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 to the Jews. 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?’ John 18:36-38

The last Sunday before Advent is the Feast of Christ the King. Therefore, the main theme of this reflection is celebrating the Kingship of Jesus.

In Jesus’ times, kings and queens ruled the world. A nation wasn’t considered a true nation unless it had a monarch. The Old Testament tells us the people of Israel rejected God because they wanted a king. It wasn’t because they didn’t want God in their lives. They felt that they weren’t a real nation unless they had a monarch. Pilate wanted to find out if Jesus wanted to be a king. It is not because he believed in Jesus’ sovereignty. He wanted to find something to accuse Jesus. He wanted to reduce Jesus to a common king so that he could treat Him as one. Jesus as Himself was too complex and strange for the Roman Governor. He wanted someone more manageable. He wanted to reduce Jesus to a common king.

This is not the first time. The gospel of John tells us a story where the crowd tried to force Jesus to become their king (John 6:15). He refused and withdrew into the mountains. Even before this, we read in the gospels of Matthew and Luke where the devil tempted Jesus and offered to make Jesus a King of this world. There was a hefty price tag involved. Kingship and power in this world always come with a price tag. It would have reduced Jesus into a mere politician. Jesus would not settle for something so low. Today, the temptations is still here but not for Jesus. We are faced with the temptations. We are tempted to reduce Jesus to the lowly status of a common King or a socio-political leader. Sometimes people use lofty terms saying that Jesus is the King of their nation. It might sound noble and great but it greatly reduces the true nature of our Lord’s Kingship.

First and foremost, Jesus would have been a terrible King of any nation in this world.

A monarch of any given nation is primarily concerned with the welfare of one’s particular nation. The same can be said of modern politicians. A good and decent politician is only concerned with the welfare of the country one is chosen to represent, albeit not always the case. Sometimes we hear discourses about monarchs and politicians making altruistic agreements with less fortunate nations. In reality, there are no such things as altruistic actions in politics. Everything comes with strings attached. In fact, this is how to world functions in many aspects of society. Nothing is done for free. Jesus would have been a terrible King.

Jesus was truly altruistic. He did not do anything for national nor personal gains. He healed and gave freely without even expecting any gratitude from the people. He did not even require them to become more religious. He never demanded strict obedience to the Law although He Himself fulfilled it according to its true essence perfectly. Furthermore, He never mingled with powerful people who could have helped him to advance his cause. Instead, he worked with people who had no power nor influence in society. He never did anything to improve the local economic status of his society. In one occasion, He caused tremendous damage to the economy of a village by expelling demons into swine causing their demise. These animals were the major economic source. He did this to save the soul of one solitary person who was considered an outcast. It was not worthy investment by worldly means. The people of the village invited Jesus to leave. His ministry was bad for their business.

If Jesus were to stand for election, no one in their right mind would vote for Him. No rational political party would consider Him as their candidate. They would be right. Jesus would have made a terrible political leader. This does not mean Jesus wasn’t political. He was and is but His politics is not of this world. It doesn’t quite fit into the ideologies that are floating around in this world. People try to put Him in box and they try to reduce Him into something that He was never meant to be.

Having said this, Jesus did not deny that He was and is a King. In Jesus’ time, kings and queens played an important role in society apart from politics. It was something that was important to the common people. Perhaps something for those of us like myself who grew up in a republic might find hard to understand. The people used to look to the monarch for moral guidance. People thought whatever the monarch did was the way things are supposed to be. Consequently the religion the monarch adopted naturally became the religion of the people. The people believed that the King knew what was morally best for his subjects. The book of Ecclesiastes, a book which is presently part of my daily devotion, talks about how to live our lives. The conclusions reached in this book have a prominent place and consideration in the Old Testament because its author is believed to be a king. Perhaps, this role of the monarch is much more important and higher than mere politics. This special role of the monarch earned them the title as Sons or Daughters of Heavens in the ancient world because they revealed to the people how to live one’s life in harmony with the divine laws. We know from history that the best of these were far from fulfilling this role perfectly. Most of them, if not all, had their hands tainted with blood and violence. Our Lord is the only one who fulfilled this role perfectly.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Pilate wanted Jesus to be a mere political leader. It was easier for him to deal with one. Today many want to do the same because we think of politicians as our servants. It is more an idealistic view than a realistic one. However, Jesus is not our politician. He is not working for the betterment of our nation or any nation. His Kingdom has only one commitment. According to His answer to Pilate, it is to reveal the Truth. Then Pilate asked the perfect question, “What is Truth?”

