Kingdom Come

This sermon was preached at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Christ the King Sunday, November 26, 2006.

2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132:1-12
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

In 1972, a man named David McCall noticed that his sons could remember the lyrics to songs on the radio, but could not remember their multiplication tables. So he wrote a song about multiplying by threes called “Three Is a Magic Number.” It tested well with kids and ended up on a children’s album. At the same time, a man named Tom Yohe heard the song and began making doodles that fit the music.[1] This is how Multiplication Rock! began. With the addition of Grammar Rock! in 1974, Multiplication Rock! evolved into Schoolhouse Rock! In 1975 America Rock! was born with the coming of the American Bicentennial celebration.

From 1973-1986, these three minute educational programs were shown on Saturday mornings after cartoons on ABC. As people my age became parents, a nostalgia kick began and the entire Schoolhouse Rock! collection became available on CD, VHS, and now on a Collector’s edition DVD.

All of the Rock! series exposed kids to more than Super Friends, Scooby Doo, and commercials for sugary cereal. It exposed them to multiplication, grammar, science, government and more. If you are around my age, you can probably sing one or two of these songs. Some of us may be able to rattle off the hits like “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction” today.

One of the songs from America Rock! was called “No More Kings.” It was a ditty about American Independence from the English Monarchy. It was overly simplistic, but in three minutes it tried to chronicle American History from the pilgrim landing of 1620 through the Boston Tea Party of 1773. It portrayed King George first as a benevolent protector of the colonies and later as an uncaring, oppressive tyrant. The clarion call of the song was found in its final verses:

They wanted no more Mother England.
They knew the time had comeFor them to take command.
It's very clear you're being unfair, King,
No matter what you say, we won't obey.
Gonna hold a revolution now, King,
And we're gonna run it all our way
With no more kings...

We're gonna elect a president! (No more kings)
He's gonna do what the people want! (No more kings)
We're gonna run things our way! (No more kings)
Nobody's gonna tell us what to do![2]

No more kings, has been our call for over 230 years. No more kings! We are very serious about this, and we should be. We don’t want a government that doesn’t respond to the people. As the song says, “[The President]'s gonna do what the people want!” With over 230 years without a king, monarchy is little more than a concept to us. This doesn’t upset me, but it doesn’t leave me with much of a context for what a king or kingdom is. And that is important in today’s gospel reading. It is important on this, Christ the King Sunday.

Today we enter the drama between Pilate and Jesus. It begins as the Sanhedrin, the temple leadership, has finally been able to bring Jesus before the Roman Governor Pilate. The Scribes and the Pharisees accuse Jesus of calling himself a King. In the Roman Empire this is a treasonous offence; because there is no other King aside from Caesar. Debate raged between the leaders of the temple and the governor of the state. “Why do you bring him to me?” Pilate asks. “Because he’s guilty!” they answer. Realizing that the temple leaders would see Jesus killed, Pilate goes to Jesus himself and asks “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Pilate asks Jesus a political question, “Are you their King?” It is the question Pilate needs answered if he is going to execute Jesus. If Jesus is a rival king, then he is guilty of treason and subject to execution by the hand of the empire he rebels against. It’s the law of the land. If Jesus is of no earthly political threat, there is no reason that he should be held by Rome. If he is a threat to the temple, that is a matter for the Sanhedrin, not Pilate. Oh and how I imagine Pilate hoped this would be their matter instead of his.

Pilate asks, “Are you their King?”

As with most tests, Jesus does not answer directly. He answers by asking, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate confirms that no Roman authority delivers Jesus to Roman law; it is his own nation and the chief priests. Then Pilate asks the question of all questions: “What have you done?”

What have you done? What have you done to deserve this fate? What have you done to cause such an uproar? What have you done that the chief priests of your own people will bring you to me to be executed?

So Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not from this world.”

