Nov 23, 2021 |
Pilate washes his hands, not Jesus
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulPilate washes his hands, not Jesus
"If we are serious about following Jesus, we will become
radicalized too. Dr. King spoke about this a lot, being a radical for love, a
love warrior and this is essential. It's
so dangerous to say our place is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven and
our primary belonging is to God because Jesus is our Lord, not Caesar or Trump
or Biden, but Jesus, the danger in that is that we have the capacity then to say,
so really, I don't need to be involved with what happens here in this world.
Politics doesn't matter. I love when people tell me that Christianity has
nothing to do with politics, Jesus, they're telling me, has no opinion or place
in what is happening in the world today.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus has no place in how we live our lives in real time? Is Jesus just the abstract? The nice, pleasant chap that we pray to so that we can go to the right place when we die? Or is Jesus alive and living and working in this world for healing and reconciliation? Is Jesus inviting you and me as Christians to participate in the healing, in the reconciliation of this world? Jesus says this isn't my kingdom but then he doesn't just disappear and escape death. Right? This isn't my kingdom, good point, Pilate, I'm out, right? Pilate's the one who washes his hands, not Jesus. Jesus recognizes the disconnect between our world and the kingdom of God, and then stays, stays engaged, stays connected, dies even for us."
Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus has no place in how we live our lives in real time? Is Jesus just the abstract? The nice, pleasant chap that we pray to so that we can go to the right place when we die? Or is Jesus alive and living and working in this world for healing and reconciliation? Is Jesus inviting you and me as Christians to participate in the healing, in the reconciliation of this world? Jesus says this isn't my kingdom but then he doesn't just disappear and escape death. Right? This isn't my kingdom, good point, Pilate, I'm out, right? Pilate's the one who washes his hands, not Jesus. Jesus recognizes the disconnect between our world and the kingdom of God, and then stays, stays engaged, stays connected, dies even for us."