Ultimate Loyalty

Based on John 18:33-37

One of the interesting things about belonging to a church tradition that stretches back many centuries is that we have special days in our tradition that does not immediately connect with our lived experience. This is one of those days. This Sunday is the last one in the Christian year. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. On this last Sunday of the year, it is called Christ the King Sunday. The year ends with a day to acknowledge and celebrate that Jesus is the king, indeed the king of kings and lord of lords.

We call on Jesus by many names: savior, comforter, friend. We also call him lord and king. But what does it mean to call Jesus lord and king? For those who live in a kingdom ruled by a king, calling Jesus lord and king are terms people can relate to. But we live in a country that is not a kingdom. In fact, America specifically rejected royal rule. Our ancestors fought a war of independence to escape the monarchy. We live in a constitutional republic in which people govern by the consent of the governed. Rulership is not granted through bloodlines and divine right, but through elections. We don’t know what it’s like to live under the rule of a monarch. So, when we identify Jesus as lord and king, this requires of us the need to do some work on what that means since we don’t know what it is like to live in a monarchy. We are going to spend a few moments today to do this work, to reflect on what it means to claim Jesus as our king.

Kingship is the topic of the scripture we heard today. Pilate is trying to figure out who Jesus is and why the religious leaders want him dead. He isn’t getting anywhere with them, so he asks Jesus directly, “Are you a king or not?” Jesus gives an ambiguous answer, saying “You say I am a king.” Then he says his kingdom is not of this world. If is was, he would have his loyal subjects rising up to defend him. That’s obviously not happening. His loyal subjects, that is, his disciples, have abandoned him. So, he is a king but not of this world. I can imagine Pilate doesn’t quite know what to make of this, probably wondering to himself if he is talking to someone who is delusional. But if Jesus is just delusional, why are the religious leaders hell bent on having him crucified? For Pilate, Jesus must have been an enigma.

This talk of Jesus being a king didn’t start here at the end of Jesus’ public ministry. We can go back to the beginning and see that Jesus was identified as a king then. The wise men, who saw in the stars that the king of the Jews had been born, go to Herod to find out where the new king was born. Of course, Herod misunderstands right away about the nature of this kingship. He naturally thinks that a rival to his power has been born who will rise up and take his throne and rule over the land in his place. So, he plots to kill all the boys in the land to make sure this newborn king is exterminated. But his kingdom is not of this world. It is a different kind of kingdom. Jesus is not a king like the king of England or the emperor of the Roman Empire. The kingship of Jesus is different. How is it different?

First, let’s compare how kings are portrayed and how Jesus was in the world. Kings are portrayed as powerful and regal. They reside in palaces. They have a court. They control armies. Jesus does not look or act like a king, certainly the kind of king that the people in Jesus’ day associated with kingship. Jesus does come from a royal lineage. His bloodline traces back to King David. But Jesus has no wealth. He controls no land. He does not live in a palace. He has no royal court or army. Instead, Jesus is a traveling teacher and healer with a group of disciples. We are told that he grew up as a carpenter’s son. There is nothing about Jesus that would immediately make someone associate him as a king.

Except that Jesus acts like how a king should act. Jesus is doing things with authority and wisdom. He orders demons to depart. He uses his authority to forgive sins. He teaches with wisdom and authority. He commands the seas to be calm and the winds to stop blowing. He commands a person dead four days to get up and walk out of the tomb. There is no doubt for those who can get past Jesus’ appearance, background, and material circumstances that Jesus has authority. If the function of a king is to protect and provide for his subjects and to instruct with wisdom, then Jesus fits the bill. By his actions and the demonstration of his authority Jesus is a king. But where is his crown? Where is his palace? His army? His fancy robes and piles of gold? What kind of king is this?

It requires eyes of faith and the capacity to see beyond outer appearance to believe that Jesus really is a king. The religious leaders couldn’t get past their preconceived notions about what a king is supposed to look like, failing to see that Jesus really is a king. In spite of all this evidence that Jesus has authority, they just could not get their minds around the possibility that he actually was a king. They were trapped in their limited thinking. They couldn’t see it. But for those who could see it, the wise men, the disciples, it was clear to them that Jesus is a king, the king, the king of kings. And although they had their doubts, especially when they saw who they believed to be the king be abused by the authorities and then crucified, their doubts evaporated when they saw the resurrected Jesus, the one who even conquered death.

We believe that Jesus will return in glory someday. This is, by the way, one of the central themes of Advent which begins next Sunday. And when Jesus returns, it will be obvious that he is a king. He will come wearing a white robe with a host of angels, as our tradition tells us. We claim that one day every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth, and every mouth will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But what does it matter? If we lived in a kingdom under the rule of a king and made the claim that Jesus is our lord and king, that could create a bit of tension. To whom do you give your loyalty? If Christians live in a kingdom under the rule of a king who does not claim his authority as granted to him by God, then that could lead to the need to make a hard choice. But we don’t live under the rule of a king. Does it matter that we claim Jesus as our king and lord even though we live in a constitutional republic? What does it even mean for us to claim Jesus as lord when in our society we don’t live under the rule of lords?

Even though we don’t have to make a choice between being loyal to a particular king and king Jesus, making the claim that Jesus is our lord and king does raise the issue of loyalty. Some may find it ironic, but there it is, printed on our money, “In God we trust.” That reminds me of a sign I saw by a register at a convenience store many years ago that said “In God we trust, all others pay cash.” Do we trust God, or do we trust money? In our pledge of allegiance, we have that phrase “under God” added in the 1950s when we were engaged in the cold war against godless communism. One nation under God. That line in our pledge of allegiance taps into that issue of loyalty. We are loyal Americans. We pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States of American and to the Republic for which it stands. And we claim that we are one nation under God. This suggests that God is above America in power and authority. So, where does our loyalty lie? It seems our pledge forces us to claim two loyalties, to the republic and to God who is above the republic. The phrase “under God” was added to show the Soviet Union that we as a nation believe in God. But saying that phrase also gives us an opportunity to acknowledge that our ultimate loyalty is to God. Because here is the truth. Nations rise and nations fall. America is a great nation. But even great nations fall. The kingdom of God is eternal, timeless, and unshakable. It will never fall. As Americans who claim Jesus as our king and lord, we are left making a choice of where we place our ultimate loyalty and trust. It doesn’t have to be a choice between loyalty to America or loyalty to God. But there is a choice between where we place our ultimate loyalty.

Every day, we can choose to be loyal to Jesus our king. We can choose to trust in Jesus as our protector and provider and serve him by following his command which is to live a life of love. That’s a good choice to make. We live in chaotic times. There is so much uncertainty about where everything is headed. The world is so different from what it was like just a few decades ago. The ties that bind our nation together are frayed and have been for some time. I for one take comfort in knowing that every day I have the opportunity to recommit myself to serve Jesus. There is so much going on in the world that is beyond our control. But we can control how we live our lives and who or what we are loyal to. We can choose to serve our lord and king Jesus and follow his command of love. It’s not easy. But it is in our power to choose.

This is why it matters to us that we claim Jesus as our king. As Americans, we will never really get what it means to call Jesus our king. But by making this claim, we are making a statement about first loyalties. We are loyal Americans, but we are first of all loyal to Jesus. In a world awash in change and instability, we claim our first loyalty to the eternal lord. It is in making this claim, that Jesus is Lord, and honoring that claim by faithful obedience to his command to love, that we find solid ground to stand on, that we can live a life that makes a difference, that makes it possible for this nation to be the best it can be. But most of all, it gives us the anticipation that one day we will stand before our lord and king and hear from him these words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”