Gospel: John 18:33-37
25 November 2018
Every now and then, we catch glimpses of the good that God intends for our world, even in the midst of calamity. For example, I’ve noticed some stories of heroic acts of kindness embedded in news of the tragic fires in California. In northern California, what is known as the Camp Fire began in the early hours of November 8 and ripped through Butte County eventually leaving 83 people dead and 13,000 families without homes. In one story related to this fire, 33-year-old James Betts recalled his rescue thanks to the actions of a good samaritan. While Betts was desperately trying to escape the flames with 7 others on foot, a man in a pickup truck pulled up suddenly and shouted at them to climb into the truck bed. All made it to safety thanks to the kindness of a stranger who stopped to help...a person whose name they may never know. In the Kingdom of God, there is no east and west, no rich and poor, no this kind of people and that kind, and no one is left behind…. We are all one family. Sometimes, it takes a crisis to help us revert to what matters most. For a moment we see clearly that we are all related as children of God.
The late Fred Rogers, whose children’s television series, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, modeled kindness for a generation of children, described how his own mother would respond when she was troubled by scary news. “Look for the helpers,” she would say. When we are frightened by events we too can find some hope in the work of the first responders, in the compassion of strangers, and in the way the worst can sometimes bring out the best in people.
Folks who have been able to escape the devastating fire in Northern California are now facing the reality of a new normal. The initial needs for rescue and immediate safety have given way to the need for shelter and relief over the coming months and still later will give way to the need for rebuilding and recovery. Whether a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake, or a fire, communities face a similar set of stages following disaster. This time, we are looking at the devastation from a distance….but we know that our own community has been in the difficult aftermath of calamity. We look at what is going on in California….but looking at something is not the same as seeing. Seeing involves not only the eyes but also the mind and the heart. Seeing involves understanding and feeling the significance of what we’re looking at. Seeing brings up questions. How are we connected to others who suffer? Do we relate to them from our own experiences? Seeing brings up feelings like empathy, compassion, and a desire to help. Seeing might lead us to the Internet to find out more from sources like the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, the Episcopal Relief and Development US Disaster Fund and the American Red Cross, among others
Today is the final Sunday of the liturgical year. It is the last Sunday after Pentecost and the day, also known as the Feast of Christ the King, when our focus is Jesus as God’s chosen leader. But just what kind of leader is Jesus and what are we to make of his kingdom? In reading from the Gospel according to John, Pilate was trying to assess just how much of a threat Jesus was to the tinderbox that was Jerusalem. Pontius Pilate was the Roman Prefect in Judea; he had final authority in his jurisdiction on matters legal, financial, and military and typically did his work from the city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. But in today’s reading we see that Pilate is in Jerusalem. Pilate was in town with his soldiers because this was the festival of Passover. He was there not to worship but, rather, to see to the interests of Rome. He knew there would be a greater than usual concentration of religious zealots in town...people who longed for the days before the Roman occupation and who were looking for a messiah to lead a revolt. Tensions were high, and the last thing Pilate wanted was some Jewish nut-job fanning the flames of discontent.
To keep the peace as well as the steady stream of taxes extracted for Rome, Pilate would not hesitate to shut down any sign of sedition. He had the authority to remove the high priest, Caiaphas, and to end the Passover festival by force if necessary. He could be brutally efficient. If he needed more soldiers he could get them from their garrison in Syria. If it was going to take a bloodbath to extinguish the beginnings of an insurrection then so be it.
Now, Pilate typically did not want to get involved in Jewish religious affairs, but Caiaphas had sent Jesus to Pilate with words that surely got his attention. Caiaphas sent word that Jesus had claimed to be a king, the King of the Jews!
“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked. But, Jesus did not directly answer the question. Yet, even at his trial before Pilate, Jesus is a teacher. He takes the opportunity to describe his kingdom as being “not from this world.” As evidence, he points out that his followers did not resist his being taken prisoner. He was describing his kingdom...sooo then he must be claiming to be a king, right? “So you are a king? Pilate asks. Once again, Jesus does not answer the question directly but he uses the opportunity to teach. You are using this term “king” to describe me...but this is why I was sent into the world. The world understands a king in a political way, but if you are going to use it for me, this is what it means… It is for this that I was born, to reveal what is ultimately true. In Jesus God has pitched a tent among us in a way that joins heaven to earth and earth to heaven. Theologically, making God known to human beings is what the 2nd Person of the Trinity does. Whenever human beings come to know God...whether in a beautiful sunset, the vast expanse of interstellar space, a burning bush, the words of a prophet, or in the actions of a nameless good samaritan saving a group from fast approaching flames….whenever any person experiences being in the presence of God, being grasped by the Holy, being saved by the Divine, we say that the 2nd Person of the Trinity is at work. Christians believe that the most perfect revelation of God to humanity was in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. God may be revealed in other ways...but never before or after so completely in Jesus! This is what it means for a Christian to acknowledge Jesus as Christ the King.
