Lenten Series - The Trial Part II - John 18:28-40

As we move through the season of Lent we continue to examine the events of the night before Jesus' death, the night before the fateful day when the Son of God changed everything, forever. All eternity is altered in the 24 hours in which we find Christ in this passage. While Peter was outside on “trial” by the gate and before the fire, Jesus was inside with Annas and then taken to Caiaphas and finally he is taken to Pilate, who is woken up in the middle of the night by the Jewish leaders to settle their dispute with this so called, “King of the Jews.”

We actually began moving toward this night at the beginning of Advent, when we began to think about who Jesus was and who he was born to be. The baby toward which we will traveled through Advent; the cradle into which we peered on Christmas Eve, contains the one who now stands trial before Pilate in our passage this morning.

In the backwards, upside down world Jesus brings to us, where God is a baby, astrologers get it right, where the last are first, the smallest things are of the most importance, children serve as examples of wisdom, the weak are strong, and the humble inherit the earth; Jesus is a king without a kingdom. Jesus’ kingship is brought to light as he is brought to trial for treason. The idea that a king can be treasonous might not sound so odd to you, but it would have been completely unheard of at the time. In fact, it would have been a completely unheard of idea in western society until just a little more than 200 years ago. Prior to ideas of a democratic government and the rule of the people through representatives, treason was not an act committed against the State, it was an act against the King and the King’s rule. Therefore a King could not be on trial for treason. That is unless you are not really the King and are just claiming to be king.

Jesus stands before Pilate on trial for being King of the Jews. He is not the first to be on trial for this crime in the
Roman Empire, and most likely not the first to stand before Pilate who was sent to deal with the “rebellious” Jews who, seemed to have a parade of so called Messiahs, and were continually moving to separate themselves from the glorious Empire. Many so called self-appointed Kings arose, and all them were dealt with swiftly, and permanently. Claiming to be “king” was a charge that Jesus' accusers knew held weight. The cry of a true citizen of the Roman Empire is, “There is no King but Caesar.” So to claim that Jesus is posing as King of the Jews is to accuse him of treason in the highest form.

What has to strike Pilate as odd about this whole thing is that the Jewish leaders bring Jesus to him and ask that he be put on trial for treason for claiming to be King of the Jews, even though he himself has never claimed to be so. So Pilate is woken up, in the middle of the night, by these Jews, offering up one who is said to be their King, asking that he be tried for treason for being their king. But of course Pilate needs to hurry, because they have to go celebrate the time when the Jews fled from an oppressive empire to go start their own country. Passover comes with the dawn, you know, their yearly celebration of their tumultuous exodus from Egypt. So could he please hurry up. And as if that was not too much to ask, Pilate needs to come outside because they can't go inside his “dirty” gentile court, so they won’t be ritually impure, and thus too unclean to celebrate that time when God killed the first born of the king of the country from which they were escaping and all the first born in that whole nation, but saved their own sons, so they could flee in the chaos. Really, guys? Really? You want me to hurry up and put this guy on trial for treason so you can go celebrate the time when your people were treasonous and succeeded?

So they bring in Jesus, this supposed treasonous usurper bent on taking down the Roman Empire, or at least disengaging Israel from the commonwealth and setting himself up as king, which in the eyes of the empire, amounts to just about the same thing. At least that is the kind of thing most people who are brought before the authorities claiming to be king and accused of treason are likely to be attempting to do. Unlike, any faux King who has been brought before him up to this point, Jesus is not brought in full the bravado of a braggart, but instead comes in quietly, resignedly. He does not claim to be a king, and in the end only admits to having been called a king. He explains that he is a king, perhaps not of the Jews but of an other-worldly kingdom.

Pilate: King . . . of a kingdom . . . that is not of this world. Invisible? In the sky? Make believe? Those guys out there are as crazy, and so is this guy in here. I am going back to bed.

