Jesus turns conventional kingship on its head. He defies expectations and confounds categories. This Nazarene carpenter from an insignificant town upends our notions of power, authority and status. Pilate, the Roman governor, could not make sense of this strange king who claimed a kingdom not of this world.
But Jesus offers us a place in his upside down kingdom – a kingdom built on truth, love and sacrifice rather than violence and power. A kingdom that will endure when all the kingdoms of this world have passed away. This strange king invites us to become strange citizens of his eternal and unshakable realm.
- Jesus is a strange king. He doesn’t fit people’s expectations of what a king should be. He doesn’t have the right background and doesn’t play by the conventional rules. Pilate struggles to understand who Jesus really is and what kind of king he claims to be.
- Jesus rules a strange kingdom. Its origin and character are different from the kingdoms of this world. It is built on truth, love and sacrifice, not violence and coercion.
- Jesus makes us strange citizens. Becoming part of his kingdom may make us look strange in the eyes of the world, but it aligns us with what is true and eternal.
- The kingdoms of this world will eventually fade away, but Jesus’ kingdom is unshakable and eternal. We can build our lives on him and his truth, not on the shifting sands of culture and circumstances.
- Jesus invites us to come to him as the strange king and become citizens of his strange kingdom. He laid down his life so that we could have life through him.
The choice before us is clear. Will we build our lives on the passing kingdoms of this world – kingdoms built on sand that will be swept away – or on the unshakeable and eternal kingdom of the strange king Jesus? Will we follow the passing fashions of this world or the changeless truth of Christ?
Jesus calls us out of the fading empires of man and into the everlasting reign of God’s kingdom.
Will we respond to his call? Will we renounce the kingdoms of this world and lay down our lives to follow the strange king to his throne? I pray we will say “yes” to Jesus – yes to the strange king who laid down his life for us – and become strange citizens of his strange but eternal kingdom.