Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Please pray with me. Guide us, O God, by your word and Holy Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth find freedom, and in your will discover your peace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The scripture is From John, chapter 18, verses 33 through 37.
Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus and asked him, are you the King of 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 said that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everybody who believes to the truth listens to my voice. This is the word of our Lord. Thanks be to God.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: But such a joy and privilege to worship with you this morning and to proclaim God's word by the power of his Holy Spirit. I'm so thankful to be back. And this is a hometown to me. Pasadena area, where I was born and grew up for much of my elementary school days. And so many familiar faces are here. I'm very grateful, including family. And I want to thank.
I want to thank Pastor Matt for the invitation and for all who played a part in enabling me to be here.
This church has been a gift to the Burns family and who have also been a family to our family. So it really is such a joy. Would you bow your heads in prayer with me, Father? God, your goodness and power brought this world into being, and we stand in wonder at the work of your hand. Your love sent your son, born of a virgin to bring restoration and new life to us as prophet, priest and king. By the revealing of your word, we know you as creator and redeemer of all things. And through your revelation, we have come to know of your benevolence toward us, working to renew us and to renew this world. May your Holy Spirit teach us this morning to listen to your voice as we reflect on the importance of your kingship in our lives. For our faith today, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Amen. A couple years ago, a fascinating movie called the Lost King was released starring Sally Hawkins. So I don't know how many of you have seen it. I figured I was back in California, so I better start with a story about a movie.
So the movie is based on the true story of Philippa Langley and her search to find the grave of Richard iii.
And it's an underdog kind of story. We get a glimpse of how her work life is truly miserable, how her family life is miserable, and she is also not physically well. So she is also suffering and in pain, and she is just constantly being underestimated, underval, valued, and overlooked.
And so her search for Richard iii from the 15th century, so you don't have to look it up on Wikipedia, becomes both a lifeline, but also an obsession for her. We see how she is drawn to Richard with compassion. She sympathizes with the disadvantages that he faced. He was, after all, a hunchback.
And because of the characterization of Shakespeare, Richard has been remembered as no more than a usurper.
And Philippa's efforts to uncover the truth of his story are met with one obstacle after the next, after the next.
I won't give it away.
But he's not a true king in the eyes of England until Philippa gets involved.
So you are king? Pilate asks Jesus. Jesus has been arrested and is being questioned. But Pilate can't quite sort out what's happening with Jesus identity. His questions are followed then by abuse, by mocking, by public humiliation.
Perhaps we, too, have trouble seeing him in that space, facing that derision and yet holding that title of king.
After all, Jesus is not acting as we expect a king act. He is not treated as we expect a king to be treated.
A little later in the account, Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd, saying, see the man? Gesturing to Jesus, who has been beaten and bruised and condemned to death. But Pilate is looking without seeing.
He is hearing without listening.
And Jesus doesn't act like any king that is expected.
Think back with me to the time of the pandemic, though I'm actually sorry to bring it up.
So many of us were navigating various restrictions. The country was getting, you know, stir crazy, wiping down mail and countertops. And during that time, there seemed to be a lot of space travel going on. You may recall that in July 2020, the perseverance, the newest Mars rover, successfully launched and landed on Mars in February 2021. And of course, the photos have been incredible. The rover is still persevering in its mission. And during that time, astronauts also headed to space. And there was a lot of viral memes being passed around. And my favorite was astronauts have chosen the perfect time to leave the earth.
The humor I think really captured the feeling that perhaps we all felt that wouldn't it be so nice to just leave these compounded problems behind to just, you know, get out of dodge and make maybe the atmosphere. And yet there stands Jesus not withdrawing but coming near, willingly subjecting himself to Jewish Roman authority and flogging and saying for this I was born.
Who is this king? Who is this kind of kingdom?
Not of this world? Jesus explains.
We don't have to be a 21st century reader to see that something is not as it is expected to be.
