William H. Willimon - "Thy Kingdom Come" (November 23, 1997)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | I can tell by looking at you that some of you | 0:18 |
are ancient enough to remember the old Perry Mason show. | 0:21 | |
You remember that series with Raymond Burr? | 0:26 | |
It still plays from time to time on TV. | 0:28 | |
It has a kind of timeless appeal. | 0:31 | |
And what is that appeal? | 0:36 | |
Well, Perry Mason shows a rather predictable | 0:39 | |
and maybe that's their power. | 0:44 | |
Although the crime which is under investigation | 0:46 | |
may be perplexing, you always know that | 0:50 | |
by the end of the trial, Perry Mason is going | 0:53 | |
to figure it out and reveal it in the courtroom | 0:58 | |
and the accused is going to blurt out, | 1:02 | |
"Yes, yes I did it. | 1:05 | |
"I killed her because I hated her." | 1:07 | |
And we love stories about trials which turn out right. | 1:09 | |
And maybe it's because in this life | 1:15 | |
it sometimes seems as if trials so rarely turn out | 1:18 | |
the way they ought, where goodness is finally vindicated | 1:23 | |
and evil is righteously exposed. | 1:29 | |
In life, things are more ragged. | 1:35 | |
It doesn't seem like the good often get what they deserve | 1:38 | |
and the bad get what they deserve. | 1:42 | |
Maybe the most wonderful moment in the Perry Mason shows | 1:46 | |
was a delicious moment when Hamilton Burger | 1:50 | |
who was the DA, the district attorney, | 1:54 | |
who would so pompously walk into the courtroom | 2:00 | |
thinking he knew who was guilty | 2:03 | |
and he knew who was innocent | 2:06 | |
and he knew what was right | 2:08 | |
and then there was that moment | 2:10 | |
when Perry Mason always shows up Hamilton Burger | 2:11 | |
to be a kind of bureaucratic buffoon | 2:14 | |
and he sits there with his mouth open | 2:18 | |
and you watch power shift | 2:20 | |
from the self-confident DA to Perry Mason. | 2:22 | |
It's good to watch Perry Mason get it right. | 2:27 | |
I'm bringing up all this because this is a lead in. | 2:31 | |
It's what we call in the business, a teaser, | 2:35 | |
into the Scripture for today | 2:37 | |
which, on Christ the King's Sunday | 2:40 | |
is the trial of Jesus before Pilate | 2:42 | |
as told in the gospel of John chapter 18. | 2:48 | |
Hear the word of the Lord. | 2:53 | |
"Pilate entered his headquarters again | 2:56 | |
"and he summoned Jesus and asked Jesus, | 2:58 | |
"'Are you king of the Jews?' | 3:02 | |
"Jesus answered, 'Do you ask this of your own | 3:05 | |
"'or did others tell you to say this about me?' | 3:09 | |
"Pilate replied, 'Am I a Jew? | 3:14 | |
"'Your own nation and the chief priests | 3:17 | |
"'have handed you over to me. | 3:21 | |
"'What have you done?' | 3:23 | |
"Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. | 3:26 | |
"'If my kingdom were from this world | 3:32 | |
"'then my followers would be fighting | 3:35 | |
"'to keep me handed over to the Jews | 3:37 | |
"'but as it is, my kingdom is not from here.' | 3:39 | |
"Pilate asked him, 'So you're a king?' | 3:45 | |
"Jesus answered, 'You have said that I am king. | 3:50 | |
"'For this I was born. | 3:55 | |
"'For this I came into the world to testify to the truth. | 3:57 | |
"'Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.'" | 4:02 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 4:10 | |
Thanks be to God. | 4:13 | |
Today's gospel is a courtroom trial. | 4:17 | |
The trial of Jesus of Nazareth by Pilate. | 4:20 | |
Jesus has been dragged before Pilate | 4:26 | |
who is in charge of the Roman occupation forces in Judea | 4:29 | |
and the trial is supposed to be this scene | 4:34 | |
where this bedraggled, powerless, poor, itinerate rabbi | 4:37 | |
named Jesus stands trembling before the man | 4:43 | |
who represents all of the imperial power of Rome, | 4:47 | |
all of that might arrayed behind him. | 4:53 | |
Pilate. | 4:58 | |
You can see, by the way, this scene carved in lime wood | 5:00 | |
in the central scene over the altar here at Duke Chapel. | 5:05 | |
It's in the central location. | 5:11 | |
It is a scene which is portrayed the most prominently | 5:14 | |
in our chapel. | 5:17 | |
There it is. | 5:19 | |
