Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, June 14, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The world sees “kingship” in specific terms. For Pilate (and pretty much everyone at the time), being a king was about having absolute power. If Jesus was, in fact, a king, he would be able to command an army to fight for him. He would have territory, possessions, political clout. Jesus’ accusers complained that he was styling himself the king of the Jews, but Pilate could see no evidence of this. He was understandably confused, and kept pressing Jesus to clarify. Are you a king or not? Jesus tries to set him straight: Yes, I’m a king, but no, not in terms you understand. For Pilate it’s clear as mud. “So you’re saying you’re a king, but you’re explaining it in ways that tell me you’re not a king at all.”
Many modern Christians are just as confused about this as Pilate was. We conflate Jesus’ reign with some image we have of God enforcing our own personal interpretations of God’s “rules” (and always in our own favor) and insist that these interpretations be enforced through the same kind of violence the Romans once used to create “peace.” We would all be wise to re-read this interaction with Pilate and be reminded that God’s reign is beyond our ability to comprehend and certainly beyond our desire to control it.
What role do I think human governments should play in enforcing religious ideals?