Even in John's time, the events that unfolded were not clear to Jesus disciples. Jesus actions did not follow cultural norms of honor and status and expressions of love. And by the way, I got that from your wonderful congregant Marian Mai Thompson.
Jesus power though is subversive to the kingdom and kingdoms that we know.
After all, think about John's Gospel. It's the gospel where we see Jesus speak to the Samaritan woman.
This is where we see Jesus washing his disciples feet. This is where we see Jesus riding into Jerusalem triumphantly on a donkey.
Who is this king? What is this kind of kingdom?
Not of this world, Jesus explains.
But Pilate doesn't see or hear what Jesus is telling him. Even when Pilate's wife warned him because of a dream that comes out of the Matthew 27 text, Pilate still proceeds under pressure. Even when Jesus describes himself in chapter 19 as the son of God, a moniker used by Roman emperors to signify their divinization, Pilate still proceeds under pressure. Though the text is interesting because it says he's afraid, he's fearful.
And so Jesus responds pointedly to Pilate saying everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. Everyone listens to my voice.
And I think when you see that passage, it's going to bring you right back to John's Prologue to John, Chapter one.
The word of God is here and has arrived in the beginning through whom all things have been created and made.
And if we look then to the end of the Gospels, we reach the resurrection. This I think, is where Mary Magdalene's story comes into John's Gospel.
A few years ago I started the research and writing of my book the Mary We Forgot About Mary Magdalene.
My goal was to retrieve her story from the confusion of her remembrance so that the Church might see anew her faithfulness as a faithful disciple of Christ and as a historian. I traced the history of her remembrance in the Church and I discovered that her story was often imagined as though she were the prodigal son in the parable of the Prodigal Son.
And when we pair our text this morning, this text where Jesus talks about listening and knowing his identity, and we pair it with Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus in the garden In John chapter 20, we begin to get new insight into her story, into this encounter, and into what Scripture is pointing us to about the faithful disciple.
While Judas entered the garden to arrest Jesus with the authorities, Mary Magdalene enters the garden prepared to care for Christ's body.
At first, she does not recognize Christ and she mistakes him for the gardener.
Then he says to her, mary. He calls her out by her name, and she instantly recognizes him. She knows him when he calls her name.
In my book, I tell the story of living in St. Andrews, Scotland. And since we're at Knox Presbyterian, I thought I would give you two stories about living in Scotland.
My husband and I were living there for three years, and I was finishing up my Ph.D. and he was working for the Church of Scotland during that time. His ministry spanned two churches, or kirks, as they are called, and one in the city and one in the country. And one Sunday, he was tasked to preach on John chapter 10, the parable of the Good Shepherd. The challenge was that there were actual shepherds in the church and he was born in Los Angeles.
And so we really laughed about it. We kind of fretted, like, what insight are we going to have into this passage when they are really living this experience with the sheep? And so with all due diligence, he reached out to one of the shepherd boys in the congregation to see if he could, like, shadow him for a day. And so David headed to the fields and the flock, and absolutely every single thing that is outlined in John 10 happened while he was there. It was exactly as it. As it was told in Scripture. The sheep came running when they heard the shepherd boy's voice. They flocked to him and followed him wherever he walked, just all around. And then they scattered. When David commented or said anything, they, you know, they ran away, just like the parable.
In the same way Mary Magdalene knew the voice of the Lord when he called her by name, she recognized her his voice and is described in the church, therefore, as the first witness and the first to worship the risen Christ. She is also the first to be sent to proclaim Christ's resurrection. She answered when he called her name, she ran. When he commissioned her to deliver that witness and the words of promise that God too is our Father and that Jesus is our brother. A new family has been born through Christ's death and resurrection.
When we see these chapters side by side, I think we begin to realize the importance of hearing the voice of the One who came near to us. Hearing, to listen, right, seeing to recognize. And I'm struck in this passage by how it reveals a God who does not draw away, but draws near. A God who invests his very self into our lives to give us new life.