Today, everyone claims to be the spokesperson of the Truth. Tons of news outlets and religious leaders claim objectivity when sharing the Truth. In reality, any such claims reveal a lack of understanding of the Truth. We, as human beings, do not have the possibility of knowing the Truth in its entirety. Relatively speaking, we have the brain of the size of a bacteria when we look at the immensity of the universe. God stands above and beyond our universe. He is the Truth, the Way and the Life.

In our Christian faith, when we say Jesus is the King, we actually mean that He is the standard for us to live our lives. The Kingship of Jesus is not the kind of Kingship where we put Him on a pedestal and admire Him from a distance. Jesus never lived in a castle and addressed His subjects from afar. He was and is a King who lives the Truth deeply engaged in the everyday lives of the people. His Truth restored and healed people. His Truth received those who were considered a menace to society. He engaged people who lived in the most difficult situations and was able to bring the Truth to them in its purest and genuine form. He was and is the King who is able to suffer injustice and cruelty and yet, never compromise with the world to alleviate His suffering. His Truth was able to forgive and love those who committed the vilest acts against His person. His commitment to live the Life and Presence of the true living God was never compromised. He remained the Salt and Light until He took His final breath. His resurrection proved that His example of Lifestyle was the only way to have an eternal impact in this world.

Jesus is our Eternal King! He is not to be reduced to a mere monarch of any nation. Kingdoms of this world come and go. Our eternal King remains relevant throughout the times among all peoples of the world including our homeless youth. The only way to celebrate the Kingship of Jesus is to make a commitment to ourselves that He will be the only King of our lives. In other words, He will be the standard and model for us to mimic in this life. He is not a King to be proclaimed with mere words. We do this for our earthly kings. Our Heavenly King is only truly honored when we walk in His footsteps.

Let us celebrate Christ our King in the most worthy manner possible!

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’  Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’ Mark 13:1-2

Once I contemplated apply for a clergy position in England. This was many years ago. The profile of the community seemed to meet my personal idea of ministry. It seemed to be a good match. However, if I was to be honest, the most attractive thing to me was the church building. Maybe I am just superficial or maybe it is because I am an Anglican. We are drawn to beautiful sacred architecture. This beautiful ancient church was built in the year 1000. I was enamored by its history and beauty. The idea of serving in a parish enthralled my soul. However, the more I thought about this, the less sure I became about the prospect. I was afraid that the church building might come tumbling down on my watch. I know some might think I am a little paranoid. Most likely, you are right. Nevertheless, nothing lasts forever. All our best constructed buildings one day will come tumbling down. All our institutions will end one day. All our nations will be nothing but a page in the history books. Nothing lasts forever. As the wise preacher of Ecclesiastes taught us; “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”.

Everything under the sun, good or bad, has a beginning and an end. Perhaps we are relieved when a bad season completes its turn but we also have to accept that the contrary is true. This is not pessimism. It is just the nature of Life. Sometimes good things can end up being a curse. We tend to hold onto these and refuse to accept their end. We want them to last forever when they were meant to be temporary. The result is that the “good” can become a curse and blind us from seeing the eternal God present in the new things which come our way.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22

In the gospel text quoted above, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple.

