Today is Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of the church year, so it would seem appropriate to sing the great hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns”, and in addition, to talk about kingdoms. Today in our Gospel reading, we are taken into a conversation between two different kings. And it is true that one king is mightier than the other. But which one is the mighty ruler? Which one represents the true kingdom? That’s what we are going to spend our time talking about on this Christ the King Sunday.
The first ruler we encounter is Pilate. Pontius Pilate was named Governor by the Roman Emperor, Tiberius in approximately 26 AD. He lives in the Governor’s palace, needless to say, a rather ornate residence. He has servants to wait on him, and armies under his command. A criminal could live or die by the word of Pilate. Needless to say, in the eyes of the world, Pilate has quite a bit of power. He looks like a real ruler.
Then, we have Jesus. A man bound in chains, having just been interrogated by the High Priest, and now led to Pilate, in the hopes of securing Pilate’s approval to put Jesus to death. The crime Jesus has committed? He has claimed to be “King of the Jews.” As far as the Jews were concerned, this blasphemy, an offense punishable by death. The Romans would give local governments the freedom to rule their own people by local law, but since this was a capital offense, it required judgment by Roman authorities, which is why Jesus is standing before Pilate.
In the eyes of the world, it appears that Pilate is a mightier ruler than Jesus. Pilate is wealthy, Jesus has only the clothes on His back. Pilate has followers, soldiers, and others who would prevent such treatment, Jesus’ own disciples deny knowing Him when it might be dangerous to their own well being. Pilate has the authority to say whether Jesus lives or dies, Jesus is bound in chains, helpless if Pilate decides to end His life.
Yet, what Pilate doesn’t know, is that standing before him is Immanuel, God in flesh. Pilate’s creator stands before Him, the One who holds all things under His feet. While His authority is hidden by human flesh and a crown of thorns, that doesn’t change the fact that the King of Creation stands before Pilate that day. Jesus says of His kingdom: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” Later in the text, when Pilate asks Jesus point blank “are you a king?”, Jesus responds “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world-to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (v. 37) While Pilate doesn’t realize that Jesus is truly a King, in reality, Jesus’ kingdom is much more powerful than any kingdom of the world. Those who listen to Jesus’ words recognize Jesus’ kingdom, those who don’t, do not.
As we look at this picture, it’s easy for us to think about today being Christ the King Sunday, and say that Jesus is our king. But a good question to ask this morning is this: do we really understand how His kingdom comes to us? In the Second Petition of The Lord’s Prayer, we pray: “Thy Kingdom Come.” In the Small Catechism, we learn about this petition: “What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” Okay, so what does that mean for us today?
It seems that any number of groups are claiming that they are a part of the Kingdom of God. Some of them seem to be pretty popular. Others not so much. Some churches seem to grow every week, boasting attendance figures in the thousands each week in several services, have numerous people on its paid staff, meet in state of the art, spectacular buildings, have members who dress in the finest clothing, and have so much worldly success that they just have to be proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Other churches struggle to meet their budget, are holding their own or declining in numbers, and are looked down upon as “dead churches” or “dying churches.” On the surface, it would seem that the churches that fit the first category are the ones that are truly part of the kingdom of God, right? After all, they got all the bells and whistles we’d put together with that, right?
But what did Jesus say to Pilate in our Gospel reading for this morning? “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” If we want to know the truth, we have to ask the question: are they listening to the Word of Truth? Are they listening to God reveal Himself to them through the Scriptures, or are they relying on something else, something that seems to be more powerful?
Now before we get too far in criticizing Pilate, or anybody else for that matter, I think it’s time we had a little reality check of our own this morning. Have you ever caught yourself thinking something had to be from God because you just felt that strongly about it, or it seemed powerful to your human emotions, but didn’t agree with the Word of God? What do we do in such situations? Do we give in to our emotions, the spirit of the age, to tell us how to conduct our ministry? Do we judge a particular ministry based on its outward, worldly appearance?
To find the answer, look at the real king of our text. To outward appearances, Jesus doesn’t appear to be much of a king. He looks, quite honestly, weak and powerless. He will look even less glamorous in a few hours when he is beaten, mocked, and forced to carry the instrument of his own execution up a hill called Golgotha where he will suffer and die for the sins of the world. And yet, although His power is hidden, Jesus Christ is the true king, with all power and authority in heaven and on earth, even as he stands before Pilate.
