it was in the old days, and they would all be free from oppressors such as the Romans.  They wanted that powerful, political king, who was also gentle with the people, and to whom they could be loyal.

But, Jesus is not that sort of king, not fully anyway.  That is obvious because Jesus does not have an army of devoted men who come swooping in with their swords to start a war in order to save their king.  Nor, does Jesus even want to talk about becoming such a powerful, political king.  Instead, of talking about ruling with power, Jesus talks about “the truth.”

Earlier in the gospel of John Jesus says that he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  And in response to Pilate’s claim that Jesus is possibly a king, Jesus says: “I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).  And, that makes me think that I have this all wrong.

You see, when I get into a tough spot in life, I want a powerful king who will come and take care of it and fix it.  I want a king who will be at my beckon call.  I want a king who will be vicious to my enemies, taking a knife to the demands of my daily planner, stabbing it to death to save me from its all consuming power and everyone who presses down on me and my time.  I want a powerful, warrior king.  But, I also want a king who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” to me (Psalm 103:8).  When I am at my wits end, I want a king who I can shape and mold, who will bend to my desires, rather than one who shapes and molds me.

It has been famously said that, "a good king is hard to find, but a good people are harder to find."  I guess that might be true.  We get it wrong all the time.  I get it wrong all the time.

“You say that I am a king” (John 18:37).  Jesus states.  But, Jesus does not want to talk about kings.  That is not what he is all about.  Rather, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  We do not follow the king of our choosing.  Rather, we are called to follow the truth.  We are called to follow the Alpha and the Omega, a truth that has always been and always will be.

And, that truth leads us in ways that looks a lot like dying on a cross. 

That truth “loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5). If the truth is a king, he is a king who looks at the man who tried to overthrow his kingdom, declares him guilty and deserving of punishment, then tells the man to look out the castle window at the chopping block, and then proceeds to go outside himself, taking off his crown, and putting his own head on the chopping block.  This is being the truth.  This is being a true king.  This is being a true servant.

If Jesus is a king, he is not the king we want, but he is the king we need.  He is the king who dies to save us all from ourselves.  That is the king we follow.  That is the truth we follow.     

After-all, there are some days when I feel like I need a king.  But, rather than expecting and demanding Jesus to be the king I want, maybe I can be open to who Jesus actually is.  Maybe, I can seek to be a part of the truth that gives life to the world.  “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).

I remember a time that I was completely stressed out in High School.  There were so many demands on me, so much pressure on me, and so little time.  After expressing my frustrations and struggles to my drama teacher, he told me to go to the elementary school and read a book to the first grade kids.  “I can’t handle another thing on my plate,” I said, but he wrote me a pass and sent me and another student over to the elementary school anyway.  The book we read to the kids was, “The Stupids Step Out.”  If you have not read the book, it is really stupid.  And, as we took turns reading the stupid book, talking about the hilariously funny stupid people, and as the tears of laughter fell from the kids faces, and as they climbed up in our laps and gave hugs of thanks, that we would take the time to do this for them, the pressures of life seemed to fade with every smile and every hug.”

“Do you feel better?” my drama teacher asked.  I said “Yes” and told him about the experience.  Then my teacher, who also happened to be a fellow Christian at my church, said to me, “I once heard that it is better to serve than to be served.  I think it is true.  Sometimes serving will do wonders for your life.”  It was true.

Sometimes, we do not need Jesus to be to king we want.  Sometimes, what we need is to follow the servant king that we have: “The way, the truth, and the life.”  He is the one who brings life, and he does it by serving and saving and loving.  Those first graders craved that simple act of love, joy, and service.  And, little did I know, I actually needed to be a servant of love, joy, and service.  Sometimes I need a king.  And, all of the time, I pray that the one I have will be the servant king, Jesus.