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The Gospel According to St.John the Eighteenth Chapter!

Maybe I spent too much time in Washington, but I just love a political drama. With all this time between the past election and the upcoming lame-duck governing session, I just don't know what to do with myself.

Luckily, for all us folks who love salacious news, this week the Gospel if full of political intrigue. The main player is Pilate - he's the big-wig. But, we should add a little nuance.

While Pilate was, basically, a mayor-ish person in Jerusalem, to Rome he wasn't big fish. In fact, we can tell that Pilate didn't really have a lot of rank by his post.

The Jerusalem post was not the most grandiose assignment. Jerusalem was not part of Pilate's political aspirations, he had bigger plans himself.

To be Rome's appointee over insignificant, constantly conflicted Jerusalem was not a high-post at all.

More than likely all Pilate's order included was keeping the folks in Jerusalem calm, collect wealth for Rome - and well, really, that was probably about it.

 

So we have Pilate. Stuck in a small-potato city, needing to keep the area free of conflict. There is Pilate, this pretty unimportant guy, filled with self-importance and willing to do anything to keep his power, to make his bosses in Rome happy

 

Then we have the Chief Priests. These were the folks who ran the Temple, and in many ways they represented the nation of Judea.

Now, if Judea was a nation at all, it was an occupied one. Judea had, had a king in the past- remember David and Solomon. For quite some time, however, Judea had been occupied by various other big-players. And now, it was Rome.

 

So these Chief Priests represented, in a way, Judea. Because even though Judea was occupied, there was a hope among the people that one day they would over-throw their oppressors and be a free, independent nation again. So the Chief Priests represent what little autonomy Judea has.

 

So you can see the conflict brooding...

Pilate needs to keep the area calm, but the area wants to be free.

 

But there's more! There is more political intrigue. It just fills the slimy part of me that loves the Washington pettiness with delight.

 

See, yes, the Chief Priests represented Judea - a nation with aspirations to freedom. But, really, the idea that Judea could over-throw Rome, was high-fetched indeed.

So, these priests, to maintain what little power they had buddied up to Rome. The Chief Priests were constantly trying to show Rome didn't represent a threat to the empire. By buddying up to Rome, these Chief Priests maintained their sliver of power.

 

Okay - there is so much triangulation, so much intrigue, - so much that we should do a brief recap:

There is Pilate - sent by Rome to keep the the area around Jerusalem peaceful. He needs to make his bosses happy by avoiding or squelching any and all conflict.

Then there are the Chief Priests. While they represent the aspirations for a free nation of Judea - they have buddied up to Rome, to keep their puny power.

 

And then, thrown into this mix, we have Jesus.

While Pilate and the Chief Priests may have been pathetically unimportant, Jesus is the "biggest loser." He is from nowhere, and his parents are nobodies.

But, through his actions and preaching, he has gained some popularity with the hoi-poly, the common folk.

Jesus was popular. Many liked his preaching that criticized the Temple power complex. Jesus' closest circle believed that Jesus was, indeed, God's child - the one God had chosen to be Judea's next ruler; the Messiah.

 

As Jesus criticized the Temple, you can imagine how the Chief Priests felt about him. Jesus represented a threat to their precious and vulnerable power.

So the authorities of the Temple take Jesus to Pilate. The Chief Priests take Jesus to Pilate because they don't just want to punish Jesus, they want to kill him.

 

So now Pilate is caught in the mix.

You see how this is just so delicious for the political-junkie?!?!

 

In the Gospel today we see Pilate going from the Chief Priests back to Jesus. In the entire trial, Pilate does this a number of times; wavering between Jesus and the Chief Priests.

 

Pilate's wavering, or waffling in modern political jargon, not only shows how vulnerable Pilate's power is, like those Chief Priests,
but is also suggests Pilate knows what is right. It really does seem Pilate does NOT want to crucify the innocent man, Jesus.

 

But, Pilate is caught.

Ah, the political intrigue!

 

Pilate and those Chief Priests were "frenemies" as we say. So, by saying Jesus was innocent, Pilate could risk making the Chief Priests upset. By refusing the Chief Priest's request to murder an innocent man, Pilate could do the principled thing.

If Pilate were to do that, though, the Chief Priests could get angry. They could start some rioting.

 

You see the predicament?

These Chief Priests could incite some unrest & show Rome that Pilate wasn't doing a good job... These Chief Priests may not have much power, but in a world obsessed with power, what they have is enough pathetic power to put Pilate in.

 

So, although Pilate knows what's right; he also knows what's easy.

Pilate knows what is easy, just like those Chief Priests.

 

Jesus' presence presents these folks, and so also us, with real challenges...

 

The Chief Priests can do the right thing, listen to Jesus - attend to his words. Or, they can do the easy thing - get rid of the potential threat.

 

And Pilate - he can do the right thing; acquit the innocent man. Or, he can do the easy thing, placate these Chief Priests, and crucify the potential threat, although judicially he is innocent.

 

 

In a world full of folks doing anything to protect their teeny corner of the pie, Jesus will always be the weak-link. Jesus will be the one that must be crucified, quited.