And today, He works in similar ways. You’ve often heard me stress the importance of basing our ministry here around Word and Sacrament, the means through which our Lord and Savior comes to be present with us today. Look at what we do here in this place. You see a man dressed in a white robe, reading to you Scripture lessons that were written at least two thousand years ago or more, you sing hymns to a King you have never seen with your eyes, you come up to this altar rail to receive a small piece of bread and a sip of wine. It doesn’t appear flashy to the world out there, does it? Many of you came here this morning with aches and pains, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and odds are, you will probably leave here with those hurts of body and soul as well. To the outside observer, judging on outward appearances, what happens here doesn’t seem to be of any real importance. They would look at you celebrating Christ the King Sunday as outright ridiculous. The eyes see simple, humble means.
And yet, we cling to these means because we know that although His glory and power are hidden, our King, Jesus Christ, is present in these means to do some powerful things. At the beginning of the service, when we confessed to Him that we are by nature sinful and unclean, that we had sinned against God and each other in thought, word, and deed, what did you hear? You heard Your Savior speak His Word to you through the Pastor by announcing that for the sake of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you are forgiven of all of your sins. You have the promise that eternal life and salvation are yours solely by what your King has done for you. What you see happen in this text this morning is part of what He has done for you. Where You should have been standing in front of a powerful ruler, answering for what You have done, Jesus does it for you. The almighty King of heaven and earth stands before a worldly ruler, and allows Himself to be condemned to death for you.
And this is where another difference in these two rulers of the text is evident. Both Pilate and Jesus face death. The difference is that while Pilate’s rule over his kingdom will come to an end, Jesus’ reign as King never does. Not even death itself could stop Him. Pilate couldn’t say that. With rulers of this world, their reign comes to an end, either when their successor is elected into office, or they die, the fact is their rule is finished. For Jesus, there is no end to His rule. He’s still here, although His power and glory are hidden on this side of His kingdom through means of Word and Sacrament, to bring us into His Kingdom, and to visit us with His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation, gifts no kingdom of this world will ever give. The means in which He goes about doing it may not always appear glorious to our worldly eyes, but through the eyes of faith, we know that our true King is present with us today.
Which brings me back to that question I posed earlier. How do we know if some type of ministry that appears glorious in the eyes of the world is truly one that proclaims Christ the King? Listen one more time to Jesus’ words to Pilate: “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Ask yourself these questions. Does this particular preacher point me to the real Jesus Christ? The one who suffered and died to forgive me all my sins, strengthen me with His grace, and lead me to everlasting life? Or, is this person occasionally mentioning Jesus, but tell you that true power is in things of this world, that if you only believe hard enough, give enough of your time, talent, and treasure, that God will give you worldly riches? If that person points you to something that is not in harmony with our King’s Word of Law and Gospel, than odds are you are probably listening to someone who is leading you astray. Remember your King standing before Pilate, your King as He carries the cross, and is laid in the tomb. He didn’t appear powerful and glorious in the eyes of the world. In fact, in Isaiah, we’re told of the Savior that “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and aquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:2b-3) Yet, through the eyes of faith, we recognize that Christ is our King, that His true power is in weakness. That despite outward appearances, the Christ revealed to us through His Word is the most powerful, beautiful ruler we could ever ask for.
Today is Christ the King Sunday. We come to the end of another church year. As we do, we take heed to not look for Christ’s presence with us through outward feelings, emotions, or worldly gages of power and glory, but to look where He has promised to be, His Word and Sacrament. Just as He stood before Pilate, when it appeared that Pilate was the greater of the two kings, we are reminded today that His presence with us today may not look like a King when He comes to be with us through Word and Sacrament, but through the eyes of faith, we recognize that our Lord Jesus Christ is with us today through those simple, yet powerful means where He brings us into His kingdom of grace. Looks can be deceiving, but thanks be to God that our King, Jesus Christ, through His Word, tells us where we can find Him, and what He has done for us. Thanks be to God that He has humbled Himself so that we may be forgiven of all of our sins. Amen.
