Christ the King Sunday, 1st Congregational UCC, Rock Springs,WY

Illusion of Power
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
2 Samuel 23:1-7; Rev 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
Nov 22, 2009


“Are you the King of the Jews?”; “Are you the King of the Jews?”; “Are You the King of the Jews?”; then, “Are you a King?”; this is the question being asked of Jesus, by Pilot, as He was standing before the highest court in the country to determine whether or not he was, as accused by the Religious Leaders, a man who was a criminal against the people or was he a man who’s only crime was challenging the inward focus of “self greed” that had developed within the religious organizations of his day? The judge was Pilate, the man with the final word on the subject; or was he?
Quoting from material on the UCC study site: “Fear and belonging: these two words seem to run underneath all the talk of kingdoms and trials, glory and power, in the readings for this Christ the King Sunday. Words like king, kingdom, and kingship may sound far away in both time and place from the democratic societies in which we live today. Perhaps they sound patriarchal, and classist, and uncomfortably reminiscent of a time when the church was closely allied to the secular powers of the world, entwined with systems that produced horrors like slavery, or violence fueled by anti-Semitism, or the execution of heretics and of women who were perceived to be “witches.”
“But first we have to deal with the fear, and with fear-less-ness as well. It seems that Jesus would have more reason to be fearful than Pilate, who appears to be in ultimate control, backed as he is by the mighty empire of Rome. However, if we read the longer narrative of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, we get a sense of the governor’s nervousness, as he agitatedly goes back and forth, in and out of his headquarters, summoning Jesus to be brought in for one more try at an interrogation that also goes back and forth. Isn’t the trial itself grounded in fear?”
Fear by the Religious Leaders of losing control of their power over the people; fear that if Jesus’ revolution takes hold, that Rome might very well come in and take away what power they do have? Fear by Pilate who has his own insecurities; does he really have power over the people that he is place in charge of or is the real power held by the Religious Leaders? “Pilate seems worried about what to do with Jesus.”
Quoting from Dr. Roger Fredrickson, a former mentor of mine, from his work in The Bible Commentary, The Gospel of John, he writes: “In spite of his authority, Pilate seemed to be a troubled man, trying to make the best of a difficult and very insecure position. Over the years his status had been undermined by these stubborn Jews in a number of incidents. And he had to contend with the wealth and power in the house of Annas and deal with the Sanhedrin which was a well-organized, exclusive group. For a number of his decisions had been reversed by Caesar through the influence of the Annas family. There was also the constant challenge of radical groups, particularly the Zealots and the Essenes.
So when this strange man Jesus is brought to his quarters in the wee hours of the morning by these Jews, he must have been suspicious. As the lowly Galilean and the Powerful and proud Roman face each other, we have one of the most intense and provocative encounters in all Scripture. As the certainty of Jesus’ innocence becomes increasingly clear to Pilate, the struggle in his own soul intensifies. One can feel the vacillation and uncertainty in Pilate as he moves back and forth, in and out, from the quiet, probing conversation with Jesus in the Praetorium to the angry political pressure of the Jews outside who were demanding the death of Jesus.” How many parties in this scene are operating with the “Illusion of Power?”
What is the definition of Power? Mr. Webster defines Power in this way: ability to do; capacity to act; Great ability to do or force; the ability to control others through authority or influence; a person or thing having great influence, force or authority.
Let me share some quotes of people and their idea’s of “Power”: Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can. And it is not as if we were the first to make this law, or to act upon it; we found it existing before, and shall leave it to exist forever after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing that you and everybody else, having the same power as we have, would do the same as we do. (Athenian envoys, upon the destruction of Melos); There are never wanting some persons of violent and undertaking natures, who so they may have power and business, will take it at any cost.(Sir Francis Bacon); Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad. (Mandell Crighton); I believe that…if a people wish to live they should develop a will to power, otherwise they vegetate, live miserably and become prey to a stronger people, in whom this will to power is developed to a higher degree.(Mussolini) and lastly, What do I care about the law: Haven’t I got the power?(Cornelius Vanderbilt)
The Illusion of Power, is it something that we in the church still deal with today? As we come as families this week to a table that we call “Thanksgiving” which originally started with the pilgrims being rescued by the indigenous peoples of this continent, we need to think about not just being thankful for what we have received but call into question, “how have we received it?”
