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<div><span style="font-size: small">Sermons for Christ the King</span><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">John 18:33-37<span style="color: black"> - <strong>"</strong></span><b><span style="color: black">Kingdoms in Conflict</span></b><strong><span style="color: black">"</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">John 18:33-37 <span style="color: black">- <strong>"</strong></span><b>Rally or Rail?</b><b><span style="color: black">”</span></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">John 18 <font size="4">- </font>the sermon title <b>“</b></span><b>Kingdoms in Conflict”</b> </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Perhaps
you have heard this story. It's a great story: Many years ago, when
Hitler's forces occupied Denmark, the order came that all Jews in
Denmark were to identify themselves by wearing armbands with yellow
stars of David. The Danes had seen the extermination of Jews in other
countries and guessed that this was the first step in that process in
their countries. The King did not defy the orders. He had every Jew wear
the star and he himself wore the Star of David. He told his people that
he expected every loyal Dane to do the same. The King said, "We are all
Danes. One Danish person is the same as the next." He wore his yellow
star when going into Copenhagen every day in order to encourage his
people. The King of Denmark identified with his people, even to the
point of putting his own life on the line.</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">It's
a wonderful story with a powerful point. The only problem is it isn't
true. It's an urban legend. It's been around for a long time and told
thousands of times over. And now with the internet we are getting a lot
of these legendary stories retold. Too bad! What an image for a king,
identifying with his people. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">"Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">John 18<font size="4"> -</font> the sermon titled <b>“</b></span><b>Rally or Rail?</b><b><span style="color: black">”</span></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet </span></span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> “Who’s on first?” </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">That
was the opening line of a classic baseball sketch acted out in 1945 by
the vaudeville comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The big joke was that
the ball players’ last name were “Who” (first base), “What” (second
base), “I Don’t Know” (third base), “Why” (left field), “Tomorrow”
(pitcher) “Today” (catcher), etc. Any conversation about “Who was on
first?” was a question that involved both identity and physical
position. But for the person “in the know,” those who knew “Who” was the
name of the first baseman, it was simply the affirmation of a fact.
“Who” WAS, in fact, on first base.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Pontius
Pilate, the local governor, a kind of “Chief of Police” for the Roman
Empire in Jerusalem, was caught in a similar situation. The powerful
members of the Sanhedrin (think your locally elected city council
representatives) brought Pilate a prisoner, a man they accused of
endangering Roman rule, by proclaiming himself to be some sort of ruler
and so outside of Roman law. The Sanhedrin accused Jesus of proclaiming
himself “King.” Politically that was treason — a flagrant flaunting of
Caesar’s rights and rule. To declare himself “King of the Jews” not only
disregarded the ruling power of Rome. It provided potential fodder for
the local rebellion and even violent, militant reactions of the Jewish
population in Jerusalem and beyond.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">But in today’s text Jesus puts forth a “Who’s on first” kind of question to Pilate…</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">What Pilate Believes</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">In
the NIV, the first part of v. 37 is a declaration by Pilate: "You are a
king, then!" In the NRSV (and my Greek text) it is a question: "So you
are a king?"</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">In
some ways, this is another wrong question. Jesus turns it around: "You
are saying that I am a king." With that statement is Jesus again putting
Pilate on trial: "You have said it, but is it what you believe?"</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Here is a story that illustrates what is going on in this dialogue between Jesus and Pilate:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">An
Amish man was once asked by an enthusiastic young evangelist whether he
had been saved, and whether he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord
and Savior?</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The
gentleman replied, "Why do you ask me such a thing? I could tell you
anything. Here are the names of my banker, my grocer, and my farm hands.
Ask them if I've been saved."</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Jesus could tell Pilate anything. What is important is what Pilate believes.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Ordinary People</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">In
the story of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus we do not have
a rascally, villainous cast of characters. We have ordinary soldiers,
policemen, officials, priests, magistrates, and citizens - all doing
what soldiers, police, officials, priests, and zealous citizens do every
day. It is the usual "morality play," with a suspected criminal,
arresting officers, prosecutors, a trial, and sentencing. With the
exception of Jesus, none of the actors appear to be sterling characters.
They are ordinary human beings, with a fair measure of hypocrisy and
callousness. But each carries out with fidelity the role that society
has assigned to him or her.<br>
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"The fundamental reason why Jesus has to die makes the question of
responsibility for his assassination pointless. Every society, Jewish or
Gentile, that is founded on money, power, and law, condemns him. He
puts people first, making economics and politics less important than men
and women. In contrast, society, even when it says the opposite,
deceiving others as well as itself, considers individuals simply as a
means." (Sulivan, Morning Light, p. 75)<br>
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John C. Purdy, God with a Human Face</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Part of the Ritual</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The
story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the
middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick
leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's
foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the
blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why
did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king
replied, "I thought it was part of the ritual."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">I
am here to tell you that your king was stabbed in the foot . . . and
the hand, and the side and the head and that WAS part of the ritual.
And, you and I are the ones who held the staff. I ask you. Will you beg
the King's forgiveness?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Brett Blair, <a __removedlink__219517129__href="http://www.eSermons.com" target="_blank">www.eSermons.com</a></span></div>
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