The Temple played an important role in the lives of God’s people. It gave them their spiritual identity. It was a symbol of union. The people of Israel were very diverse. In the time of Jesus, many lived in different nations and consequently spoke different languages and had different customs. Most of them risked their lives to travel to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple. It was the only place where they were permitted to offer sacrifices to God who redeemed them. It also played an important political role and still plays the same role today. I am not going to address this here. The point is that the words of Jesus should have been devastating to the apostles. They believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The people expected the Messiah to restore Israel and elevate its glory above all the nations. The Temple was also an important symbol of Israel’s past glories and now Jesus prophesied that this symbol would be utterly destroyed. This should have disturbed them but we don’t see such reaction. In fact, they were curious about this event but they didn’t seemed to be disturbed. Nevertheless, these words of Jesus were used against Him by the religious leaders at his trial. They considered his comment to be blasphemous. The symbol came to be on par with the very thing it represented. This was not the case with the disciples. They did not allow the old symbols to hinder them from receiving the New Wine.

Recently, I was given a book published in 1857. The store owner had given up hope of ever selling it because it was in English and it was an old theological book. I had never heard of it. I later learned that it is considered to be a Christian classic; “The Christ of History” by John Young. The author argued that Jesus, without resorting to miracles nor religious arguments, can be shown to be the true divine Christ just through his earthly life and teachings. The book has enriched my reading of the gospels. It has made me pay attention to things which I have often overlooked; mainly the very beginning of His earthly ministry. Jesus chose simple tradesmen to be part of His movement. Since I come from a time when kings and queens play a passive role in society, I never paid much attention to this peculiar act. However, in Jesus’ time, this was not how a King established His Kingdom. Usually, powerful lords and nobles were chosen for the task. This makes logical sense, after all what would tradesmen know about administrating lands and issuing out orders. The success of any Kingdom demands capable people to be in power. The Kingdom of God is not one of the many kingdoms of this world. It is not something constructed out of the wisdom of humanity. It doesn’t subject itself to the seasons of Time. It is an eternal Kingdom.

Jesus chose people who had no intention of being anything great in this world. We have to remember in Jesus’ time, the social classes were more rigid. No one moved up or down the social ladder. Everyone was born into their place in society. Jesus never made any promises that His disciples would move up the social ladder. Nonetheless, their social status doesn’t change the nature of their souls. It did not diminish the clamor of their souls to be connected to something eternal. For them, the Temple is something which helped them be connected with God and nothing else. In a way, they had a purer idea of its symbolic value. This is why Jesus chose his disciples amongst these people. They were more sensitive to His message because they sought an eternal connection for their lives. Those who had other interests besides the yearnings of their souls held on to symbols as if these were the very thing that satisfied their souls.

I found this to be true in our ministry to the homeless youth. We have young parents in our midst who baptize their children in the Roman Catholic Church while they themselves attend a Pentecostal church regularly. They also seek constant spiritual guidance from us but they have never heard of the Anglican Church. Meanwhile each church tries to assert the importance and essential role of its presence in the world. Our youth just see each symbol as a connection with God. They are not devastated if a symbol stops serving its purpose as long as there is a connection with the Eternal Father who is always present in their midst in some shape or form.

In the gospel text, Jesus was talking about the end times and His imminent return. Here we are two thousands later and Jesus hasn’t returned yet. However, the warning is still relevant. First, we have to recognize the symbols for what they are. They have a season in our lives. They are good and valuable but they only serve the purpose of connecting us to the Eternal God. When they stopped doing this, then they are no longer valuable. If we insist on holding on them, then we will deviate our eyes from the eternal and idolize the very thing which is supposed to save us from idolatry. In the worst case scenario, we continue to seek other symbols which do not connect us with anything eternal but drive us away from all things holy and sound.

Someone once asked us if our youth misses us when we are away. They miss us but not as much as some imagine. They miss us because we have become part of their daily routine. However, in their lives, people come and go. They used to the transitoriness of life. They know people are in their lives for a season. They don’t fall apart when the season ends. We learned this important lesson from them. Everything has its season whether good or bad. In each season, there is something to connect us with the Eternal. Therefore, we should always seek to identify this connection in our lives. It helps us recognize the person of Jesus clearer. However, we should also be careful not to confuse one thing for another. The symbol is a mere symbol. It has its season and it will end one day.