Who is your king?
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:36-38a
In a culture that stresses having the “right” identity, you and I have many. For example, I am a son of my parents, husband to my wife, father to my children, grandfather to their children, a neighbor, a friend, a pastor. You get the idea. All of these relationships mark us – identify us. While we might like to consider all of these identities equally, there is a hierarchy whereby one identity overshadows or has priority over another. As we raised our children, my kids knew that while I was thankful to be their father and valued that relationship, my relationship with their mother generally took precedence. The more aligned she and I were, the better it was for them.
For the Christ-follower, there is an identity that is greater than all the others. As John writes in a different place in his gospel account, “But to those who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”[1] As a child of God, loved ones, your allegiance to Christ is far above any other. As Jesus Himself says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”[2] Jesus makes it clear, your allegiance to Christ – your identity in Him – is to be higher than any other earthly identity you may have.
But what of Christ’s identity? As we read the Scriptures, He is referred to by many names. He is the Son of God. He is Savior. He is the Messiah or Christ. He is Master. He is Rabbi. He is Lord of lords. He is a brother, yet He is the friend who is closer than a brother. He is our Advocate, the Almighty, and the Amen. He is the Door, the Bread of life, the Living Water, the Shepherd, the Cornerstone, the Counselor, and the Word. There are so many more.[3]
However, in the passage of our reading today, there is an identity Jesus announces to Pilate for which He was born, “and for this purpose [He has] come into the world.” Jesus was born to be the King who bears witness to the truth. Pilate was only able to understand that Jesus was a king. Jesus is far more than a king.
Jesus is THE Christ, THE Messiah, THE Anointed One. Jesus Christ is THE King.
We sing of Jesus’ kingship each Christmas, especially in songs like Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. His title taken from Revelation 19:16 thunders in our heads and from our voices, “King of kings and Lord of lords!” Yet, the emphasis of His kingship often fades with the poinsettias of our Christmas celebrations as we focus instead on His friendship and gentle leading of our lives. We often forget the rod and staff of the shepherd comforts the sheep with much-needed discipline and authority.
Loved ones, if Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, then our priority and identity as citizens are affected. While we should take our citizenship seriously in this world, our citizenship in heaven carries far more weight.[4] There is a lot of attention paid to politics in our culture today, but how much is spent listening to the King? There is a lot of understandable worry regarding the moral condition of the nations today, yet how much peace are we drawing from the King of the Kingdom of Heaven?
Certainly, pray FOR our earthly leaders – as you pray TO the King of them all. He is the only source of truth and everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice.
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