Make the Kingdom Great Again!

Title: Make the Kingdom Great Again!
Date: 24 Mar 2016
Speaker: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

As I was preparing the message for tonight, the primaries for the American presidential elections are still raging on. For the Democrats, it looks like Hilary Clinton is winning her battle against Bernie Sanders. But the fight that the entire world is anxious about is the Republican primaries. The favoured candidate of the Republican establishment Marco Rubio just dropped out. He said, “It is not God's plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever". If this is the case, it makes me wonder what God’s plan is. At this moment, the frontrunner for the Republican primary by a huge distance is Donald Trump. And his campaign slogan is ‘To make America great again.’ One of his great ideas includes building a wall at the American-Mexican border. Hence Hilary retorted, “Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers." Judging by the election results so far, I can only conclude that the Americans are deeply divided on this matter.

But if I were to ask you, what would be your vote? What makes America great? Or for the matter, what makes Singapore great? And the ultimate question for tonight: What makes the Kingdom of God great? Let’s take a moment to think about this. We pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as in the heavens.” But do we know what is God’s will? Do we know what is supposed to make the Kingdom of God great? If we don’t think about this, we might assume it probably means bigger, better, or stronger, more powerful. Is that the Kingdom of God? Take a moment to recall the journey of Jesus, the stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark up to this point. If we as the people of God truly yearn for the Kingdom of God, then think for a moment, what makes the Kingdom of God great? (a moment of reflection)

From Isaiah, we were promised, God shall reign in Zion. [1] Then from the beginning of Mark, we were told that Jesus is the King, anointed by the Holy Spirit. But the question is, do you believe? As the story of Jesus moves into his suffering and death, do you still believe? Believing in Jesus means believing he is your King. But far more importantly, it means believing that you trust in his ways of kingship. It also means that you would not settle for any lesser alternatives. What do I mean by lesser alternatives? The passage today demonstrated three lesser alternatives to us.

The first alternative is Barabbas. 6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. 9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate,10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. 12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. 13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.

Barabbas won the People’s Choice Award. He was an insurrectionist, which meant that he was trying to overthrow the Roman government by violence. He would be the usual candidate punished by crucifixion, which was meant for militant rebels. Yet, he escaped his fate, when the crowd chose to release him and crucify Jesus instead. Their choice made perfect sense because this was exactly what the crowd wanted, an insurrection against the Roman authorities. Jesus’ way was not their way. At his arrest in Mark 14: 48 “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Jesus’ priorities were teaching and fulfilling the Scriptures, not leading a rebellion. The crowd’s idea of Kingdom of God was not the same as Jesus’.

At the heart of this was their desire for a nation just like the other nations. In 1 Samuel 8: 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” God told Samuel: 7 “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. Jesus’ way is about restoring God as the king, especially so in worship, baptising them with the Spirit and writing the law in their hearts. But what the crowd wanted was a king to fight for them. What about us? Are we so different from them? And when we reflect on the politics these days, isn’t it often about electing a leader that will help us win the other nations?

In his speech, Trump repeatedly asserted that countries like China, Japan, and Mexico are “killing us economically” because the US has not stood up for itself. So, Trump promises to make America great again by beating them.[2] The crowd who chose Barabbas also wanted to make Israel great again. They wanted the Romans defeated. Brothers and sisters, is that what it means to make the Kingdom great? This is the first alternative presented before us. Is greatness about victory over all other nations?

Besides Barabbas, our passage today presents another lesser alternative. They are the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin. They might appear like they wanted the same objective as the crowd, but Mark revealed through the thoughts of Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. What exactly is this self-interest? Allow me to recap a parable of Jesus.

Mark 12: “A man planted a vineyard. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them.

What the Jewish religious leaders wanted was the vineyard in the parable. The tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ That was their self-interest. I don’t think it mattered to them whether or not the Kingdom of God was great. The only thing that mattered was that it belonged to them. But for Jesus, the kingdom belongs to God. And the King was not to serve his self-interest. Mark 10: 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so later at the cross, the mockery from these people really demonstrated their thought process: 29 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 come down from the cross and save yourself!”31 In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!

