Jesus the king by Anselm Gruen (with kind permission of Continuum publishing)

In politics Kings have had their day. When we say that someone is a king, we mean he radiates dignity. Yet if someone always wants to be king we develop an antipathy to him. He always wants to have a central position and to dominate everything. In fairy tales and myths the king is always an archetypal image, an image of a whole person, the person who rules himself instead of being ruled by other powers.

In fairy tales there are king’s sons who go out to seek the water of life. There are three spheres in human beings which have to be transformed if they are to find their true selves. Greek philosophy – like that of Plato – sees the king as the true wise man who knows about ideas. He knows about the heights and depths of life, the mysteries of light and darkness.

The Bible calls Jesus a king only in parables and in the passion story. In the discourse about the judgement of the world Jesus compares himself with the king who says to the sheep “come you blessed of my Father, take as your heritage the kingdom which has been destined for you since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25.34). On the cross above Jesus’ head “an inscription was attached indicating the charge against him.” “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews” (Matt 27.37). The people mocked him as king. “If you are the king of the Jews, then help yourself” (Luke 23.37). For the Romans the title “king” is the reason for executing Jesus; for the Jews it’s the occasion for mocking him. Jesus does not correspond to their image of a king. The Cross puts in question their understanding of what a king is. Jesus isn’t the king the Jews expected.

John shows us in his Gospel how Jesus understands himself as a king. When interrogating Jesus, Pilate puts to him the clear question, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (John 18.33). Jesus answered “My kingdom is not of this world. If it was of this world, my people would fight so that I was not handed over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18.36).

With these words Jesus interprets his kingship in a completely new way. Jesus is a royal personage, yet his kingdom is not of this world. Jesus has this kingly dignity from God. So no one can dispute his kingship. What Jesus says of himself here is a promise for every Christian. I too can say of myself “My kingdom is not of this world.” There is a sphere in me over which the world has no power. There is a kingly dignity in me which no one can take from me. My “inner kingdom”. Where I am completely myself, I am invulnerable. For there, Christ is in me with his royal power.

The paradox is that it is in his suffering that Jesus speaks of his kingdom. At the very point where Jesus has been condemned, scourged and nailed to the Cross, he is king. So despite all the outward humiliation and hurt Jesus strides through his passion in a sovereign way.

That means that the reality of my own inner kingdom also continues on my way of the Cross. At the very point I am judged and condemned by others, where I am misunderstood, where I am scourged, where I am insulted, made to look ridiculous, there is something in me that no one can hurt. Where I fail, there is something in me that cannot be broken. Even in my dying the divine dignity cannot be taken from me. The knowledge of my kingdom, which is not of this world, continues to work in this world’s freedom, as confidence, as calmness and inner strength which no one can break.

When Pilate asks, “Are you a king then?”, Jesus replies, “it is you who say I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of the truth listen to my voice.” (John 18.37). Jesus understood his kingship as a testimony to the truth. The Greek image of the king shines out in this saying. Jesus is the king who lifts the veil that lies over reality. He is the wise man who leads us into the truth and who makes us share in his knowledge.

Knowledge comes from seeing. Jesus sees to the heart of things. He looks at human beings from God’s perspective. He knows “what is in man” (John 2.25). His knowledge of the mystery of human beings comes to a climax on the Cross. The Cross is an image for the unity of all opposites. On the Cross Jesus comes into contact with heaven and earth, with light and darkness, with good and evil, with the conscious and unconscious, with woman and man. On the Cross Jesus is initiated into the mystery of God and humankind. On the Cross he is the king who leads us into the truth, who opens our eyes so that we know the ground of all being: God who is love.

For me, (Anselm) Jesus the king is an invitation to discover my own royal dignity and to recognise it particularly in my own suffering, in my weakness and helplessness, in my being nailed to the Cross. Just imagine that in your sickness, in the conflicts of your everyday life, in situations where you feel weak, sensitive, uncertain, there is something you can lay your hands on because it is divine. If that is the case, how would you go through your everyday life, what would you feel about yourself if your boss criticised you, if something in your life went wrong, if you felt hurt in your partnership or friendship?