Seeing Jesus as King of the Universe is always, for me a difficult concept to get my head around. This is mainly due to my experience of what Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes, etc. look like in our world. This is not a slight on any living or dead monarch, many of whom live lives of great dedication to their people.

It is more the trappings of monarchy that confuse me. With the best will in the world it would be difficult to really see any King or Queen as ‘one of us’. Their lifestyle, upbringing, wealth and influence cut them off from their people, making them into benign figureheads or useful tourist attractions. In some senses we force this on them, wanting to see the pomp and pageantry they bring us. They remind us nostalgically of bygone days of power and Empire, when the ‘Divine right of Kings’ gave absolute authority and sovereignty to the Monarch.

Therefore I struggle a bit imagining Jesus in jewelled robes, weighty crowns and golden carriages, being hailed and acclaimed a King of anywhere, let alone the Universe.

Possibly what I experience thinking about Jesus as a King is exactly the problem he had himself during his life. When he talked about the ‘Kingdom of God’ – as he did all the time – his hearers immediately imagined him at the head of an army decimating Roman Legions and restoring the past great days of King David and King Solomon. This was what the People of Israel longed for, and it was what they believed they had been promised by God.

Even those closest to Jesus argued among themselves as to who would be his right and left hand men when the Kingdom of God came. Peter, his rock and chosen successor, was quick to draw a sword at his arrest and totally failed to understanding that the coming of the Kingdom of God might necessitate Jesus’ own death. He chose to publicly rebuke Jesus about this, getting the well-known response, “Get behind me Satan…”

There is no doubt at all that Jesus believed that he was chosen to make the Kingdom of God visible on Earth. This conviction led him to John the Baptist’s message of repentance, using it to launch his own ministry linking repentance with the coming Kingdom of God.

Unfortunately, he spent the next three years being misunderstood every time he mentioned ‘Kingdom’ of God.

The awful horror of this week’s Gospel is that Jesus, in the last day of his life, finds himself not one centimetre closer to making the ‘Kingdom of God’ understood by his own people. He stands before Pilate, Governor of Judaea, almost inviting him, a Roman, to understand the type of Kingdom he is revealing, a Kingdom his own people and disciples have failed to grasp.

When he says to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world…”  the mistake everyone – including his own disciples – made was thinking that he was talking about another greater Kingdom coming into the world that would look and be governed exactly the same as the Kingdoms that were already in the world, like Rome or Greece or Egypt or Syria.

The truth, from the very start of his ministry, was that Jesus was saying, “The Kingdom I am talking about, the Kingdom that is coming, is totally and utterly different to any Kingdom already here.” Jesus was constantly talking about this ‘new’ Kingdom of God. His parables and his own interaction with people hinted at the Kingdom to come. It was like a jigsaw; they had the pieces but they lacked the overall picture which would enable them to put the pieces together.

The power of the Resurrection of Jesus and their realisation that he truly was the promised Messiah provided that overall picture of the jigsaw. Gradually the individual stories, miracles and life of Jesus came together to form patterns, and slowly those patterns formed into the full picture.

The Gospels we read and reflect upon, and even the Old Testament which foreshadowed them, gave us the pieces of the jigsaw and showed us the patterns beginning to form, enabling the overall picture take shape. The Apostles and first disciples of Jesus, people like Mary Magdalene and the women who stood under the Cross, joined by St. Paul, Barnabas, and the first Christian Communities, took those patterns and continued to put the pieces together.

The exciting thing – and I do find it exciting – is that the picture is not yet complete; the Kingdom of God has not yet been fully revealed. It falls to us to continue the work of joining the pieces until the Kingdom is with us, among us.  

My struggle to imagine Jesus as King is because I am, despite all my words and life experiences, caught in a shadow which still tries to fit Jesus into the mould of the Kings of this world, and the Kingdom of God into the mould of human Kingdoms. Somehow, even though I desire to do so, I am not yet free enough to fully let go of the Kingdoms of this world and accept the Kingdom brought to us by Jesus.

