By: The Rev. Dr. W. Ross Blackburn
This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the Sunday where the church remembers, particularly, that Jesus is King, even the King of Kings. But what does it mean that Jesus is King? The Scriptures make it clear that the answer to this question is far from obvious. In fact, it is flatly counterintuitive. Jesus is not what we might expect Him to be. Peter didn’t understand—he confessed Jesus as King (you are the Christ!), then promptly rebuked Jesus when Jesus told him that the Christ must suffer and die. James and John asked to sit at the right and left of King Jesus, having no idea what this might mean, or how it might be granted. It is not enough to acknowledge Jesus as King if we fail to acknowledge the kind of King Jesus is. Until we do, our confession of Christ as King is nothing more than a meaningless label.
In this Sunday’s Gospel text we learn two crucial things as Jesus explains to Pilate what it means for Him to be King. First, His Kingdom is not of this world: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.” But Jesus will be delivered over. He is that kind of King. The great irony in the Gospel of John, as we see in the following verses, is the purple robe, the crown of thorns, and the scornful mocking “Hail, the King of the Jews!” in fact bears faithful testimony to the kind of King Jesus is. He is a crucified King, whose Kingdom is not of this world.
Secondly, His purpose is to bear witness to the truth. We might expect that Jesus’ purpose as King would be to vanquish His enemies and restore the Kingdom, leading His faithful out of bondage and oppression. Yet, as Jesus tells Pilate, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” The vanquishing of enemies and the restoring of the Kingdom will come, but for now, Jesus bears witness. On a cross.
The implication is important, and counterintuitive. Understanding that the Kingdom of Jesus is not the kingdom of this world means that, until Jesus comes again, we will not eradicate suffering and oppression and death. And that means abortion. This does not mean that we cease to defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. But it does mean that we have our eyes open, and understand that the persistence of such a great evil does not mean that Jesus does not reign. Jesus’ words “everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” surely implies that not all are of the truth, and will therefore not listen. Therefore, the primary call of the church is not firstly to elect righteous leaders (even if we rightly work and pray to that end) but to testify to the truth, praying earnestly that the Lord will give people ears to hear what they otherwise would be either unable or unwilling to hear.