The
Preacher’s Study
Christ the King / The Reign of
Christ
John W.B.
Hill
2 Samuel
23:1-7;
Psalm
132:1-13, (14 - 19);
Revelation
1: 4b-8;
John
18:33-37
Readings for the Sundays between All Saints Day and
Christmas Day focus our attention on the future God has promised for the whole
creation, the coming of God’s kingdom, the consummation of history. Only in the last of these Sundays do the
readings point us toward the birth of
the King, but this Sunday the readings do
focus on kingship, and Israelite kingship is the much contested issue in
the Bible which comes to a head on this day.
The Book of Judges makes the case for a monarchy for
Israel, pointing out that without a
king, “all the people did what was right in their own eyes” (21: 25) — and that had been pretty
ugly! Then Samuel warns the nation that
life with a king can get pretty ugly,
too (1 Samuel 8: 10 - 18), and the
narrative of Israel’s kings pretty much confirms Samuel’s worst fears. So “the last words of David” in today’s first
reading may be very noble, but they sound like the rosy recollections of an
aged king who has conveniently forgotten all the dark bits of his career. Nevertheless, his words capture the longings
that have kept the mythology of monarchy alive, even to our own day.
In the gospel reading from the trial of Jesus, Pilate
is not yet ready to pass judgment on Jesus, and is still only conducting his
inquiry. The inquiry has reached the
critical point: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus responds by demanding to know what Pilate thinks he means by this
question, for Pilate is clearly puzzled, having seen no evidence of the kind of
activity he would have expected from a claimant to the throne. Pilate clarifies
by insisting that he only means what the accusers of Jesus meant, whatever that
is. “What have you done?” Pilate
asks. In other words, “What have you
done that could lead to this outrageous charge?”
Pilate’s puzzlement is understandable. In his world
(i.e., our world) a king (or
president, or military junta) secures the ‘kingdom’ by fabricating whatever
convenient ‘truth’ will justify the exercise of authority (creating ‘facts on
the ground’ as necessary). In God’s
world, a ‘king’ will expose the truth by shining the light of justice and
compassion into the dark corners of the world.
That will be a ‘kingship’ unlike any this world could produce, for it
will come through God’s grace and initiative.
Those who long for this kind of truth will be delighted to welcome such
a kingdom. If Pilate was anxious about
passing judgment on such a ‘king’, it would be with good reason, for sending
Jesus to the cross would constitute the enthronement of Caesar’s replacement!
But even though that light shines in the darkness, the
world still loves darkness rather than light (John 3: 19). The day will come, however, when “every eye will see
him, even those who pierced him.” The
reading from Revelation insists that revelation of the truth, not vengeance,
will ultimately prevail, and then those who pierced him will wail, for they
will no longer be able to justify the ‘kingdom’ they chose to support.
John
W. B. Hill is an Anglican presbyter living in Toronto, Canada. He is a Council
member of APLM, chair of Liturgy Canada, and author of one of the first
Anglican sources for catechumenal practice.
Art: Portion of “What is Truth. Christ and Pilate” - Nikolai Ge
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