A Kingdom not of this World - Seeing the Kingdom and Authority from a Christological Perspective (part 2)
Honouring Authority
Secondly, as the governor over the Judea, Pilate’s word was final and it was out of this position of authority granted to him by Caesar that he spoke to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”
It was here that Jesus corrected him and said, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” and in so doing, expressed two things: one, the sovereignty of God in choosing human vessels to dispense His rule in the earth realm and two, Christ’s superior position above all other power and principality. It was only because the Father had granted Pilate the governor’s position that Pilate was able to become the very one to pass judgment on Jesus.
The authority of the Kingdom is one unlike the world’s standard. It is probably the first where the King laid down his life for His people to redeem them. It is also probably the first where no struggle was put up to protect the King or His kingdom and at the first challenge, the inner group of disciples scattered without a fight. Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, and other conquering heroes of history would find this ridiculous and strange because the Kingdom was already lost since the King was about to be put to death.
Yet it was in this enigmatic modus operandi that Christ exerted His authority as King; being all-powerful but not dictatorial. He could have sent the angels on standby to decimate every other rule that stood in His path, but it was not through the sword and fear that He would establish the Kingdom. In fact, He modelled the foundation upon which His Kingdom was to be built: serve those you love and love those who hate you. Caesar himself would have a great deal of issues trying to grasp the essence of this foundation because he would have grown up in the Roman empire which eventually collapsed from within because it was built on treachery and self-serving aristocrats. He would have slaves and soldiers at his beck and call, serving his every need, and would have killed those who hated him.
All authority is granted by God alone. No matter how evil, corrupt, or self-serving a leader or a group of leaders may be, the Bible makes it clear that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God (Romans 13:1).” Notice that it was not in a time of absolute peace and prosperity that this statement was written to the Christians, but when they were under Roman emperors who were mostly opposed to Christianity. The apostle Peter himself wrote “honour the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17) to address the fact that Christians were not to use their position as children of the king of kings to incite rebellion or dishonour the rule of existing authorities, regardless of whether they were evil or not.
Jesus honoured Pilate and it is an important point that behooves our learning; that honour precedes position. Dishonour on the other hand robs one of the legitimacy of one’s position.
When Jesus was approached by the centurion to heal his servant, His response was, “I will come and heal him.” He could have asked the centurion to bring his servant to Him but instead subjected Himself under the authority of the centurion who had the power to ask Jesus, like any other Jew, to carry his baggage for him. The same honour was given to Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus pass by. Jesus mentioned in the hearing of an entire crowd of people that He would stay in Zacchaeus’ house that very night. Simply by honouring and loving Zacchaeus who was a social outcast because of his job as a tax collector, Zacchaeus repented of wrongdoing and that impacted the economy of the region.
In the kingdom, honour precedes position. How are we honouring the people around us and especially those in authority?
Jason
