Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” “Jesus answered, ‘You say I am a king. I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’” “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.”
Pilate thinks Jesus must be a rival king. Pilate knows about kings. Pilate is subservient to a king, Caesar. Pilate is himself a king. He has made the kings of Israel subservient to him. Kings dominate, inflict suffering, and act violently. How is it kings act as they do? How is it kids grow up to be kings and ignore the basics of what they learned at a young age? Robert Fulghum writes that all we need to know we learned in kindergarten. We learn not to steal what is not ours, like Social Security. Instead, we learn to Share Everything. We learn not to purge voter rolls. Instead, we learn to Play Fair. We learn not to punch dissident rally goers. Instead, we Don’t hit people. We learn not to insult people like those with disabilities, nor do we threaten people with breaking up their families and deporting them. Instead, we Say we’re sorry when we hurt somebody. We learn not to dirty our world with polluted air, water, and ‘drill baby drill’ fossil fuel practices. Instead, we learn to Wash your hands before you eat. We learn not to take drugs like Adderall. Instead, we Take a nap. We learn not to traffic in chaos. Instead, we learn When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. The truth of the matter is that those who will not learn anything they needed to know in kindergarten, are the bullies on the playground, the Pontius Pilates in society, the kings of our world. They always amass their own cowardly cohort. At present it is called a Cabinet. Each Cabinet secretary is their own king, some even a Hitler given that they like to quote him. They have a Celebrity Apprentice face but a most disagreeable heart. They tell us not of the goodness of children but of the enemy du jour. Each Hitler will have their Eichmann who will make sure the trains run on time; Steven Cheung, Mike Davis, Sergio Gor, Sebastian Gorka, Stephen Miller, Vivek Ramaswamy, Michael Walz, Susie Wiles, and too many others. They will tell lies to convince us they are the heroes on the playground. That they are protecting us, the little guy, from the bullies that are immigrants, journalists, workers for education, the environment, health and human services, and so forth. The truth is that those who watched and enabled the bully on the playground, have set in positions of control people whose character is the opposite of everything we learned in kindergarten to be good and true.
When Jesus speaks of his kingdom, his Community of God here on earth, he makes a connection to children. He “called the children to himself and said, ‘Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Being a child signifies innocence but also free thinking, open creativity. Thus, throughout life we have learned not to target others for pain and suffering, especially when they fail to supply us with the loyalty we need. Instead, we Live a balanced life and learn a new creative expression every day. Every day, from now on, we will Be creative, aware of wonder, and remember the little seeds that grew in the Styrofoam cups. We are that creativity. We are those seeds.
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, be our creativity.
Question: In this era of kings, what are my creative actions I can practice?
November 24, 2024 Gospel John 18:33-37 Christ the King