On Jesus’s Paradigm of Power
November 24, 2024
Traceymay Kalvaitis
2 Samuel 23:3-4
The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.
John 18:33-37
Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
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Today’s sermon is titled On Jesus’s Paradigm of Power. For most of the 300,000 years that we homo sapiens have roamed the earth, the one in charge has been the largest and the strongest; if one wasn’t large or strong, they had better at least be fast. It took hundreds of thousands of years to even begin to evolve into beings that could think and dream about how a society could be structured where the needs of the majority of people were regarded as important as the needs of the ruling minority. In our historical record, the very first acknowledgement that it is the duty of a ruler to see to “the good of the people” was written in 1760 B.C. by a Babylonian king. It would be another thousand years before the enlightenment of Siddhartha gave birth to Buddhism and the promotion of reverence for all life, the commitment to non-violence, and right conduct. Another 500 years later, the Chinese philosopher Confucius taught the core principle of benevolence and respect for all people. In another 500 years, the Roman Empire would begin to form the concepts of natural law and the rights of citizens. During that time, Jesus of Nazareth taught and exemplified forgiveness, justice, love and caring for one another. 500 years after Jesus, the prophet Muhammad began to teach the principles of equality, justice and compassion as revealed in the Qur’an. 600 years later, King John of England was forced by his lords to sign the Magna Carta, regarded as some as the most important foundational document that inspired the creation of our own Constitution. The Magna Carta guaranteed that free men are entitled to judgment of their peers and that no king is above the law. In just a few hundred years after the signing of the Magna Carta, King Henry VIII tested his powers by declaring himself head of state and the head of the Church of England. * Over the next two hundred years, the Church of England would become an instrument of religious persecution, fining, jailing and putting to death those who dissented.** It was 500 years after the signing of the Magna Carta that the exodus of religious pilgrims began as they sought religious freedom and economic prosperity in a new land. Brilliant minds of the founding fathers (and the founding mothers that no doubt whispered in their ears), created the Constitution and then the ten amendments we know as the Bill of Rights. The very first phrase of the very first amendment to the Constitution deals with religious freedom and our right to practice or not to practice religion.
I lay all of this out for us today as context. For hundreds of thousands of years humanity has been engaged in a struggle not to just survive, but a struggle to establish a way of being in community with one another where the inherent value of one is no greater and no less than the inherent value of another. Imagine, Friends, what such an existence will look like when we can love our neighbor as ourselves.
Today is a day set apart in our liturgical year. It is the last Sunday of the year, so this is our New Year’s Eve, in a sense. This Sunday is set apart as the Reign of Christ Sunday. This is not an ancient designation rooted in centuries of tradition; this Sunday was established in 1925 as a response to the rise of facism in Europe, specifically the rise of Mussolini in Italy. The Pope at the time, Pope Pius XI, created this day as a reminder that Jesus calls us to a paradigm of power unlike any other. Jesus’s paradigm of power is based on liberation, not domination. Jesus’s paradigm of power is based on lifting up the poor and the oppressed, not holding them down. Jesus’s paradigm of power is based on service, not exploitation. Jesus’s paradigm of power is based on inclusion, not exclusion. Jesus’s paradigm of power was perhaps best described in his own words in Matthew 23 when Jesus said, “The greatest among you will be your servant.”
Pontius Pilate, an official of the occupying Roman Empire, could not conceive of such a paradigm of power where greatness was measured by service. Pilate could not conceive of such a paradigm of power where a “king” would go willingly to his death before he would deny what he knew to be true. Pilate can not conceive of such a paradigm of power where a “king” would not defend himself and plead his case to save his life. Pilate asks Jesus, “What have you done?” Jesus replies, “My kingdom (more accurately translated as “my reign”) is not from this world.” How could Pilate even begin to understand Jesus’s paradigm of power, as it is diametrically opposed to the paradigm of Empire?
So today, Friends, on this Reign of Christ Sunday, the question for us is this: As individuals, family members, neighbors, and a church community, how do our lives reflect that we live within the reign and influence of Christ’s teachings? For example, how much time do we spend listening or reading the news compared to how much time we spend in prayer, or reading material that uplifts us and fortifies us? In relationships with immediate and extended family, do our words and actions serve as reminders of Christ’s love? As neighbors, are we willing to search for commonalities that may be less obvious than our differences? As a church community, do we reach out to include, making an effort to get to know new names and form new relationships? As we aim to live within the reign of Christ’s influence and teachings, more is required of us, Friends…more effort, more empathy, more compassion, more patience, more perseverance, more forgiveness, and more willingness to make amends where there is brokenness.
Every 500 years there seems to be a great shift in the culture of humankind. We are coming upon another, Friends. We are 400 years into the greatest experiment of a pluralistic democracy, the likes of which we have never before seen in the history of the world. We are 2000 years into the practice of Christianity. Many say we are now in a post-Christian era, but I passionately disagree. How can we be past something we have not yet achieved? Just because church attendance was higher in the 50’s doesn’t mean that Christianity reached its zenith; quite the contrary, in my opinion. Were people in church in the 50’s because they wanted to be there, or because there was intense cultural pressure to appear in church during the McCarthy era? Average attendance these days won’t make it into the record books, but what we know for sure is that all of us are here because we want to be here; if anything, there is cultural pressure these days not to attend church, so I would argue that the reign of Christ is gaining momentum. I would argue that the reign of Christ is expanding through us as we meet the demands of our lives, holding on to the lovely through the bitter of our times.
In closing, I want to thank you for engaging in this work together. We are the result of hundreds of thousands of years of humanity learning and changing and here we are… building community that testifies to the truth that the light and love of Christ still reigns. So be it. Amen.
*https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/brief-human-rights-timeline
**https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
Pastoral Prayer: In the stillness of this moment, Lord, lead us closer to that place within us where You are all that is. We have needs that have no voice…needs for healing, for forgiveness, for support, and for acceptance. Grant us clarity that we may discern truth from falsehood, and help us in our relationships, in our families, and in our workplaces to use our influence to bring about positive change. May we become part of the solution, part of the remedy, part of your holy design that mends the broken. Shine your light on opportunities to right our wrongs, so we may experience a clarity of mind, that is otherwise impossible when conflicts sit unresolved. Remind us, God, that through your love, all things are possible; through your love, the unimaginable becomes reality. This we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
Benediction: From the book of Jude: “As for you, Beloved, build up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God…unto life everlasting.”