Christ the King

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Christ the King. 2025

Holy Trinity, Greenville, SC

St. John xviii, verse 34 – Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Today, the last Sunday in October, is kept as the Feast of Christ the King. By keeping this feast the Church brings forward for our attention one of our Lord’s many titles, namely ‘king’. The Greek word translated as ‘king’ is basileus. For the Greeks of the golden age of Greek civilization there was only one basileus, namely the king of the great Persian empire to their east. The basileus was not any local despot or dictator or princeling. The basileus was a great emperor, the lord of a vast empire of almost unimaginable wealth and power. Later the word was used for the Roman emperor as well as the king of Persia or Parthia. By our Lord’s day it is true that the word was used more loosely: in the New Testament it is used for the Pharaoh of Egypt, for king David, and for the rulers of the dynasty of Herod the Great, as well as for the Roman emperor. Still the idea behind basileus is a great and mighty king, the lord of a great empire.

Now at our Lord’s trial before Pontius Pilate, we find that Pilate’s only real interest is in Christ’s claims to kingship as a basileus. ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’, Pilate asks: ‘Art thou basileus of the Jews?’ Our Lord’s response, which I have taken as my text today, suggests that Pilate relied on a denunciation of Christ from the chief priests and Pharisees. Our Lord asks him, ‘Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?’ In other words, ‘Do you think I claim to be king of the Jews because of something you know or have observed yourself, or are you relying on a charge from someone else?’

Pilate’s concern is that Christ might attempt to set himself up as a secular rival to Roman authority. On this score he need have no fear. In our lesson today our Lord says, ‘My kingdom is not of this world….’ And since acts speak louder than words, we might recall that earlier in St. John’s gospel, after the feeding of the five thousand,

When Jesus…perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. (6:15)

So, both in word and in deed our Lord proved that he did not desire and would not accept worldly kingship. Once Pilate is sure of this fact, his only concern is settled. From that point on, he seeks to release Christ. Pilate, however, is a cynical practitioner of worldly politics. Though he is convinced of Christ’s innocence and of his harmlessness in political terms, in the end he is willing to tolerate a judicial murder for various purposes that we need not consider at this time.

Again, when Pilate asks, ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’, our Lord responds, ‘Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?’ I have explained what our Lord’s question meant when it was addressed to Pilate. We might also, however, consider what the question means when addressed to us. As at least nominal Christians we confess that Christ is King. If we remember that the king here is basileus, a mighty, imperial lord, then to call Christ the King is to assert that he has universal dominion and the right to our total and loyal obedience. But then let us ask ourselves, ‘Say I this thing of my own accord, or did others tell it me of him?’ Do I say that Christ is King ‘of myself’, because of personal experience and belief and acceptance and conviction? have I personally accepted Christ’s kingship? do I strive to live under Christ’s will and commandments? Or, on the contrary, do I say Christ is King because ‘others tell it’; because it is a merely conventional thing to say or something that I have accepted loosely and without thought on the basis of someone else’s word?

Of course, we all come to Christ in the first instance because someone else told us about him. We come to Christ because of our parents or godparents; because of some faithful friend or relative; because we read a persuasive book or heard a sermon that convicted and convinced our hearts; or perhaps because we experienced Christ’s love through the example of some Christian’s goodness. But in the end, it is not enough that someone else has faith. The child baptized as an infant must confirm his godparents’ vows and promises. The convert must mature and live as a Christian after the first blush of enthusiasm wears off. The person inspired by another Christian must continue in faith when that other person later disappoints him. Our faith must grow up.

To ask if our faith is growing or not, we should ask ourselves how we really relate to Christ the King. Is Christ really my King or does someone else sit enthroned in my heart? Do I submit myself to divine Providence or do I resent and resist everything that God sends me? Do you humble yourself before God’s law and commandments or are you a law unto yourself? Does Christ reign in our hearts or do we rule ourselves? or does perhaps some other creature rule us? St. Paul in our epistle today reminds us that there are many ‘thrones,…dominions,… principalities,…powers’. All of these things ‘were created by [God] and for him.’ (Colossians 1:16) But some angels and all men fell from grace and rebelled against God’s dominion and refused to live as creatures under and for God. Christ came to call us back to God’s obedience. In Christ the Father wills to restore all things in [his] well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords’ (collect). In Christ God wills to restore the proper relationship of King and subject. Is the reality of my life that I accept Christ’s call to obedience and to restoration of our original relationship with God? Or is the reality of my life and yours that we are quite content to be our own king and lord? Consider the hymns for Christ the King:

Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget / The wormwood and the gall,

Go, spread your trophies at his feet, / And crown him Lord of all!

Have we crowned Christ as Lord of our ‘all’? Sayest thou such things of thy­self, or did others tell it thee? Are the words from this hymn in any plausible sense our words or are they only someone else’s words? If we wish them to be our words, then forget for the moment whether or not Christ is King of this country or King of your boss or King of your spouse or King of the president or King of Haverland. The first question for each of us is, Is he my King? That is the great question of this day, not just for Pontius Pilate, but for each of us as well.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.