Jesus in his trial in the courtroom of Pontius Pilate. | 5:20 | |
You can come up and examine it after the service. | 5:27 | |
And yet scarcely has this trial begun | 5:32 | |
before we realize that here is a trial | 5:34 | |
that's not gonna go the way that we had expected. | 5:39 | |
There is Pilate. | 5:44 | |
Pilate who is supposed to be running the show, | 5:46 | |
Pilate supposed to be in charge, | 5:49 | |
but in this story Pilate is jumping | 5:51 | |
around all over the place. | 5:56 | |
He moves back and forth. | 5:58 | |
In this scene, we didn't read all of it, | 6:00 | |
but in this scene Pilate leaves the room | 6:02 | |
seven times during this trial. | 6:05 | |
He goes in and out of the room. | 6:09 | |
He's checking with this legal expert and that one. | 6:11 | |
Pilate, biting his nails. | 6:15 | |
Pilate, uncertain, inept, frightened of the crowd outside. | 6:18 | |
Indecisive. | 6:22 | |
"Are you king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, | 6:25 | |
and surely he means it to be mocking. | 6:28 | |
The Jews? | 6:33 | |
They can't have a king. | 6:34 | |
They're a captive people. | 6:36 | |
They've got no army and there Pilate sits | 6:38 | |
on the judgment seat, backed up by the armies of Rome. | 6:41 | |
Pilate looks at this forlorn, wiped, bleeding Galilean | 6:47 | |
and asked in mocking sarcasm, so, (chuckles), | 6:52 | |
they tell me you're a king. | 6:56 | |
Jesus responds sardonically. | 7:00 | |
"Now, do you say this of your own | 7:06 | |
"or did somebody else tell you to say it about me?" | 7:09 | |
And at that moment we suspect | 7:14 | |
that the tables may be turning in this trial. | 7:16 | |
Pilate, is this something you thought up for yourself? | 7:20 | |
You, working for the government? | 7:23 | |
Not good at thinking on your own. | 7:25 | |
Did you think this up yourself | 7:28 | |
or is this only a rumor, | 7:29 | |
is this some, like, the result | 7:30 | |
of your latest public opinion polls? | 7:33 | |
Again, there is a question followed by Jesus' statement. | 7:38 | |
"My kingdom is not of this world." | 7:43 | |
And we're beginning to get the movement of this drama. | 7:49 | |
The kingdoms of this world depend upon armies | 7:56 | |
and violence to prop up their power. | 8:00 | |
Jesus says, "My kingdom is not from here." | 8:04 | |
My kingdom, it isn't from around here. | 8:09 | |
And it really isn't, you know. | 8:16 | |
Jesus the defendant has become Jesus the prosecutor. | 8:19 | |
Pilate the judge becomes Pilate the defendant, | 8:26 | |
standing sheepishly now before Jesus the judge. | 8:29 | |
Tom Long says that every statement now | 8:35 | |
shows Pilate more and more confounded | 8:39 | |
by this mysterious presence. | 8:42 | |
Pilate is no poised diplomat. | 8:46 | |
He is no serene, secure judge. | 8:49 | |
Rather he's a ping pong ball slapped back and forth | 8:54 | |
between his public fears and his inner doubts. | 8:58 | |
Pilate pleads, then he tries bullying, | 9:02 | |
and then he begs, and he vacillates and he finally folds. | 9:05 | |
The story ends with John saying, | 9:11 | |
"Then he handed over Jesus to be crucified." | 9:13 | |
And the irony is rich. | 9:19 | |
It is Jesus who is to be crucified | 9:23 | |
and yet it is Pilate and everybody like him who is defeated. | 9:27 | |
It is Jesus who shall suffer death | 9:35 | |
but it is the world and its kingdoms, | 9:38 | |
the kingdoms from here, that perish. | 9:43 | |
You see, I think in this story John is saying something | 9:50 | |
about power, about the fragility | 9:53 | |
and the ultimate illegitimacy of our kingdoms. | 9:57 | |
An assault is being made here upon our definitions of power | 10:03 | |
and our definitions of glory | 10:09 | |
and I think John is depicting the way | 10:11 | |
in which, by the end of the trial, | 10:14 | |
the glory of God breaks through | 10:19 | |
and we see the real truth of things. | 10:22 | |
If you know anything about the gospel of John, | 10:26 | |
you know John just loves to do this, | 10:27 | |
where you think you know what is going on on the surface. | 10:31 | |
This is a trial. | 10:33 | |
The party of the first part speaking | 10:35 | |
to the party of the second part. | 10:37 | |