Pilate is very quickly fed up with this man who is obviously not making a claim to the throne, nor is he proclaiming anything that could even be remotely construed to be treason, and goes back to the accusers (probably pretty grumpily, remember he has been woken up in the middle of the night) and declares that he has nothing on this guy. Although in the end, after some back and forth, he gives in to them and has Jesus taken into custody and we all know what occurs from there.

So today we have before us this odd little episode which is just one of the many pieces of the puzzle that leads to Jesus’ death, his resurrection and our salvation. And through this passage Jesus is revealed as King. But King of what, King of a kingdom which is not of this world, which has no followers to come break down the doors of Pilate’s chamber to rescue him. The kind of Kingdom whose king is humble and willingly goes to his death. This is the passage that presents to us perhaps the most paradoxical Jesus we could behold. We have the treasonous King, on trial before the authorities. The king who will not claim his kingship, except to say, that if he is indeed king, it is of a kingdom which is not in or of this world. A messiah who is ready to lay down his life and the eternal God-man who will die and become the soon-to-be alive-dead man, who through his death will bring life and it is in being and doing all this that his kingdom is ultimately revealed. Jesus is messiah because he is willing to lay down his life; he brings life because he dies, and he is king because he dies a traitor’s death, and thus allows his kingdom to come to earth. And that all makes perfect sense now doesn’t it.

We as Christians accept a myriad of illogical paradoxes. And that is OK. Jesus does not need to make sense. That is OK. Jesus does not need to be quantified and qualified, to be able to be analyzed and summed up. Jesus just is. Jesus is the messiah. He is the God-man who came to this earth to reunite us with our created purpose, to give us the ability to live in unbroken relationship with God, to restore our relationship with one another and allow us to share the love of the God who calls us into relationship with those in our world.

As such Jesus is our king, the one who made all this possible. His kingdom is one in which we are free to live lives that are rid of the brokenness, and pain we accept as normal and a part of life in this world. Jesus’ kingdom come to earth, means that through him and through relationship with him we are able to infect our world with the love, goodness, kindness and wholeness that can only be found when we live lives of love; love of God, love of one another and love for our world. Jesus’ kingdom is not about rule and power, it is a kingdom of Love. We allow Jesus to reign, for his rule to take hold in our world, whenever we love.

We pray each week for Jesus’ kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done and these things happen in us and through us. Jesus’ kingdom is brought to earth when we, as inhabitants of that kingdom, live out the ordinances of that kingdom here on earth, in our lives. Jesus is king when we love. When we, like him, are willing to do whatever it takes to bring the love of God to the corners and crevices of our own lives. And by that I mean not just loving in the open and bright places, when it is easy to love, but in the dark places, the times when it is tough to love. Love when it would be easier to respond with unkindness, than it would with love. To love those who are hard to love, who don’t want to be loved, who scorn our love, who seem to be unworthy of love. When we love each one who comes before us, when we give and share, respond in kindness, gentleness, and graciousness, instead of anger, malice, and frustration, we are allowing Christ to not only reign in our lives, but in the lives of those who are touched and affected by our actions.

Today before Pilate we see the gentle king who is ready to bring love to the world even as it means his death. Jesus does what needs to be done to bring light and love to the world. We likewise should be willing to love in the face of hate, bring kindness in the face of hurtfulness, and share the love of God in every aspect of our lives.

When we allow God’s love to work within us, when we go to work, when we are dealing with our boss, that frustrating client, when we drive down the road and are cut off by another driver, at the store when someone steals our parking spot, or when we are dealing with the eternally slow cashier, when we are being berated for something we have done, when we encounter someone with whom we simply don’t want to deal, whenever it would be easier to respond with venom, anger, and dismissal, instead respond with Godly kindness and love, that is when we are participating in bringing God’s kingdom to this earth. It is in those moments, in our words of kindness, in our actions of restoration, which Jesus reigns. Jesus is our king, and we carry on Christ's work of bringing God's kingdom into our world. We become the agents through whom God carries out our prayer for God's kingdom to come and for God's will to be done here on earth, in our own lives, in our own actions, each and every day.