Living into the Realm

John 18:33-37

Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan

Our congregation has a tradition of following the church year – the annual progression through the pregnancy, birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the coming of the Spirit, and the growth of the church, and the anticipation of the coming of God’s Realm in its fullness. We are just completing the cycle after spending 6 months in the season of Pentecost, focusing on the growth of the church. For much of the year we heard passages from the Gospel of Mark. Next Sunday we begin a new church year with the first Sunday of Advent, which makes today the last Sunday of the current liturgical year. In times past, the last Sunday of the church year was called Christ the King Sunday. To avoid patriarchal language, we now use Reign of Christ Sunday. For 2000 years Christians have acknowledged Christ as Ruler of the World, at the same time we live in anticipation of the coming of God’s full Reign (the Kingdom of God) in its completeness, what some call the Consummation of God’s Realm. Each year, on the last Sunday of the church year, we are invited to focus on our sure and certain hope that the ultimate goal of creation is God’s fulfilled Realm.

The scripture passage today is the powerful scene after Jesus is arrested, when he is dragged before Pilate, which is not usually what we think of when the stores are full of Christmas trees, and everyone is set to flip the calendar over to December. But today, we are invited to consider what it means to celebrate the Reign of Christ, as the church year concludes. To help us properly focus on the Cosmic Reign of Jesus Christ, listen for the word of God from the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John. 

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 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.”

We believe Jesus rules Creation. He says he is monarch, and we believe him. Today we celebrate our belief: the Sunday of the Reign of Christ. Seminary professor, Ron Allen prefers to call today the celebration of Christ the Cosmic Ruler. But we want to know what does that mean? Many of us have stood before the church and proclaimed Jesus as Lord of our individual lives, but today especially we aptly broaden our perspective to celebrate Christ’s power and administration over all creation, although we cannot know exactly what that means. Some still expect a return on a cloud, as the Bible pictures for us, but we know the world isn’t flat, so most folks understand the prediction as metaphorical. We believe in Jesus’ return and God’s final triumph over sin and death, but we can’t know exactly what that will be. What we do believe is that God’s final Ruling over the world will mean an end to violence and hunger and loneliness and people’s freezing to death under bridges (it was -5 in Utah this weekend) and the coming of God’s era of wholeness, of peace and justice.

So today we celebrate the Monarchy of Jesus, because this is the New Year’s Eve of the Church year. We could get ready to count down and drop a resplendent Waterford Crystal ball in Times Square, except that isn’t a big enough celebration. Jesus is Ruler of all the Earth, so we need to set off fireworks around the world, as we did on New Year’s Day 2000 – from the first seconds after midnight at the International Date Line in the Pacific, then west around the globe. But even that isn’t enough. He is Monarch of our whole Solar System, so there should be celebrations on the Moon and dancing on Mars and fireworks on Neptune. But of course, that isn’t enough either, because he is Cosmic Ruler. Celebrations need to spread across millions of galaxies to the expanding edges of the universe. We believe Christ is Ruler of the Cosmos!

But wait. His Realm is not from here. Jesus says, “My kingdom is not from this world.” He interacts in the world, but his jurisdiction is not like Caesar’s. Jesus is not looking to be a political leader of this everyday world. He says, “Where I rule, it is not here.” Meaning, “I don’t function like your worldly rulers. You can’t even see my realm.” Jesus is a monarch with no diamond studded crown, no palace. Rather, his is a theological realm, a God-centered reality. Don’t misunderstand. It is not some ethereal, make-believe place; or some existence which we will find “bye-and-bye.” Jesus says, “My kingdom is.” Present tense. He already is ruling, just not this world.

Some of our seminary students use the analogy of understanding the Realm of Jesus as an alternate universe, existing in the same space as our day-to-day world. Some folks are able to “see it; sense it.” Most can’t. I don’t know how useful an image of an alternative universe is, but Christ’s jurisdiction does occupy the same space as worldly authorities. The question is: Which authority has our allegiance? Whose rules do we live by?

In this era of too many school shootings, some may remember when a gunman entered an Amish one-room school. The teacher and boys were released. When troopers arrived, the man threatened to shoot all the girls. Two girls asked to be shot first, hoping the others would be rescued then. They understood Jesus’ sacrificial love for others. The gunman did shoot 10 girls before killing himself; seven have died. The world was completely baffled by those two girls’ willingness to sacrifice themselves for others. And then the Amish community embraced the family of the murderer. Who could understand that behavior? But the Amish saw that the murderer’s family had experienced an excruciating loss just as they had. Grief and support needed to be shared. They saw the Truth of Christ’s Realm which exists according to the laws of divine self-giving love, which desires wholeness for all, even murderers, and where Jesus is in charge. Such a realm is hidden to most, because they cannot even imagine that someone could live that way. But the truth is still there. Christ rules a realm distinct from our day-to-day world. So, we can live into Jesus’ Realm. We are able to move from living following earthly rules to living according to Jesus’ Truth. We can increasingly follow him with our whole lives. But if we are going to shift from believing the kingdoms of this world are in charge, to seeing the Truth of the Realm of Jesus Christ, we need to practice, because understanding life in Jesus’ Realm takes practice. No one shifts from following society’s rules to following Jesus easily, especially when we’ve been pummeled by Black Friday advertisements claiming we must have the latest gizmo. Society pages tell us “buying stuff” is really living.

But Jesus says “not so.” He urges viewing the world through the lenses of simplicity, forgiveness, and compassion. Not that we are to let evil have its way, but that we realize each person is beloved of God, no matter what they’ve done. One of our jobs is to encourage all of us to live towards God’s purposes. In other words, we are to commit to the love of God as our life-giving priority.

We know that through the centuries, Christians developed exercises to assist our shift into Christ’s realm. Just as we exercise muscles to improve our physical bodies, so do spiritual exercises strengthen our ability to experience Christ as Ruler of our life and of the whole universe. Activities such as prayer, tenthing, fasting, performing acts of mercy and justice, are called “spiritual practices.” Each of us could choose to practice with one of the spiritual gifts – like compassion, focusing on Jesus as Christ, the self-giving Ruler of the Universe. Take time to look up the meaning of compassion and its usage, find places scripture mentions compassion, and consider how we might be more compassionate in daily living. Isn’t it amazing? Jesus trusts us enough to instruct us how to live following him, which moves us closer to the Realm he rules. He calls us to participate in living towards his realm, according to his rules, and thus helping to further his purposes. Together we are invited to put our lives under the rule of the self-giving Christ. And the more we commit to his sovereignty, the more we find ourselves living into the Reign of Christ.

All around us, the ways of the world are having their way. Simultaneously, the Realm of Jesus Christ is quietly breaking in. So, if we are attentive, we can live towards the world Christ is calling us to, committing to work for justice and peace and love, which means we get to choose not only where we put our allegiance, but what realm we are living into.