So there we are. We end the Church year with the acclamation that Jesus is our King. We do not mean by the term “king” someone who vies for power to rule one political unit among others. By King, we mean the One to whom we owe everything that is meaningful in life...our creation, our preservation, and all the blessings of this life. And, above all, the One to whom we are forever indebted for the immeasurable love by which we have been saved from the power of sin and death. AMEN.
The late Fred Rogers, whose children’s television series, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, modeled kindness for a generation of children, described how his own mother would respond when she was troubled by scary news. “Look for the helpers,” she would say. When we are frightened by events we too can find some hope in the work of the first responders, in the compassion of strangers, and in the way the worst can sometimes bring out the best in people.
Folks who have been able to escape the devastating fire in Northern California are now facing the reality of a new normal. The initial needs for rescue and immediate safety have given way to the need for shelter and relief over the coming months and still later will give way to the need for rebuilding and recovery. Whether a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake, or a fire, communities face a similar set of stages following disaster. This time, we are looking at the devastation from a distance….but we know that our own community has been in the difficult aftermath of calamity. We look at what is going on in California….but looking at something is not the same as seeing. Seeing involves not only the eyes but also the mind and the heart. Seeing involves understanding and feeling the significance of what we’re looking at. Seeing brings up questions. How are we connected to others who suffer? Do we relate to them from our own experiences? Seeing brings up feelings like empathy, compassion, and a desire to help. Seeing might lead us to the Internet to find out more from sources like the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, the Episcopal Relief and Development US Disaster Fund and the American Red Cross, among others
Today is the final Sunday of the liturgical year. It is the last Sunday after Pentecost and the day, also known as the Feast of Christ the King, when our focus is Jesus as God’s chosen leader. But just what kind of leader is Jesus and what are we to make of his kingdom? In reading from the Gospel according to John, Pilate was trying to assess just how much of a threat Jesus was to the tinderbox that was Jerusalem. Pontius Pilate was the Roman Prefect in Judea; he had final authority in his jurisdiction on matters legal, financial, and military and typically did his work from the city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. But in today’s reading we see that Pilate is in Jerusalem. Pilate was in town with his soldiers because this was the festival of Passover. He was there not to worship but, rather, to see to the interests of Rome. He knew there would be a greater than usual concentration of religious zealots in town...people who longed for the days before the Roman occupation and who were looking for a messiah to lead a revolt. Tensions were high, and the last thing Pilate wanted was some Jewish nut-job fanning the flames of discontent.
To keep the peace as well as the steady stream of taxes extracted for Rome, Pilate would not hesitate to shut down any sign of sedition. He had the authority to remove the high priest, Caiaphas, and to end the Passover festival by force if necessary. He could be brutally efficient. If he needed more soldiers he could get them from their garrison in Syria. If it was going to take a bloodbath to extinguish the beginnings of an insurrection then so be it.
Now, Pilate typically did not want to get involved in Jewish religious affairs, but Caiaphas had sent Jesus to Pilate with words that surely got his attention. Caiaphas sent word that Jesus had claimed to be a king, the King of the Jews!
“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked. But, Jesus did not directly answer the question. Yet, even at his trial before Pilate, Jesus is a teacher. He takes the opportunity to describe his kingdom as being “not from this world.” As evidence, he points out that his followers did not resist his being taken prisoner. He was describing his kingdom...sooo then he must be claiming to be a king, right? “So you are a king? Pilate asks. Once again, Jesus does not answer the question directly but he uses the opportunity to teach. You are using this term “king” to describe me...but this is why I was sent into the world. The world understands a king in a political way, but if you are going to use it for me, this is what it means… It is for this that I was born, to reveal what is ultimately true. In Jesus God has pitched a tent among us in a way that joins heaven to earth and earth to heaven. Theologically, making God known to human beings is what the 2nd Person of the Trinity does. Whenever human beings come to know God...whether in a beautiful sunset, the vast expanse of interstellar space, a burning bush, the words of a prophet, or in the actions of a nameless good samaritan saving a group from fast approaching flames….whenever any person experiences being in the presence of God, being grasped by the Holy, being saved by the Divine, we say that the 2nd Person of the Trinity is at work. Christians believe that the most perfect revelation of God to humanity was in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. God may be revealed in other ways...but never before or after so completely in Jesus! This is what it means for a Christian to acknowledge Jesus as Christ the King.
So there we are. We end the Church year with the acclamation that Jesus is our King. We do not mean by the term “king” someone who vies for power to rule one political unit among others. By King, we mean the One to whom we owe everything that is meaningful in life...our creation, our preservation, and all the blessings of this life. And, above all, the One to whom we are forever indebted for the immeasurable love by which we have been saved from the power of sin and death. AMEN.