How did we as people who call themselves “Followers of Christ”, repay the original Americans of their kindness toward us, as we moved westward and settled it? I fear that as Christians we acted in the philosophy spoken by Mussolini, “by being stronger we can take from the weaker.” In the world of Corporations do we still not hear the battle cry of Cornelius Vanderbilt, “What do I care about the law; haven’t I got the power?” Again, with the Bible as our standard, was not this country built on the backs of imported slaves nothing less than the accusation of Sir Francis Bacon’s, ”so they who will have power and business, will take it at any cost?” Do we not have an ongoing struggle within our political system with Mandell Crightons observation that, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?”
And yet the church has had some shining moments within the history of this country with examples of a Congregational group coming to the rescue of a slave ship that was known as the Amistad, in defending their rights to be “free men” and not slaves. There were multiple Christian groups who helped with the African American Underground, helping slaves in the South escape to the North. And more recently in the 1980’s with the Sanctuary movement, where churches in this country defied the U.S. Government in their work of helping South American Refugees escape the plight of tyranny of a government that our President at the time supported.
The readings today as we end this Liturgical year speaks to Power and who has the Power and how is that power used? Did Pilate have “the power” or was it only an illusion of power? Did the Religious leaders have “the power” or was it only an illusion of power? Do any of us have “the power” or is it only an illusion? Does Jesus have “the power” within our faith community, or are we only deluding ourselves?
Albert Nolan, a Dominican priest from South Africa who played a significant role in the church struggle against apartheid has some interesting observations of Jesus, in his current book, “Jesus Today, A spirituality of Radical Freedom”. He writes: Jesus lived at a time when the Jewish people were on “high alert” awaiting the imminent arrival of a Messiah who would restore the long-awaited kingdom or reign of God. Would there be some miraculous divine intervention? Would the Romans be defeated? Would the Messiah-king march triumphantly into Jerusalem with an army? John the Baptist was expecting God’s judgment to descend upon Israel itself. Ordinary, simple people were waiting and praying for the liberation of Jerusalem from the Romans.
Jesus turned these expectations upside down. He had a quite different idea of what the reign of God on earth might mean, and the fundamental reason for this was that he saw God differently. God was not like some great emperor, or even like some benevolent dictator. Jesus had come to experience God as a loving Father, his Abba. Consequently, Jesus saw God’s reign as more like the “reign” of the loving parent.
The community or society Jesus hoped for was more like a family of brothers and sisters with God as their loving parent. His image of God’s kingdom or domain was of a happy, loving household rather than a conquering, oppressive empire. The reign of God would thus not come down from above; it would rise up from below, from the poor, the little ones, the sinners, the outcasts, the lost.
He discouraged his disciples from saying, Jesus is Messiah to people, because he was not a Messiah in the sense in which most of them understood that word. He had no intention of being served by the people, nor did he want his disciples to be like rulers who are served by others. He wanted to be the servant.
Jesus was not going to be the triumphant conquering Messiah who would crush and kill Israel’s oppressors, humiliating them and making them into victims in order to liberate his people. He would triumph by being conquered, by being arrested, beaten, humiliated, and nailed to a cross like a rebellious slave or common criminal. He was not the victor; he was the victim. And, paradoxically, this would turn out to be his greatest achievement. Truth and justice were on the side of the victim. In fact, that is where God is to be found – on the side of the world’s victims. This is what Jesus had been saying all along. Jesus’ willingness to die for others meant that he was alive and his executioners were dead. Nothing contradicts the conventional attitude with regard to ego more thoroughly than this. When we are unwilling to give up our lives for others, we are already dead. When we are willing to die for others, we are truly alive. Or, when we are unwilling to let go of our egos, we are dead. When we are willing to let go, we begin to live with an abundance of life.”
The illusion of power is based in our ego. I ask this question this morning, “where are you in your walk with Christ? Have you let go of your ego’s enough to let Jesus’ teachings, his love, his saving grace enter into your heart; or are you still under the illusion that you are in power of your own life? Ultimately we will either hang onto our ego and die, or we will work on dying to our ego and live life more abundantly. Today is Christ the King Sunday. Where is Christ’s kingdom in your life? Amen