Everything being done by the rules. | 10:38 | |
And yet, by the end of the thing, | 10:41 | |
something breaks out | 10:43 | |
and we realize there's a lot more going on here | 10:44 | |
than we first thought. | 10:47 | |
Just like those memorable endings on the Perry Mason show. | 10:51 | |
At the end, the real criminal is made to confess, | 10:54 | |
to tell the whole truth and nothing | 10:59 | |
but the truth despite himself. | 11:01 | |
And the one who confesses, ironically it's Pilate. | 11:07 | |
"Are you king?" | 11:14 | |
"What have you done?" | 11:16 | |
"Oh, well what is truth?" | 11:18 | |
"Well, where are you from?" asked Pilate. | 11:20 | |
And his blathering questions become our answers. | 11:23 | |
Jesus is king. | 11:29 | |
Jesus is truth. | 11:32 | |
He is not from our kingdoms | 11:34 | |
but rather he is a sign of God's in breaking kingdom. | 11:37 | |
In this trial, Jesus goes head to head | 11:43 | |
with the powers that be | 11:45 | |
and we see those powers crumble | 11:48 | |
in the face of his power. | 11:51 | |
And we see that we are not left as hapless victims | 11:56 | |
of the powers of this world | 12:01 | |
because Jesus is king. | 12:04 | |
Tom Long reminds us that during the days | 12:11 | |
of the civil rights movement in the south, | 12:15 | |
in the struggle for racial integration, | 12:20 | |
black and white people rode in buses | 12:23 | |
called freedom riders | 12:27 | |
and these freedom riders would travel from town to town | 12:30 | |
in a bus and then they would systematically | 12:34 | |
enter some segregated establishment | 12:36 | |
and demand to be served in an integrated way | 12:39 | |
and they challenged segregationist laws. | 12:43 | |
Sometimes the freedom riders were greeted with violence | 12:48 | |
and often they were arrested. | 12:52 | |
In one southern town, a bus was halted by the police | 12:56 | |
and the passengers were booked and jailed | 13:01 | |
and while they were in jail | 13:05 | |
the jailers did everything they could | 13:06 | |
to break the spirits of the freedom riders. | 13:09 | |
They played loud music all night | 13:12 | |
and they left on the lights of the jail cells | 13:14 | |
all night in order to deprive them of sleep. | 13:17 | |
They added salt to the jail food to make it inedible. | 13:21 | |
When none of this seemed to work, | 13:28 | |
they started removing the mattresses of the prisoners, | 13:29 | |
one by one, hoping to stir up some dissension | 13:32 | |
within the ranks of the freedom riders in jail. | 13:36 | |
Eventually their strategies seemed to be taking hold. | 13:43 | |
Morale in the jail cells slumped. | 13:48 | |
The lowest point, one of the jail leaders, | 13:53 | |
looking around at his dispirited fellow prisoners, | 13:56 | |
began to sing. | 14:02 | |
He began to sing softly the words | 14:05 | |
of an old spiritual | 14:07 | |
and slowly everybody else in the group | 14:10 | |
began to sing until everybody in the cells | 14:13 | |
was singing at the top of his voice, | 14:17 | |
until the puzzled jailers felt the jailhouse | 14:20 | |
just vibrating with sounds of joyful gospel. | 14:24 | |
When they went in to see what | 14:32 | |
was happening back in the cells, | 14:34 | |
the prisoners triumphantly and joyfully pushed | 14:36 | |
the few remaining mattresses | 14:40 | |
through the bars of the cells saying, | 14:42 | |
"You can take our mattresses | 14:45 | |
"but you can't have our souls." | 14:47 | |
Now, that is an episode somewhat similar | 14:53 | |
to the one we read about here in the gospel of John. | 14:58 | |
It was the hymn singers who were in jail | 15:02 | |
but it was the jailers who were guilty. | 15:10 | |
It was the prisoners who were suffering | 15:13 | |
but it was the jailers who got defeated. | 15:15 | |
It was the prisoners who were weak and powerless | 15:18 | |
but it was a broken and bigoted world | 15:22 | |
of all of the jailers and the Pontius Pilates | 15:27 | |
who've ever lived that were perishing. | 15:30 | |
This Sunday, the last Sunday of the church's year, | 15:36 | |
is Christ the King, when the church pauses | 15:41 | |
to focus upon the grand cosmic practical truth | 15:46 | |
that Jesus reigns. | 15:52 | |
