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23rd November Last Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 23:1-7 (Christ the King) The last words of David.
Rev 1:4b-8. The doxology.  God is the Alpha and Omega
Ps 132 The desire to give God a "dwelling place"
John 18:33-37 What kind of King is Jesus?

In this gospel reading we find Pilate shuttling to and fro between the Jews who refuse to enter a Gentile building and Jesus who is captive on the inside. Pilate asks Jesus about the nature of his kingship.

Our own society has been debating its traditional link with the constitutional monarchy; many feel predisposed towards a republic. Images of monarchs who exercise real power, who are other than figureheads, seem very remote to many of us.  On the festival of Christ the King, how are we to talk of his kingship in a meaningful and helpful way?

Talk of kingship is talk about power and the way it is perceived and exercised. 
The Roman Empire would perceive any claim to kingship within its boundaries as treasonous - a point that the Jews are quick to make against Jesus.
Jesus claims in this reading that his kingdom is "not from this world".  Was that just to placate Pilate?  Should we then assume that this means "otherworldly" in the sense that it has no connection with this world? That it offers not threat to worldly powers and structures?
Maybe we could explore the idea that "not from this world" suggests that Jesus might be challenging models of kingship, authority and power that we take for granted.  His model of leadership, of authority and of kingship might well be derived from the model of service rather than rule.  The power that Jesus exercises is the power of suffering love.
To remove Jesus' "kingship" to another world prejudices the concern that God has for justice and mercy in this world. It compromises the words in the Kingdom prayer which speak of the will of God being done "on earth" as in heaven. Maybe the kingship that Jesus offers is indeed subversive and threatens the very nature of all systems and structures, "principalities and powers."  Does the simple slogan "Jesus is Lord" come close to saying this, providing we bear in mind James Dunn's warning, "a slogan is strong when it is a vital expression of a fundamental principle; a slogan is dangerous when it becomes merely the instrument of a mindless fundamentalism"?
- Unity and diversity in the New Testament. 
If Jesus is Lord, what other lords compete for our allegiance and commitment?
To what degree should our lifestyle and commitment to Jesus threaten and challenge established structures and systems?
How might this influence a Christian's willingness to be involved in the political process?

The writer of Revelation paints on the big canvas, Jesus is described as "the ruler of the kings of the earth".  Through Jesus we are united to the God who encompasses all things:
"the Alpha and the Omega," the beginning and the end.  We are also formed in a community of faith - a kingdom, those who are witnesses of a new way - a new heaven and a new earth - a transformation of all things.

Meditations:
John 18:36

Kingdom of another world
kingdom of another sphere
differences unimaginable
Willing exile
in our suffering midst
Grief of separation
tears cruelly
heart longs to return
Knowing the end
he steps forward
to meet it
unflinchingly
Sacrificial Lamb
pure beauty
faces horror
and reaches
for the cup

(c) Anna Johnstone