This is a Christ the King Sunday sermon from 1994. It is typed and highlighted. Christ the King Sunday is the last week of the church year, as the year starts with Advent.

Text for this sermon is available as scanned images, as well as text that was recovered from a 3.5 inch disk.

WHO’S IN – WHO’S OUT? Christ the King Sunday 1994 - John 18:35-37

Dear friends, grace & peace from God our Father and Christ our King.

The news these days is filled with the upset in Congress. People who used to be out are in, others who used to be in are out. Everyone wonders, ‘How will this affect me?’ Some are weeping and wailing as they get ready to clean out their desks; some are dancing a victory jig and making big plans; others are shrugging their shoulders and saying, “Well, that’s politics!” The winds of opinion blow first one way, then another. No one knows that better than a politician.

In our gospel lesson we view a politician, Pontius Pilate, who has a problem on his hands–a man called Jesus, who some call ‘King of the Jews’. Pilate has to do some fast thinking, to make sure he decides what is best for old number one, Pontius P. He was in a dilemma–he had on his hands a prisoner who was accused of disloyalty to the Jewish traditions and also to Rome, a blasphemer. What could he do with this man? If he upset the Jews, he could lose his position. If he upset the followers of Jesus, he might have a riot on his hands. Who should he try to please? This is almost a comedy, as Pilate who should be impartial, runs out to the balcony to see what the people are doing, then comes back in to talk to Jesus and his accusers. Out…In…out and in. It’s comedy and tragedy at the same time.

Then Pilate tries an old trick…pass the buck. He asks Jesus: “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answers with a question: “Are you saying this on your own, or are others saying this about me?” Pilate tries to back off even more: “Am I a Jew? Your own people are bringing these charges; what have you done?” Jesus answers, “My kingship is not of this world…look, my servants aren’t fighting! That’s not the kind of king I am. I came to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.”

So, who’s out and who’s in? Well, today, the great Pontius Pilate is only dust, and a footnote in history because of this famous confrontation. Jesus Christ is King and Lord, worshipped my millions, and still rules a kingdom which will never end. We also ask the question, “How’s out and who’s in today”. Am I in our out of Christ’s kingdom? How can we be sure that we are among those who live Christ’s kingdom and will?

The church has struggled with these questions (Who’s in? Who’s out?) from its very beginning. Some people say, “We have to have standards”. We need to demand discipline to find out who really is in. Let’s make sure that newcomers have a right to move from the outside to the inside. Sometimes we have even fenced in the communion table, using it to distinguish who is in and who is out. We use criteria of age or understanding or right beliefs to decide who belongs at the Lord’s table.

As we stuggle with these tough questions, we need to ask: “What is Jesus’ criterion for who is in?” It is easy to miss. Jesus simply says: “Every one who belongs to the truth listens….” If ‘faith comes by hearing’, then can one listen from the outside, or does God’s grace first bring us in (into listening range)? I think that Baptism is a good image for the way Christ brings us in. Many of us were surrounded by God’s grace and the community of Christ even before we knew what was happening. We are like an adopted child who has no chance to know anything about her parents before being brought into the family….God brings us into the kingdom in love and grace. God doesn’t keep us outside with our nose pressed against the window, wishing to get in on this kingdom. Jesus says “Whoever is of the truth hears my voice.” That covers a lot of territory. We cannot judge who is in and who is out by appearances: Some pious insiders have developed deafness to the truth, while others who seem outside listen and yearn for God’s voice. Jesus turns things inside out and outside in by his life-giving passion and death. Grace upsets the applecart more than any election or revolution ever could. Grace is a scandal in a world which wants us each to earn our place. Grace is not cheap, it cost God the life of His only Son….it is free, freely given in Christ. In the church we have a kingdom like none this world has ever known.

If we are in this kingdom…it is because of grace…there is no other explanation. We have a right to listen to the truth because we are in Christ….none of us have earned that place….but it is offered to all. The Church of Jesus Christ celebrates this truth today. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, but it affects how we live in this world each day. When the church tries to be powerful and victorious in this world’s eyes, it will lose its soul. Power and victory are always idols with will drain the church and cause it to lose sight of its goal and mission. The truth we live in and listen to is that Christ has opened the kingdom to all who would listen and follow the truth. It is a kingdom of the cross, a kingdom where to be “in” means to lose ourselves…our pride…our insistence on our own way…; and in losing ourselves we gain the prize, which is to live under the authority and the direction of Jesus Christ.

Pilate never understood this. He only understood the power of public opinion and the power of the sword. And there is no way that the sword and grace can exist in the same kingdom. Who is out and who is in? This scene between Jesus and Pilate teaches us that things are not always as they appear. The lasting kingdom, the rule of grace and truth which will never end, turns this world’s ideas inside out. Then the Gospel turns us outside in. This world’s politicians will come and go. Public opinions will swing like a pendulum. Whoever is in, whoever is out in this world, there will always be the voice of God speaking the truth of Christ’s kingdom. And there will always be a few who will listen, and who will live forever in this kingdom of grace and love because of the truth that they find in the voice of Jesus Christ.

We come today to the Lord’s table. Let us come as listeners who hear the truth of the lasting kingdom. Hear Jesus’ voice which says…I give myself for you. Live in me and I will live in you. Listen to me and you will know the truth…for a lifetime and forever. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep us one in Christ Jesus. Amen.