TO WHOM WE BELONG

Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37

November 22, 2009 – Rev. Jerry Duggins

When I think of kings I think of Camelot, of the whole mythology surrounding Arthur and his knights. Would Jesus’ kingdom be like that? … I mean before the whole Lancelot and Guinevere thing tore apart the vision… a realm of peace governed by laws that applied to all the people equally, a passion for justice, especially toward the “least” in the kingdom.

Or perhaps Jesus’ kingdom might incorporate some of the rhetoric of the American version of Camelot, someone like John F. Kennedy asking not what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country… a kingdom where people think first about their neighbor and then their own need.

Then there’s Henry VIII, whose rule is most noted for corruption, but whose desire for divorces certainly was a significant factor in solidifying support for the Reformation in England. It seems a bit odd to compare his rule with the rule intended by Jesus, but we shouldn’t forget that the monarchy, at least historically, has a great deal to do with power.

It’s this issue of power that Jesus confronts in his conversation with Pilate. Pilate, the representative of Roman power, begins by exploring Jesus’ base of support with the question, “Are you the king of the Jews?” This is the charge that the chief priests have leveled against Jesus in turning him over to the authorities. Later these priests will declare their loyalty to Caesar.

Jesus counters Pilate with a question of his own that explores Pilate’s personal interest in the matter. “Are you asking this for yourself or, in essence, as part of the conspiracy against me?” To this Pilate denies any interest in the matter, treating it as an internal affair between Jews. “I am not a Jew, am I?” he says, “Your own people handed you over to me.”

At this point Jesus distances himself from both Pilate and the chief priests, declaring that his “kingdom is not from here.” With this he seems to recognize the “secular” authority of Pilate and the priests, while claiming an authority based not in followers but in truth. Jesus’ followers attach themselves to him on the basis of his testimony to truth rather than in his power to reward them.

There are a lot of interesting nuances in this back and forth between Pilate and Jesus, but what I want you to hear is that despite the fact that Jesus’ kingdom is not from here, there exists considerable tension with the “powers” that are here.

We are comfortable with this tension when the powers that oppose Jesus are occupying Rome and religious leaders cooperating with Rome in order to maintain their own base of power. We are comfortable with the Jesus who opposes coercive rule. We are comfortable with the Jesus who refuses to play the political game. We are comfortable… because we don’t live in that kind of world anymore.

We trust our religious leaders. They offer us wisdom in the midst of turmoil, guidance for our spiritual journeys, insight into the teachings of our faith, and prayer for our needs. Called by God, we cannot imagine them as self-serving.

And we see that our nation is not opposed to Christianity. We give thanks to God that we live in a country that stands for religious freedom, that practices a separation between church and state, and that is founded on good “Christian” principles.

In telling ourselves these things, we make it easier to keep our two lives separate: life in the church and life in the world. We can do as we like in the world, seeing no contradiction in the values that define them. Making our way in the world and our life in faith abide together in a comfortable accommodation. At least, we believe these things some of the time.

Other times, we acknowledge a rather widespread distrust of leadership, secular and religious. Sexual misconduct occurs far more frequently than we care to publicly admit. We see leaders selling out to the highest bidder and decisions (in and out of the church) subjected to financial manipulation.

And we hear voices (liberal and conservative) arguing that this country is not founded on Christian principles, that it is currently engaged in immoral practices, that the state is intruding into the affairs of the church as well as the other way around, and that religious freedom has been compromised in some places, especially Islamic communities.

At least some of the time, we struggle to see how we can make our way through life while maintaining the integrity of our faith. I think, in fact, that we have a great longing to carry our Sunday worship into the Monday workplace. We want to live in one world, but struggle to figure out how. We want our two worlds to connect on some level beyond “being a good person” in both.

This is something that Janet and I have been conscious of in our preaching and ministry among you. We want what we say here to help you “be a Christian” out there. One of the first things we need to do is to recognize that there is a tension between these two worlds. And it’s a tension that is more fundamental than those few times that your boss asks you to do something that you’re not comfortable with. We can recognize this tension in the corrupt world akin to the reign of many monarchs like Henry the VIII. But the tension exists as well in the well-loved sentiment of JFK that called the nation to a spirit of service to country. Not even the mythical Camelot erases this tension. However good this world becomes, the Christian does not belong to it.

Elizabeth Forney sees the tension this way: “The empire that threatens the heart of Christianity today with commercialism, self-indulgence, and increasing isolation is as deadly as the Roman Empire was when John was writing” (p. 326). Now maybe these aren’t the aspects of American culture that you would lift up as a threat to Christian faith, and you may have trouble seeing how the demands of citizenship could compromise faith; but patriotism can become too extreme, at least for the Christian. Jesus talked about no one being able to serve two masters. He used the example of money then, but it would apply as well to country. He wasn’t saying that a person couldn’t use money or in this case act for the welfare of one’s country; but sometimes the pursuit of money leads to evil consequences. And sometimes countries ask their citizens to do things that the disciple of Christ can only reject. Hitler’s attempted genocide of Jews is the obvious example, but usually it’s much more subtle than that.

How do we negotiate these contradictions in life? Remembering that Christ is our king is one place to begin. Understanding to whom we belong is critical in a world that places so many claims on our loyalty. People stand by their car manufacturer, phone service provider, cable network, TV program, and sports team on the more trivial level; but we are also bound to family, school, political party, denomination, community and country. The ties that connect us to this world are numerous and strong, but as Christian we belong to Jesus Christ alone.

The author of Revelation tries to reassure Christians with this truth. At a time when the Roman Empire remained strong, it may not have looked like it, but Jesus Christ, “is the ruler of the kings of the earth” according to our other reading. That Jesus Christ is king is the central message of Revelation. This is the truth that governs Christian interaction with the world. Revelation is not about the “end time” in the sense that some it today. Its intent is to encourage Christians to live out their faith in Christ whatever “time” they live in. Reminding Christians that we belong to another world, it gives us courage to live in this world.

I love how Tom Long puts it in his commentary on this passage. “But in John’s apocalyptic vision,” he writes, “parallel lines eventually meet and the triumph of heaven becomes an earthly victory” (p.331). I know I sometimes feel as though I’m living two lives: one here in the church where we explore many matters related to faith and one “out there” where I eat, play, pay bills, do laundry, work in the garden, have a family, exercise the responsibilities of citizenship, etc., etc., etc. It often feels like the two lives, the two worlds scarcely intersect. But when I think about the one “who loves and frees us,” I understand that when Christ is king, these parallel words do come together. When I understand that I belong to Jesus, I know that faith speaks to this world too.

In acknowledging Christ as king, I accept responsibility as a citizen of his world to be about the business of redeeming this world. All my other loyalties are subject to this ultimate loyalty. We serve Christ and Christ alone. This does not mean that we don’t love others and work for their welfare; rather in serving Jesus we are acting in their best interests as well.

In accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, which we do in joining the church, or in accepting the call to leadership in the church, we are promising to live the life of faith in this world. Learning how to do that is what life in the church is about. It is a service to Christ that requires a commitment to study of the scriptures, to prayer, to worship, to mission, and to the church as to the body of Christ. It’s an invitation to a kingdom/world beyond human imagination. May God grant us strength, wisdom and courage to live out our faith in service to Christ and for the sake of this world in which we live. Amen.

Revelation 1:4b-8: Pastoral Perspective (Elizabeth B. Forney); Exegetical Perspective (Thomas G. Long) in

Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 4. edited by David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, KY. 2009.