Save yourself. Save yourself. That is the catchphrase of self-interest. The religious leaders had to kill Jesus because they thought they were saving themselves. Isn’t that also a reflection of our world today? For many politicians, their first priority might be saving their political career instead of serving the people. Look at the mess in Syria. Assad is holding on to his dear life. Or those politicians in America who continue to pander to the gun rights lobbyists. They are trying to save themselves, and holding on to their tiny kingdom. But there is a saying: You can't lose what you never had, you can't keep what’s not yours and you can't hold on to something that does not want to stay. That very night: 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The religious leaders thought they could save themselves by stealing the vineyard from God. But that very night, the curtain of the temple separating the Holy of holies was broken. A temple with a broken Holy of Holies was as good as destroyed. But Jesus was risen from the dead in 3 days, an direct intercessor at the right side of God (14:62). This is the second alternative: self-interest and self-preservation. But can you really hold on to your kingdom? Does that make it great?

In our passage today, there is a third lesser alternative. He is Pilate. He was supposed to uphold justice. He knew that Jesus was innocent. However, 15 wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. What he got out of this was peace. But it was not true peace. Pilate represents the Great Roman Empire. But is it truly great when justice was perverted and opposition forcefully clamped down? In a way the mockery of the soldiers in pretending that Jesus was a king really says it all. Their greatness was a farce. Their superiority was built on pretence. How can that be true greatness?

Tonight, after showing you all the lesser alternatives, I want to conclude with Jesus’ kingship. 2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the Jews. We recall at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when he proclaimed, “The kingdom of God is near”. Jesus is the king. That is the choice before us. But if he is indeed the king, why was he crucified? If he is the king, where is the kingdom he had proclaimed? The answer to that lies in the last line of today’s passage: 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” It was how Jesus died, that makes us identify him as the Son of God. And seeing how he died, we might have flashbacks of the 3 times he predicted his death.

The very first time when he predicted his death, he said:
Mark 8: 34 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
How did Jesus die? He willingly took up the cross to lose his life. “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

The second time when he predicted his death, his disciples argued about who was the greatest:
Mark 9: 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
How did Jesus die? He died as the servant of all. “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

The third time Jesus predicted his death, Jesus said:
Mark 10: 42 “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
How did Jesus die? He did not lord it over his people or exercise authority over them. He died as a slave to all. “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

I’m sure the Centurion did not have these flashbacks like me, because he did not have a Gospel of Mark with him. But in front of him was a man with many wondrous stories, especially of how he saved others. He probably knew he was innocent of insurrection, at least much more so than Barabbas. Yet he willingly died on the cross. That can only be because this man was fully committed to God. “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Brothers and sisters, I display before you the kingship of Jesus. It’s not about victory over others, not about self-interest, not about pretence. It is about remaining fully committed to God, to be a servant to all, even to offer his very life. Such a kingship is the will of God, even in the very beginning. In God’s promises to Abraham,
Genesis 12: 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The greatness of the Kingdom of God should be measured by how it is a blessing to all people. Jesus is that king. Jesus is the one fully committed to God, and the one who is servant to all. (See Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

Brothers and sisters, this is our King. This is what makes the Kingdom of God great, because it is a blessing to all. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is not about making us sad, but making us convicted that this is the way. His victory over sin and death is about giving us hope that this is the way. The question is: Will you follow him? Will your greatness be measured in victories over others, or in blessings to others? Will you give up your self-interest, and acknowledge that you are a steward of God’s kingdom? Will you drop all pretence to be a people-pleaser, and to uphold truth and justice? In the end, will you give your life to be a servant of God? At the end of the day, would people reflect on your life and say, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”? I believe we will, but only if we believe and follow Jesus. Let’s pray.

[1] In our Lent devotions, we reflected on Isaiah 40-55. It is a vision of the great Kingdom of God. God shall reign again in Jerusalem. That is the good news! Can you believe in a world where God’s will is on earth as it is in heaven? We live in such a broken world that we often fear to hope. This is just as true during the days of the Jewish exile as it is today. This is just as true during the days of Roman oppression as it is today. But brothers and sisters, we must believe. Read Isaiah 44:24-28. If you are of little faith, like so many characters in the Gospel of Mark, then read the Lent devotions on Isaiah once again. You need to know the Father, then you will truly know Jesus.

[2] “Our country is in serious trouble. We don’t have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don’t have them. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let’s say China, in a trade deal? I beat China all the time. All the time. When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions. And what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo?” he asked. “It doesn’t exist folks, they beat us all the time.”