The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd
The Rev. Anne B Jolly
November 22, 2015
Christ the King Sunday
Pontius Pilate. He is an incredibly powerful man who represents the most powerful
government on the earth. He has spent his whole life focused on achieving success
within the Roman Empire. He is prefect of three Roman provinces, including Judea.
Although though most prefects serve for 1-3 years, Pilate is able to serve for 10
years. He is good at his job. And his job is collecting taxes, managing construction
projects, and maintaining law and order. To do this well requires a lot of control.
The system in which Pilate works is not a flexible one – the Emperor Tiberius has a
high standard for performance, and cruel punishment for those who fail. Pilate
knows what it takes to succeed, and has carefully constructed the skills, talents, and
protective façade that it takes to do so.
When we encounter Pilate in this reading from John’s gospel, he is threatened with
losing control – the most heinous of all possible job failures. On top of that, the
beaten, common man standing at the crux of this loss of control seems to see
through his carefully crafted exterior – right to the core of who he is. That
combination of events has to have even Pontius Pilate a little scared.
I wonder what scares Pilate the most – possible failure at his job, or that someone
sees him for who he really is? Perhaps the two are synonymous. Perhaps insecurity
actually sits at the core of this incredibly successful man. That is not something any
of us would likely see were we to meet Pilate – most of us would see exactly what he
wants us to see.
Does that sound familiar? Of course it does. Most of us here have spent lifetimes
constructing the person that people see. Consciously or subconsciously, we have
deeply hidden the parts of our personality that we don’t like – the things that we
don’t want anyone else to know about us. We all have parts of ourselves that we
believe would keep anyone from liking us, much less loving us. So we put our best
foot forward. We hide behind what we consider to be our best qualities, and hope
that is good enough to protect ourselves from the pain of true discovery. In this, we
have more in common with Pilate than we might think. We, too, crave control. We,
too, would like very much to hold onto the image we have created. We, too, are
petrified of being found out.
Pilate has been given a story by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authorities, that Jesus is a
heretic claiming kingship, and therefore is a threat to the government and should be
killed. The man standing before Pilate does not look very threatening. He has been
beaten. He is disheveled, and wearing common clothes. "You? You are king of the
Jews?" he asks Jesus. And this nobody from Nazareth engages Pilate and talks of a
kingdom that is completely antithetical to his understanding of the word.
This kingdom is truth and relationship rather than order and power. This kingdom
has no locale except between the hearts of people and God – it is in the most
intimate place of honest relationship. It is a kingdom of incarnation – not location.
Jesus’ kingdom requires a very different adherence than does the Roman Empire, or
any other physical kingdom with which we are familiar. Jesus has already told us
how to live under his Lordship in John’s gospel – in truth and love.
We are back to truth. The truth from which we all hide. The truth that we believe
would preclude love, and yet Jesus tells us they go hand in hand when we choose to
live under his Lordship. Eight chapters earlier in John, Jesus gives us a new
commandment: that we love one another. He says, “Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.” And yes, eight chapters earlier, we could buy into
that. Sure. We will love each other. In order for people to love me, I will make sure
they know the loveable parts of me. And I will keep the parts I consider unlovable
hidden far, far away. I will be exactly the person that I think I need to be. And also –
so that I can love others, I won’t dig too deeply. That way they can be who they want
me to see. Excellent plan, Jesus! See how well we are doing? Look at us, loving each
other.
Except Jesus says we should love just like he loves us. And here in his conversation
with Pilate, he reminds us that his kingdom is based on truth. And even though this
is truth that most of us struggle mightily to believe, Jesus loves each of us for all of
ourselves, because of ourselves, and despite ourselves. Because his truth is from
God. His truth is God’s love and grace, not from our point of view. His truth is both
gift and challenge. Love each other. REALLY love each other – and to do this, you
must be in honest, loving relationship.
Someone recently said to me that you could go your whole life going to church with
never having had a conversation deeper than “How are you?” “Oh, I’m fine. I’m great.
Really.” She was insinuating that we should all make a better effort to actually have
conversation with each other - to honestly get to know each other. And that is half of
the battle. I also think that here Jesus challenges us to put equal effort on being who
we really are. To stop worrying so much about being in control, about hiding
ourselves. Because Jesus sees us for who we really are, and loves us anyway.
Because Jesus’ kingdom is present here and now, and whenever we allow Jesus to be
present in our lives and in our relationships. And this kingdom is one of abiding
love.
Jesus invites Pilate to open up – to speak the truth. He says, "everyone who belongs
to the truth listens to my voice." He offers to be the Good Shepherd to Pilate, the
man who is feared and hated. The man who is about to condemn him to death to
maintain control. And Jesus says he is still the one who loves him and cares for him
at all costs. Jesus Christ, King of King and Lord of Lords, ALWAYS offers to be the
Good Shepherd. He ALWAYS invites us to stop working so hard to be loveable and to
just love. He always invites us into relationship with God and each other. And he
knows this isn’t easy. He knows it can come at tremendous cost. Jesus, who was
willing to be nailed to a cross, asks much less of us.
Live truth. Love one another as I have loved you.