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If Jesus is a king then what or where is his kingdom?
John 18:33-37
33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
In today’s Gospel reading Pilate is desperately trying to find out if Jesus had been claiming himself as a king. The Jewish leaders had accused Jesus of teaching that he was a king so that he could be charged. At that time, under Roman rule, there could be ‘no king but Caesar.’
Today we celebrate him as ‘Christ the king’. And of course Jesus did teach that he was a king. He spent his whole ministry teaching about the kingdom. The old and New Testaments are full of references to and signs of the ‘kingdom of God’. It is what this kingdom is all about that I am going to look at today. I believe that if we can get our heads around this concept of the Kingdom of God then it can be life changing. Some writers say that ‘to fully understand the Gospel we must understand the kingdom’.
So then if Jesus is a king then what or where is his kingdom?
Discuss this together.
I’m sure that someone mentioned that Jesus came so that we can go to heaven when we die. Yes we can look forward to being with God when we die BUT it is much more than that. Jesus taught his disciples to pray ‘thy kingdom come’ ...So the kingdom of God can also be in the here and now on Earth. Perhaps we want to rewrite the Lord’s Prayer to say ‘when we die please can we be taken away from the earth and taken to your heaven, your kingdom, where your will is done’. But that isn’t what he said. The kingdom is here on earth. In the Lord’s Prayer we are asking that God’s will, his kingdom, come down to us: -to be here on this earth.
If God’s kingdom can exist here on earth then we begin to see our world in a different way, through a different lens. The world is God’s not just a resource to be exploited and but a place to be cared for. People who are different from us the poor, prisoners, people of different religions, children, disabled, the infirm, are equally important to God and equally loved. We will treat them with respect and love as Jesus did.
Now let’s look at some of the things Jesus did in Palestine when he was on earth.
Share with the person next to you some of the things that Jesus did in Palestine. There were discussions, teaching in synagogues, teaching the disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, then there were miracles and countless healings: - in fact everything Jesus did or taught was about the kingdom: - how to enter the kingdom and what the kingdom is like. He was a living example of what being in the kingdom of God is all about. He not only talked the kingdom but walked the kingdom too. He walked his talk!
We naturally want to think of the kingdom as a physical place with boundaries but Luke 17:21. When the Pharisees asked when the kingdom would come Jesus said ‘the kingdom of God is among you’. It is already here. Jesus was there so the kingdom was there. The kingdom is where the king is. It is not about one time and one place. The kingdom is where the Jesus is.
When we become a follower of Jesus we believe that Jesus came to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sin, accepting that free gift and asking him into our lives as boss, Lord, number 1, chief executive, first in command, CEO. Sometimes I think that we get stuck at this point of accepting Jesus into our lives and we relax, think that is it- and go no further. I understand that there is a ‘Wait there’s more’ moment here. When Jesus is first in command we then offer ourselves in his service working in his kingdom. We offer ourselves in his service working in his kingdom.
For me I became a follower of Jesus in the70s. In the middle of the charismatic renewal and the emphasis was on ‘being saved’ I knew well what I was saved from but not what I was saved for. Now I would say I am saved to serve.
As Mike Breen from Sheffield would day- with relationship comes responsibility.
God turns the world as we know it upside down. KidZone followed a programme last year called Flipt. We learned how God’s way is the opposite to that of the world. The Bible says that the ‘first will be last ‘and the last first’, Jesus came to earth in the form of a weak and helpless baby. He, the king, washed his disciples’ feet like the lowliest of servants! The Zealots were the freedom fighters of the day and they thought that Jesus would bring the kingdom through fighting and military might. Jesus wasn’t what they expected at all. The kingdom isn’t spread through war, hatred, revenge, greed it is brought about through generosity, peacemaking, expectant that God will move in power and all wrapped in love. Jesus ate with sinners, touched the untouchable lepers with skin diseases, and used lowly uneducated fishermen to spread his message through the world.
God’s kingdom can be spread when we are changed from inside and that change will be evident in all that we do. Bishop Tom is very strong on servant ministry and expects his priests to lead form a position of service. At Synod this year one speaker used a lovely turn of phrase...which I noted in my journal ‘maturity comes when we can stop living for ourselves and start living for others’.
One of my favourite passages from my early days as a follower of Jesus has been Romans 12
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And then it goes on to speak of the gifts that we are given for the benefit of others.
This is why I was delighted that this was the theme for today. For me the Kingdom of God is exciting and I wanted to share that excitement. The kingdom motivates me and stirs my spirit. It is not about outward religiosity but relationship. Inward relationship with the king and outward relationship with others on the journey wherever they might be along the road. Our relationship with Jesus has a reciprocal responsibility to be active workers in his kingdom here on earth.
I believe that my priestly ministry here in Levin is all about spreading the work of the kingdom through service and encourage others to do the same. A lot of this will be beyond the walls of this building and amongst those who have no link with the church. It might be assisting people to parent in the best way that they can, or to introduce children to Godly values even if their homes haven’t already done so or to just listen to someone in need of friendship just as Jesus would have listened to them.
My prayer for us all as followers of Jesus is for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and go about our daily lives with generosity, care and love; doing God’s work. I believe that this is where the kingdom is. God’s kingdom is where we, his followers, are.
Let us pray.
Reflect- on our lives and where we are living by worldly values and not Kingdom values and lifestyles.
Pray- show us how we can live your kingdom life here on this precious earth. Turn our worldly values upside down lord and help us to be active agents of change in this your kingdom. AMEN
References
· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NtgjNLNpao
· Beyond Renewal by Brain Hathaway
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