Christ is King! No power-mongers for me, thanks!

In John 18 we read about the hearing of Jesus before the Roman judge and governor, Pontius Pilate.

The drama told here is about two contrasting types of power. On the one hand we have Pilate - the institutional authority, whose power resides in the Empire and the army that stands behind him. On the other hand we have Jesus, whose power comes from the fact that he tells the truth.

When Pilate asked Jesus whether he is a king he said: “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)

Power given by the truth is not imposed on anyone. It is a power that people give you because they trust you. When the people said of Jesus, “He spoke as one who had authority, not like their scribes and Pharisees”, this is authority he received form his followers because of his integrity.

Jesus said, “everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice”, because they recognise that he speaks the truth and so they hold him as an authority and listen to him, regardless of whether he has any official position given by any institution.

Christ is King! He is the one whom we acknowledge as our ultimate authority. We are subjects of his Kingdom of heaven. His rule is the one we recognise above all others.

And so we will not serve any of the power-mongers of this world who would turn us against each other in hatred and distrust. We will not play their games and we will not compete with them on their level.

Our Kingdom is not of this world. Their ways are not our ways. Their goals are not our goals. We do not want their power. Their kingdom is not our Kingdom.

We follow King Jesus who gave his life for his friends.

We belong to the Truth.