On this Sunday, the church proclaims the truth | 15:56 | |
that is wide as the whole cosmos | 16:00 | |
but as practical as what you've got to do tomorrow. | 16:04 | |
Jesus reigns. | 16:08 | |
There is no corner of creation utterly immune from his rule. | 16:11 | |
Jesus reigns. | 16:16 | |
One of you last Sunday caught me interceding | 16:19 | |
for the people of Iraq during the prayer for others. | 16:23 | |
What gives us the right to pray | 16:30 | |
for the people of Iraq? | 16:31 | |
Jesus reigns. | 16:35 | |
Whether the world knows it or not, | 16:38 | |
all the world is claimed territory for our Christ. | 16:40 | |
Whether the rules of this world know it or not, | 16:46 | |
they stand under judgment. | 16:49 | |
Jesus reigns. | 16:54 | |
There is no power greater than his power | 16:55 | |
and you can see this truth clearly | 17:01 | |
up there in the chapel carving in lime wood. | 17:03 | |
You can see it up there. | 17:07 | |
Pilate is sitting upon the throne | 17:09 | |
with the symbols S-P-Q-R, the symbols of Roman power | 17:12 | |
and the wolf, everything backing up Pilate. | 17:19 | |
Pilate is on the throne | 17:23 | |
but the wood carver has made Pilate appear small, | 17:27 | |
weak, limp-wristed, uneasy on his judgment seat | 17:33 | |
and Jesus stands there in the middle of the courtroom, | 17:40 | |
standing there dominating the scene, | 17:44 | |
larger than life, serene, sure, staring out at us | 17:47 | |
as one who rules. | 17:52 | |
That kind of thing is enough to make a person ask, | 17:58 | |
well, who is in charge here? | 18:02 | |
Who rules? | 18:05 | |
Now I want you to remember this scene in Pilate's court | 18:09 | |
whenever you are made to stand before the powers that be | 18:13 | |
and testify to the hope that is within you. | 18:18 | |
Jesus reigns. | 18:22 | |
I want to tell those of you who are young, | 18:25 | |
who feel vulnerable before the future, | 18:29 | |
it is powerful freedom when you stand up | 18:34 | |
before the powers that be and are made to answer. | 18:36 | |
It is powerful freedom to know they don't own you | 18:40 | |
'cause Jesus reigns. | 18:44 | |
When you walk out of here | 18:49 | |
and go back to a tomorrow morning, | 18:52 | |
to the classroom or the boardroom | 18:57 | |
or the assembly line or the pots and pans | 19:01 | |
at the kitchen sink, | 19:03 | |
there will be moments when you shall be questioned, | 19:07 | |
accused, challenged. | 19:10 | |
Do not fear. | 19:14 | |
Powerful imperial forces are at work upon you. | 19:17 | |
Subtle imperial. | 19:22 | |
They question you about the way | 19:24 | |
you spend your money and your time. | 19:26 | |
They question you about the way you use your body. | 19:29 | |
They question you about that future | 19:32 | |
towards which you are walking. | 19:35 | |
But do not fear. | 19:37 | |
Jesus has been there. | 19:39 | |
He has faced the world | 19:43 | |
and all of the world's accusations | 19:45 | |
and has triumphed. | 19:49 | |
The trial is over. | 19:52 | |
The tables have turned. | 19:55 | |
The verdict is in. | 19:58 | |
Jesus shall reign. | 20:01 | |
(gentle organ music) | 20:08 | |
♪ Jesus shall reign ♪ | 20:47 | |
♪ Wherever the sun ♪ | 20:50 | |
♪ Doth his successive journeys run ♪ | 20:56 | |
♪ His Kingdom spread from shore to shore ♪ | 21:04 | |
♪ 'Til moons shall wax and wane no more ♪ | 21:13 | |
♪ To him shall endless prayer be made ♪ | 21:24 | |
♪ And princes throng to crown his head ♪ | 21:33 | |
♪ His name like sweet perfume shall rise ♪ | 21:42 | |
♪ With every morning sacrifice ♪ | 21:52 | |
♪ People and realms of every tongue ♪ | 22:03 | |
♪ Dwell on his love with sweetest song ♪ | 22:12 | |
♪ And infant voices shall proclaim ♪ | 22:22 | |
♪ Their early blessings on his name ♪ | 22:31 | |
♪ Blessings abound wherever he reigns ♪ | 22:42 | |
♪ The prisoner leap and lose his chains ♪ | 22:51 | |
♪ The weary find eternal rest ♪ | 23:00 | |
♪ And all the sons of want are blessed ♪ | 23:10 | |
♪ Let every creature rise and bring ♪ | 23:21 | |
♪ Peculiar honors to our King ♪ | 23:29 | |
♪ Angels descend with songs again ♪ | 23:39 | |
♪ And earth repeat the loud Amen ♪ | 23:48 |
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