 

See, it is right there, in this final move that everyone in the political drama shows their real weakness, what little power they really have.

 

Jesus comes in and threatens the status quo, and the status quo cannot prove it's authenticity. In light of this challenge the status quo must, the status quo has to, silence the one that calls its legitimacy into question.

 

See, that is what Jesus means when he says his authority, or his kingship, is not from this world. He is not saying that his kingdom is trapped in heaven. Rather, he is saying his kingship does not rely on the false power that Pilate and the Chief Priests rely upon.

 

While all the Chief Priests and Pilate can finally do is kill this man, Jesus testifies to the truth. Jesus testifies to the truth.

The truth. Jesus' kingship comes from, not the power of violence and oppression like the Chief Priests and Pilate; but from the power of love and liberation.

 

In fact, in the trial of Jesus and Pilate - Jesus offers Pilate a promise. Jesus says, "everyone who belongs to me (or the truth) listens to my voice." Right there Jesus offers Pilate the invitation into life in liberation and love. Jesus assures Pilate, that he is not a king of violence and oppression, but rather a king of love and liberation.

All Pilate hears, though, is that Jesus is some sort of king, and therefore, as to the Chief Priests, Jesus is a potential threat to Pilate too. Therefore, as one needing to protect what little, illusionary as it is, power; Pilate must have Jesus crucified.

 

See, that is the thing; Jesus testifies to the truth. Jesus testifies to the truth, but to all those clinging desperately to their puny piece of the pie - they won't hear it.

 

 

Pilate did not listen to the truth.

So, Jesus goes to the cross.

 

The Chief Priests, Pilate, and all those who live by the power of oppression and violence will not listen to the truth.

 

Ah - but maybe we will, maybe we have.

 

Maybe the one who speaks the truth, our king; maybe his words have caught our ear.

And if we have heard that truth, what is it that we hear?

 

We hear that, while yes, the authority of violence and oppression does seem to rule the world - we ought to celebrate Christ the King Sunday. We ought to celebrate Christ the King Sunday because Jesus, our King, isn't held by that power of violence and oppression, is he?

 

No - Jesus rises. Jesus rises from the dead, and all that false power of the Chief Priests and Pilate is on full display. Jesus rises from the dead, and even the worst violence and oppression could do, is not enough.

 

The truth rises. The truth will not be held to the grave.

The truth of liberation and love, bursts forth even from the grave, the worst violence and oppression can do.

 

The truth rises, the truth rings on. The truth rings on, and we hear it. We hear it and so we find that we belong to Jesus.

 

We belong to Jesus, and this is enough. We belong to Jesus, and no longer do we need to kill those things we worry may be a threat. Jesus is our king, as it were, and now we find we are enough.

 

That is really the rub isn't it?

 

Pilate, he lives in the illusion that he needs to measure up to both the Judeans and Rome; an impossible feat. The Chief Priests, they live in the illusion that they need to keep the Temple under their strict thumb if they are to measure up to God.

 

See, that is finally the tragedy of most political dramas, including this one. They are full of false choices, full of pettiness.

 

Truthfully I wanted to write this sermon as a news story to capture the political intrigue, but in the world then, this story didn't matter. Pilate was a nobody and Judea was a nowhere. If a hypothetical Roman newspaper wrote a story, it would be in the back of the paper, below the fold. It would be short, and no picture would run with the story.

It would say, "In such and such a year of Caesar's reign, a social bandit was put to death in Judea. Brought to trial by Judea priests, Pilate's office confirmed that this man claimed to be a king and was shown to be a failure on the cross.

And, honestly, there would be many other similar stories on the paper.

 

Really, the whole ordeal is small potatoes, but Pilate and those Chief Priests are obsessed with power, so an innocent man must die.

Yes, the scene is full of false choices. Pilate could, actually, acquit the innocent man - but his pathetic attempt to keep power won't let him really consider it. The Chief Priests could, actually, cease from oppressing this innocent man - but their pathetic attempt to keep control of the Temple won't let them really consider it.

 

So, in this distorted world of the Chief Priests and Pilate, Jesus must go - Jesus is too much of a threat.

 

But thankfully Jesus doesn't stay gone!

Thankfully Jesus transforms this political drama into a story of hope.

 

See even though Pilate and those rulers of the Temple won't listen, God refuses to let their insolence be the end of the story. God refuses to let pathetic, childish behavior be the last word. God raises Jesus, thank heavens.

 

God raises Jesus, and the whole story, including ours, is transformed. See that trial between Jesus and Pilate is not confided to the past. Just as Jesus bursts from the grave to be our King, so too does his empire live beyond the past into the present.

 

We hear Jesus' voice, and so we now belong to him. We're freed from those boring and oft repeated trials, to live in true freedom, truth. And the truth is that Jesus claims you. You are enough.

 

Jesus is our king - we're ruled by the one of liberation and love. Jesus is our king, so no longer must we be bound to keeping what little power we imagine we have. Jesus is our king, so we're freed from trying to measure up. Jesus is our king, and so all of the political pettiness is put into its place, because Jesus reigns in his.

 

This is Christ the King Sunday.    -Alleluia and Amen.