Two Kingdoms

One of the reasons why Luther was so upset with the pope was the fact that he was so intertwined with the politics of the day. Pope Leo X was born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, which any student of history will know the Medici family was an Italian family that was one of the most prominent banking institutions in Europe, that also happened to have heavy political ties and involvement as well. So from a very early age Giovanni was steeped in both wealth and politics. That didn’t change when he became a cardinal and then pope. In fact, Giovanni, now Pope Leo X, had arranged for 31 new cardinals to be elected, seven of which were prominent Roman families that would have allowed him to secure even more political favor and financial stability. Then, of course, we know Martin Luther’s most despised aspect of Pope Leo X’s policies, indulgences. Indulgences, a paper that granted the forgiveness of sins, that were bought during this time went to directly fund the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica. Luther wrote his 95 theses to help the church reform from within, because in his mind the sale of indulgences was about personal or institutional financial gain, rather than for spiritual purposes.

While Luther respected the need for secular government and even said that government and laws were needed to have a moral and just society it should be separate from our faith. This is why Luther came up with the doctrine of the two kingdoms. We should see government, the temporal kingdom, as good and a gift from God because it helps us to follow laws, maintain order, etc but that we should not follow unjust or immoral commands by our rulers. The spiritual kingdom which is governed by Christ through scripture and the Holy Spirit which guides us in our faith and walk with God. Obviously then we live in both kingdoms at the same time loving God and serving our neighbor. And Luther pointed out the importance of not confusing the two. That the church should not rule with a sword and the government should not dictate salvation. The reason Luther was so passionate about all of this is that he saw how Pope Leo X intermingled the two and how that confused and contorted the gospel and salvation into something that it wasn’t.

Which is why I believe Jesus is so quiet in today’s scripture. There is this intermingling of faith and politics and that is not why Jesus came into the world. Jesus came into the world to return us all back to a time when our relationship with God is front and center and everything else was peripheral. Jesus, as we heard aboout last week wants to talk about truth and how that affects our everyday lives. I don’t have the time to get into all the ins and outs of the politics of Rome and Judea, but Caiaphas was appointed by Pilate’s predecessor, and they were changed out every year for the very purpose of maintaining loyalty and dependence on Rome. And you can imagine that if the high priest is appointed by the governor of Judea that they would only appoint people who were at the very least somewhat willing to cooperate with Rome on some level. So there is likely this interplay and tension for the leaders of doing what they feel is the right thing, while at the same time, doing it for the sake of appeasing Rome and maintaining peace in Judea. Part of that keeping of the peace and keeping things status quo includes keeping their power consolidated. Not too dissimilar to the way that Pope Leo X and others did in the Catholic church during the time of Luther, and unfortunately it isn’t too dissimilar to the ways that some pastors have acted throughout history, even up to today. That is why Jesus is so silent.

That is until Pilate wants to talk about authority. Pilate assumes, that he has the authority and power over this man’s life. While Pilate is right in the government kingdom, he is incredibly wrong in the spiritual kingdom. Pilate and the leaders believe that the use of political power will end this movement. Without the leader of the movement there will likely be no one to take up the mantle after he is gone. Plus if we remember again to last week during Pilate’s first interrogation, we saw that Jesus admits he has no army and no guards. While Pilate sees this as a political and military failure, he fails to fully grasp the truth that when it comes to the life and death of Jesus, and what that represents, he has no authority. Pilate has no authority in the spiritual kingdom that Jesus is letting loose into the world. So when Jesus finally does speak up he essentially puts Pilate in his place. He teaches Pilate the ultimate lesson…the only reason Pilate has any authority over Jesus in this moment is because this is the way that God chose to bring wholeness to the world.

Paul shares this sentiment with the church in Corinth when he tells them that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. He goes on to say that the world sees the crucifixion as a stumbling block. We see death as the end, the way to solve a problem, the way to get rid of something we don’t agree with, but God chose the death of Christ as a way to bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles. What is incredible is that God doesn’t dismiss anyone in the world. God sent Jesus to die for all our sake. The spiritual kingdom doesn’t have boundaries like Pilate had over the province of Judea, or that of Caesar and the Roman Empire. The spiritual kingdom doesn’t grow through war and conquest. It doesn’t need ornate and elaborate buildings that are funded by people who are struggling. The spiritual kingdom doesn’t worry about you speaking the right language or having a certain look about you.

The spiritual kingdom doesn’t worry about power. It isn’t interested in wheeling and dealing so that certain people stay at the top. It does recognize, ironically, that there is a king. I say ironically because it is the one thing we do agree this kingdom needs that other kingdoms have. But this king has our best interest in mind. He’s not worried about keeping power to exalt himself, he’s not worried about selling who sits at his right and his left. He isn’t focused on keeping his subjects in a state of fear to keep them under control. No, in fact, he tells them that they are no longer his subjects, his servants, instead he calls them friends. And that anyone who does the will of the Father, who reigns over the spiritual kingdom are his friends.

So while we may have opinions about the kingdoms of the world both past and present and the way that our rulers govern, know that while Luther reminds us to respect and live within the laws and authority of the kingdom we live in, our ultimate allegiance and authority lies in the kingdom of God. The inbreaking of this kingdom began the day Jesus entered our world into physical form, the promises of the kingdom were made complete as he was handed over to be crucified and it continues to live and be in this world through each and every one of us. This kingdom, while it does have a king Jesus, it is ruled by grace and truth, it is ruled through forgiveness and salvation. It is boundary-less, language-less, culture-less, and anything else a physical kingdom tries to do to separate itself from the rest of the world. Live your life knowing that there is no authority in this world, like the Pilate’s of this world, that could ever take away your citizenship in the kingdom of God, and know that each of you is able to share this kingdom with anyone you meet, it is a kingdom of love meant for all the people of the world. Amen.