Today throughout our country people will be carrying protest signs that say: “NO KING.”
This is the homily I shared on Good Friday with my friends at Divine Mercy.
Whoever is in charge has the last word. They have the power. They are in control. Ask any coach, teacher, manager, pastor, CEO, or parent and they will tell you as much. Those in charge call the shots.
Is that not what it means to be a king? A king is in charge. At the heart of Jesus’ ministry is his claim to be a king. As he heals the blind and turns water into wine, he claims divine authority and the right to be in charge of everything and everyone, even death itself.
However, from the very beginning there were those who disputed Jesus’ claim. In the Passion reading from St. John, that dispute plays out before our eyes. There we see two kings locked in combat, each trying to assert their power against the other, each claiming his own kind of divine authority. However, ultimately only one can be king. Only one can be in charge.
Each seeks to gain our trust and loyalty in different, conflicting ways. One lives by the power of the sword, under the threat of deportation or death. The other lives by the power of foot-washing love, and unafraid of death. One coerces with threats. The other offers mercy. One believes that the weak must serve the strong. The other believes that the strong get to serve the weak. One demands that everyone must get what he deserves. The other dares to give people what they do not deserve. One demands that everyone must earn his keep. The other announces that we are the apple of God’s eye and children of God simply because Jesus says so.
Pilate versus Jesus! Two different kings, two different kingdoms, two different ways of life on what really matters and what does not – each claiming to be in charge. The question is . . . who is telling the truth? Whom do we trust?
As Jesus hung there on the cross, Pilate added further insult to injury by posting over Jesus’ head a sign mocking Jesus’ claim: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews!” Ha! What king? What a pretender, this Jesus of Nazareth! A real king would come down from the cross
Three days later Jesus is raised from the dead. Despite appearances to the contrary, Pilate and his kind are not in charge. Jesus – and his Father who sent him – are! The sign that Pilate posted over Jesus’ head on the cross was not mockery but the truth! Jesus is King even on the cross. Jesus is in charge even as he dies. When Jesus utters, “It is finished,” he is not finished – Pilate and his people are not in charge! Not even death and the power of the world’s greatest empire can keep Jesus down. Jesus is God’s last word to the world. That last word is mercy and forgiveness.
Because Jesus is in charge, we know that God is in charge. That is the good news and the truth we can trust. The threats of Pilate and any other kings in our country are a sham and meaningless.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we put aside our fears and trust that Jesus is in charge and speak the truth that Jesus is our King!