In a back handed way, Jesus affirms the rule of Caesar over the earth, over the kingdom of the world. After all we are told if Jesus’ kingdom were from here, on this earth, his followers would be fighting to keep him from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, his kingdom is not from here.

This is Pilate’s “A-ha!” moment. “So you are a king?” But Pilate doesn’t declare this; he asks it as a question. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king.” This too is less a statement of fact than it is prophecy, one that comes true when Pilate ratifies the crucifixion of Jesus. One that is affirmed with the sign Pilate places over Jesus’ head; “This is the king of the Jews.” Yes Jesus is a king, and even Pilate says so.

We have no concept of kings, kingship, and kingdoms. To the Greeks, the king was the lawful and usually priestly ruler of the people, in a good sense[3] (whatever that means). In the Old Testament, it represented the national or civil monarchy.[4] The books of Kings and Chronicles show the varying success of these earthly kingdoms. The word is also used for the Redeemer King.[5] These are the kings of the Psalms. While this king points to the civil kings, it is also the fertile soil of the Messiah to come. This is the king we speak of when we speak of Christ the King.

Every week we pray “thy kingdom come.” Scripture tells us Jesus’ kingdom is not from this world, his is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of a world lost in the fall. He is the king, the regent of the world we see dimly as in a mirror. So what does it mean for us to pray “thy kingdom come?”

The Presbyterian confessions speak about this. The Heidelberg Catechism tells us when we pray “thy kingdom come” we pray that “we may be governed by the Word and the Spirit of God so that we may submit ourselves more and more unto God.”[6] We pray that we may be governed by the Lord that we may submit ourselves to his kingship. This is real kingdom language. We say this with reverence giving glory to God, but this is a foreign concept to us. Our political and cultural climate does not honor kingship or submission to anybody. The way we want our government is more like the song:

We're gonna elect a president!
He's gonna do what the people want!
We're gonna run things our way!
Nobody's gonna tell us what to do!

This is true and all well and good, but it does not prepare us for Christ as King.

We need to be refocused about our polity and governance. We need to be aware that when we say “thy kingdom come” we pray to “uphold and increase the church.”[7] The church is a signpost, a marker of the inbreaking of the Kingdom of heaven to come here on earth. By that token, Christ is the king of the church. It’s not me, the pastor at the pulpit. It’s not the Session, though they administer the work of the church. Christ is the king, the sovereign, and over him there is no other ruler. Contrary to our best earthly intentions, we have a king, a king to honor and celebrate.

As Americans, democracy, the voice of the people, and self governance are ingrained upon us. This kingship is foreign to us, and a little frightening. We are called to give up control over our destiny to someone else and that doesn’t always set well. We know the slogan “God is my co-pilot.” Unfortunately while this keeps our personal sense of control in order, it is a poor substitute for the kingdom to come. It affirms our self control and denies the Kingship of Christ. Honestly, if God is not our pilot we are going the wrong way. God is sovereign, God is in control, and this is the way of the kingdom to come.

To paraphrase again, Pilate asks: What have you done? What have you done to deserve this fate? What have you done to cause such an uproar? What have you done that the chief priests of your own faith will bring you to me to be executed?

The joy of the gospel is that the answers are before us. They are found in the scripture we read and the gospel we live. Jesus is God; He is the way, the truth, and the light. John 21:25 gives us the most wonderful answer to these questions. “There are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

What has Jesus done? What is Jesus doing! We are called to live the answer to these questions everyday. We are called to live as the subjects of Christ the King writing new chapters of the book of the kingdom every day. We are called to live as subjects in the kingdom of Christ as the church and in the world. May the exploits of our King be written by the works of our hands in his service now and forever.

[1] Schoolhouse Rock, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock
[2] Ahern, Lynn, “No More Kings.” Lyrics found at http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/No.html
[3] Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. I, page 564.
[4] Ibid. page 565.
[5] Ibid. page 566.
[6] The Book of Confessions, Part One of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 123.
[7] Ibid.