{"id":1793,"date":"2012-11-27T15:46:07","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T15:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/onscripture\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2012-11-27T16:07:47","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T16:07:47","slug":"a-different-kind-of-king-john-18-33-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/onscripture\/2012\/11\/a-different-kind-of-king-john-18-33-37\/","title":{"rendered":"A Different Kind of King: John 18: 33 – 37"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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By Barbara K. Lundblad<\/a><\/p>\n

Delores Williams, wise theologian and teacher, was my colleague when I first came to Union Seminary. She grew up in the South and remembers Sunday mornings when the minister shouted out: \u201cWho is Jesus?\u201d The choir responded in voices loud and strong: \u201cKing of kings and Lord Almighty!\u201d Then, little Miss Huff, in a voice so fragile and soft you could hardly hear, would sing her own answer, \u201cPoor little Mary\u2019s boy.\u201d Back and forth they sang \u2013 KING OF KINGS\u2026Poor little Mary\u2019s boy. Delores said, \u201cIt was the Black church doing theology.\u201d Who is Jesus? \u201cKing of Kings\u201d cannot be the answer without seeing \u201cpoor little Mary\u2019s boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

There is dissonance in the songs.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The images clash. One is big and powerful, the other small and poor. Christ the King Sunday is a dissonant day. Some congregations have changed the name to Reign of Christ Sunday to avoid the male image of \u201cking.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t make much difference if we forget that Jesus is \u201cpoor little Mary\u2019s boy.\u201d The ancient creeds got something right when they remembered Mary and Pontius Pilate almost in the same breath. Though \u201cking\u201d is male, the word is important because Jesus turned that word on its head. This king is in handcuffs, standing before Pontius Pilate who has the power to condemn him to death or set him free. This Sunday honors Jesus Christ as King, but soon the religious leaders will shout, \u201cWe have no king but the emperor!\u201d There is dissonance on this day and in this text.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What kind of king is Jesus?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Pilate wants to know. He needs to know because \u201cking\u201d is a political term, and Pilate is a political person. In this chapter, he keeps going back and forth between the Praetorium and the crowds outside. He moves from questioning Jesus inside City Hall to appeasing Jesus\u2019 accusers outside. Unfortunately, in John\u2019s gospel those accusers are always called \u201cthe Jews\u201d \u2013 as though Jesus wasn\u2019t Jewish, as though all the Jews were to blame for killing Jesus.<\/p>\n

Years after Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, animosity toward Jewish people infected John\u2019s gospel with language that accused all Jews of condemning Jesus. There were some Jews who opposed Jesus and some who followed him. There were some who collaborated with the Roman authorities \u2013 like Christian bishops appointed by the Nazi regime. Today we must repudiate every claim that Jews were responsible for Jesus\u2019 death. Pilate needed to know: \u201cAre you the king of the Jews?\u201d If so, you\u2019re guilty of treason because the emperor in Rome is the king of everyone everywhere, including the Jews.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To proclaim Jesus as King was a subversive act.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my students is an Anglican priest from South Africa. Not long ago he shared a story about what it was like to believe Jesus was King during the days of apartheid. \u201cOur whole congregation was arrested,\u201d he said, \u201cfor refusing to obey the government.\u201d I thought I misheard him, but he went on to say that all 240 members of the congregation were arrested and put in jail \u2013 from babies to a 90 year old man. \u201cAt least babies and mothers were kept together,\u201d he added. The pastor himself was imprisoned for a year. To claim that Jesus is King can be dangerous.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is truth?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is truth?\u201d Pilate asked, and the question is left hanging in the air. Was he being sarcastic or was he searching for answers nobody else had given him? The answer was not a philosophical proof or a creedal proposition. Truth was the person standing in silence before Pilate. We shouldn\u2019t be surprised for John\u2019s gospel began with claims that shocked the philosophers. \u201cIn the beginning was the Word,\u201d John began, \u201cand the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d The philosophers nodded their heads and pulled their chairs closer to listen. They knew this Word. It was logos in Greek \u2013 as in logic. This was the cosmic, eternal prime-mover, beyond time and space. This was logic they could understand and affirm but they weren\u2019t prepared for the next part: \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and lived among us\u2026full of grace and truth\u201d (John 1: 14).<\/p>\n

No, that couldn\u2019t be! That was jarring \u2013 a dissonant sound. Eternal Word clashed with earthly flesh. We hear dissonance in the beginning and now near the end of Jesus\u2019 life. The truth is a person, the Word made flesh. This Word came to live with us \u2013 literally, to \u201cpitch his tent\u201d among people of earth.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tent City<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n
\n

Five years ago, Minister Steve Brigham founded an encampment for the homeless on a wooded piece of public property in Lakewood, N.J. As Americans continue to struggle to find work, the community has expanded to nearly 70 people.<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Where will we see this strange king?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll look in places we never expected, surprised as the philosophers were at the beginning of this gospel. We see Jesus engaging in deep theological conversation with a Samaritan woman who had had five husbands and was living with a man who wasn\u2019t her husband! We see Jesus bending down on the ground to be with a woman accused of adultery. He leans in close to hear her voice when nobody else bothered to listen. We see Jesus putting a towel around his waist and then kneeling on the floor to wash his disciples\u2019 dirty feet.<\/p>\n

Jesus is a king who never rose so high that he couldn\u2019t see those who were down low. Even today, we see Jesus in tent cities where people live together after losing their homes to foreclosure. We see Jesus in public housing where people are still waiting for the power to come on after the storm. We see Jesus in shelters where women have sought refuge from abusers.<\/p>\n

If we would see Jesus, we will look in places kings seldom go.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

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By Barbara K. Lundblad Delores Williams, wise theologian and teacher, was my colleague when I first came to Union Seminary. She grew up in the South and remembers Sunday mornings when the minister shouted out: \u201cWho is Jesus?\u201d The choir responded in voices loud and strong: \u201cKing of kings and Lord Almighty!\u201d Then, little Miss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[363,436,444,446,206,735,435,447,137,445],"class_list":["post-1793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-scripture","tag-barbara-k-lundblad","tag-combatting-poverty","tag-delores-williams","tag-king-jesus","tag-odyssey-networks","tag-on-scripture","tag-poverty-in-america","tag-steve-brigham","tag-tent-city","tag-union-seminary"],"yoast_head":"\nA Different Kind of King: John 18: 33 - 37<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Barbara K. 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