John 18:33-36
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 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.”
John 18:33-36
In the spring of 1997, the third grade students of Dixon Intermediate School studied medieval European history. The culmination of the unit was a fair in which each classroom transformed into an aspect of medieval life: a monastery teeming with monks, a village market for showcasing traditional crafts, and a jousting competition complete with knights. The center of power, however, was across the hall in Mrs. Careese’s room, which had been turned into a castle filled with courtiers surrounding the kids who had become king and queen for the day. Even though we knew it was make-believe, we all wanted to be the king.
The thirst for power, authority, and dominion, is built into us. We come into the world with a commission from God: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over…every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28). Had we ruled within the boundaries God ordained at creation, we would be fine. But the first people, and all their descendants down to us, chose to violate the boundaries, seeking to exercise authority not only over the created world, but also over Creator. That boundary-breaking is called sin and it is destructive both in time and for eternity.
The disruptive, destructive, disordering nature of our sinful power grab means we do not innately have a category in our minds for a kingdom that is not established by force. This struggle to understand a kingdom come through sacrifice, not show of force is revealed in Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus.
The religious leaders built a case of sedition against Jesus, arguing he was intentionally subverting the authority of the Roman-appointed ruler of Judea in order to establish himself as king. Pilate’s response was to ask Jesus, Are you the King of the Jews?
Pilate had revealed the motivations of the priests through his stalling tactics (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10; John 11:47-48, 12:19). Now Jesus would reveal the motivations of Pilate: Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? Either Jesus’ actions had been so seditious that Pilate had identified him as an enemy of the state, or this was entirely political, a contrived conflict placed in Pilate’s lap by the priests. If the latter was true, and it was, it underscored the manner of Jesus’ rule and the means by which the kingdom of God is brought near. It would reveal Jesus had done nothing seditious.
Pilate identified the source of the charges as Jesus’ own nation and the chief priests. Pressed to explain what prompted such charges, Jesus reminded Pilate that overthrowing a kingdom, such as the one currently under Herod’s rule, required force. If his kingdom had been of this world, Jesus’ disciples would have been fighting. The absence of a fight was not a revelation of Jesus’ weakness, but of his witness. Jesus came to witness to the truth: the truth of God’s holy nature, judgment against sin, and offer of redemption (John 3:16, 10:30, 14:6, 18:37). That witness would find its ultimate fulfillment at the cross, where an act of sacrifice, not a show of strength, secured Jesus’ right to rule as King of Kings.
Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. It is not marked by a desire for power or a display of force. But his kingdom is for this world, this world for whom He died. Pilate asked Jesus, What have you done? The whole of human history and the entirety of eternity resounds in a shout of acclamation to answer that question: Jesus lived, died, and lives again that we by faith in his name might come into his kingdom at last.