Our God takes the form of a baby to enter into our world, to be God with us, that by his death he might restore and redeem his creation to glory, that we might live with him for eternity. Our God does not abandon, he comes close.
The God who comes near also reveals to us the upside down world of God's power. Just like what we heard in that marvelous children's sermon. In Christ we see how God's power refuses to pursue greed and domination in favor of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. In Christ we see how God's power refused to benefit from injustice and chooses to right wrongs with righteousness, with goodness, with holiness.
Christ's power is in sacrifice. Christ's power is merciful. Christ's power is fueled by zealous love. Christ's power transforms our unrighteousness, restores to us the dignity of our humanity, while the power of our world too often belittles the weak and the vulnerable. Jesus weeps in the face of suffering.
Jesus raises the dead.
Who is this king? What is this kingdom?
Jesus sends a woman, but not just any woman. A woman delivered by seven demons. A woman who becomes a special witness to the power that Jesus has to overcome the darkness our world. Christ's kingdom has come. And Christ's kingdom is coming.
She would be the one to share the news that Jesus had stomped on death for us. And so while the power of our world revels in wealth and extravagance and self glory, Jesus allows himself to be questioned by Pilate. He allows himself to be mistreated.
So you are king.
This is a king that willingly goes to his own death in order to conquer death.
It's not easy, I think, for us to get our minds around kind of power. It defies our every inclination, our common sense. It's something like going to a foreign country.
So my last story about Scotland. After my husband David and I were married, weeks after our wedding, we moved to Scotland. And one of the joys that we experienced was getting to trace the McNutt name through the MacNaughten clan. And so, you know, we bought a book about the MacNaughton clan, as one does, we buy a lot of books and we began to visit the sites of his family's story. And we eventually journeyed to the clan's historic castle near Inverary. And we discovered that the castle grounds are on a hill perfectly placed over the beauty of Loch Awe. I highly recommend seeing it, but it's a private residence now and so we thought we'd probably just drive by, but then the road was very narrow and it bordered a castle and it was on an incline, but we decided to pull over anyway. We'd made such an effort to go, and so we could sort of, maybe we could catch a glimpse of the castle, you know, over the gate and right along the road. And so we're walking along the road and we're clutching our book that says McNaughton on the front. And much to our surprise, a car pulls up to the gate and so we have our book and we're like, you know, this is our form of id, basically, and to explain what we're doing and this.
The caretakers of the castle said, well, why don't you just come right in?
So we were delighted. And at first we thought we would just go around the grounds. And they said, no, come inside, come inside. This is part of your family history. So we were stunned and we went inside and it was stunning. The clan's name, the family seal was all over and we were, in a sense, kind of long lost. Family welcomed home, obviously, for me, through marriage. And at first we thought, you know, that this beautiful experience. We were reflecting later that it really is a metaphor for what it means to be welcomed into Christ's kingdom, isn't it? Walking on that narrow path, knocking at that gate, you know, presenting your book, God's word, clutching that we belong here, we belong with you, your name is our name. And Christ, you know, not shunning us, not dismissing us, but welcoming us in.
We are washed clean by his own hand.
We are free from the filth that has soiled us.
Every part of us is washed by Jesus, even our feet. And we are washed clean before a meal, a gathering, we're seated at a table. We sit with a communion of saints gathered from all times and places. In Christ the King sits at the head of that table. We sit with all who confesses that Jesus is Lord.
And at the table we're fed by an abundance. We're nurtured by living bread that comes from himself. And we sit and we eat among that company, not by our own excellence or status or position, but because Christ has seated us there by his excellence, by his status, by his position, and out of his humility, his love, his sacrifice, we have a seat at the table of God in this magnificent castle.
We enter as strangers or as guests, but we sit as family.
We enter as orphans, but we sit with inheritance. And not just for a moment, not just for the day, for eternity, because Christ is seated on the throne. Thanks be to God. Amen.
