[Propertalk] Sermon quotes for John 18:33-37 - Nov. 22 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

Pilate picks up on Jesus words "my kingdom". Jesus is king of "truth" (v. 37); his subjects are those who belong to the truth. He was "born" and "came into the world" to establish the kingdom of God, the ultimate truth.

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/bpr34m.shtml

Chris Haslam 
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18:37: "'You say that I am a king'": Pilate and Jesus mean different things by kingship, so a direct answer is not possible. [Sanders, J.N. 1968]

18:37: "the truth": For Jesus' testimony to "the truth", see 5:32; 8:40, 45, 46. 8:44 tells us that the Jews have rejected "the truth". The disciples have received it from Jesus: see 14:6; 17:17, 19. [Brown, Raymond E., et al., 1995 ] Here, it means reality. [Sanders, J.N. 1968]

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/bpr34l.shtml

Chris Haslam 
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We have come to the end of another liturgical year, and Dianne Bergant explains that we observe the feast of Christ the King here, at that end, because "it celebrates the realization of all of our theology. It is not only the goal toward which our Sunday meditations have been taking us, Christ's enthronement is the omega point toward which all of history has been moving." The wise reign we look forward to, and sometimes experience in the here and now, "is a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice and peace," and this king is one we can approach without fear, knowing that we belong to this gentle and loving shepherd king.

There is no need, then, for fear. Words like king and kingdom and kingship are our ways of trying to describe this shepherd king who carries us and leads us and calls us home. 

http://i.ucc.org/StretchYourMind/OpeningtheBible/WeeklySeeds/tabid/81/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/252/A-Wise-Reign-Nov-1622.aspx

Kate Huey, 2009
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Pilate mocks the Jewish authorities throughout, exposing their powerlessness. He relents only when they convert to become defenders of the emperor. The situation is bizarre. Pilate emerges as pathetic and weak. The Jewish authorities emerge as traitors to their faith. It is a narrative spun out of some strands of history woven within the fabric of contemporary conflict in which inner Jewish tension has erupted into mutual accusation and recrimination between those who follow Jesus and those who do not.

http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkChristtheKing.htm

William Loader
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We should also remember, as Malina and Rohrbaugh (Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John) point out:
To speak here of a "trial" of Jesus, so common in Western scholarly literature, is out of place. Rigidly hierarchical societies such as those under Roman imperial rule in the ancient Mediterranean world do not allow for trials of social inferiors; instead they have accusations and punishments. [p. 256]

http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/john18x33.htm

Brian Stoffregen
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 In its simplest terms, the kingdom of God that Jesus announced and embodied is what life would be like on earth, here and now, if God were king and the rulers of this world were not (Borg, Crossan). Imagine if God ruled the nations, and not Obama, Medvedev, Kim Jong-il, Mugabe, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Every aspect of personal and communal life would experience a radical reversal. The political, economic, and social subversions would be almost endless-peace-making instead of war mongering, liberation not exploitation, sacrifice rather than subjugation, mercy not vengeance, care for the vulnerable instead of privileges for the powerful, generosity instead of greed, humility rather than hubris, embrace rather than exclusion, etc. 

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20091116JJ.shtml

Daniel B. Clendenin, 2009
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The Judean authorities want Jesus gone, and not without reason.  Jesus' attacks on the Temple elite had been scathing.  One notes, however, that in all four gospels, Jesus was careful not to criticize the Romans directly.  His rare jibes at the Romans were oblique and indirect.  This was politically deft.  You don't take on the most powerful aspect of the power structure, which would be the Roman Army, but rather its weakest component, which was the Temple elite, especially when that elite is already under suspicion and held in low regard.  

http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2009/11/lectionary-blogging-christ-the-king-john-18-3337.html

John Petty, 2000
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