The ‘constitution’ of the Kingdom of God, the principles and values that underpin it, are found in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, a remarkable gathering together of Jesus’ key statements about the Kingdom of God. If we take these statements of Jesus as true, then we find ourselves at the start of a journey which will force us to rethink everything we imagined a King to be. Leonard Cohen, a Canadian songwriter/poet, who spent most of his life searching for truth, said in his wonderful song ‘Democracy’ that he had read:

“…the staggering account

Of the Sermon of the Mount

Which I don’t pretend to understand at all.”

The more I reflect of these words the more I appreciate the honesty and wisdom of them. If ‘staggering’ means to be knocked off our feet, to stumble and be confounded, then Cohen has chosen the perfect word to express the only honest response we can have to the ‘Sermon on the Mount’.

The problem I have with this Kingdom of God is that it asks me to envisage a Kingdom populated:

by the ‘poor in spirit…’ – those who are humble and unpretentious.

by those ‘who mourn…’ – those who don’t hide their vulnerability.

by those ‘who are meek…’ – those who are gentle and unassuming.

by those  “who hunger and thirst for righteousness…’ – who fight for justice in our world.

by those “who are merciful…” – who forgive without demanding retribution.

by those who “are pure in heart…” – who believe in the goodness of others, the ‘little children’ of this world.

by those who “are peacemakers…” – who take risks and are prepared to compromise.

by those who “are persecuted for the sake of righteousness…” – the civil rights activists, climate change activists, human rights activists, those who hold on to their faith against opposition and persecution.

by those who have “all manner of evil (spoken) against them falsely…” – those who are condemned falsely, who are misjudged, misrepresented, ridiculed.

(*I have included all the Beatitudes to highlight just who ‘staggering’ they are!)

I read this list and unless I am very naïve, I have to say to myself, “lovely but totally impractical!”. A Kingdom populated by these categories of people would be pushed aside, steamrolled out of the way, ignored and laughed at by the movers and shakers and Kings of this world.

Kings are those who win, and Kingdoms are built on strength and ruthlessness. Gentleness, forgiveness, believing in the goodness of others equals weakness and no Kingdom can be built on weakness.

Kings don’t wash peoples’ feet – unless it is a carefully managed publicity stunt of some kind!

As for the “last being first and the first last…” – a recipe for disaster!

You see, like Leonard Cohen, I read this, “…staggering account of the Sermon of the Mount..” and like him, my head and my experience tells me that ‘I can’t pretend to understand it at all!’

And yet… and yet… this is what Jesus said and he said it seriously. Indeed, he died rather than compromise it!

And this brings me to the very core of Christian faith – trust in the person of Jesus Christ.

If the Sermon on the Mount is just that; a sermon of ideals, values and principles, then it is very nice but probably naïve and impractical. But if the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ IS the person of Jesus; if everything he said there was what he lived … and died for … and… and..

… then Rose from the Dead in triumph and glory…

… then this Kingdom is real…and it is here…and Jesus is the Messiah…and he is returning in his own time to fulfil the Kingdom of God on earth.

The Kingdom of God has nothing to do with dogma’s or ideas or ideals. The Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus. If/when we come to meet and know this person, Risen from the Dead, then we know that the Kingdom of God is both real and possible… and already happening.

On this great feast of Jesus, King of the Universe, I ask myself again, do I believe and accept it as true?

The struggle within me remains, “I don’t pretend to understand at all.” The Kings of this world are so strong and dangerous that the Kingdom of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ must always get swallowed-up and overcome. So says my head!

But, at this point in my life, I do believe in that man who walked the roads and trails of Israel two thousand years ago….and I do believe and accept that he Rose from the Dead (at least, mostly I do!)…

And therefore, Yes, I believe that, staggering as it seems, Jesus is King of all that is, and the Kingdom of God has come and will fully come when Jesus returns… and he will return.

When Jesus said to Pilate in this Gospel, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”, he could have added the word, “…yet.” Pilate would not have understood that, but those of us who believe the ‘Good News’ of the Gospel can understand and commit ourselves to it.

Isn’t that exciting?

Many thanks,

Brian.

Gospel for Sunday November 24th 2024, Feast of Christ the King ©

Yes, I am a king

‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.’ ‘So you are a king then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’