Subverting the World System

The Jews understood the purpose of Jesus ministry.

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king" (Luke 23:1,2).

The Jews understood that Jesus was subverting the nation. The logical conclusion of his message was that both taxation and the Roman empire are illegitimate. However, although the Jews understood the goal of Jesus kingdom, they did not understand how it would be brought into being. Like many Christians, they assumed that it would come by military force. They did not understand that Jesus kingdom would come through the work of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the gospel. They could not believe that people would freely choose to serve Jesus, without being forced to submit.

Pilate also understood the implications of Jesus ministry.

So Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?""Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied (Luke 23:4).

However, Pilate did not understand how Jesus would become King. He assumed that a king could only rise to power, if he had superior military power. Pilate knew that any forces that Jesus could gather were no match for the ruthless Roman army, so he he did not feel threatened. He did not understand that Jesus would become King of the entire universe when the was raised to the right hand of God. He did not realise that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the advance of the gospel would mean the end of the Roman empire. He did not understand that the advance of the Kingdom of God would mean the end of human government as he knew it.

Unfortunately many Christians do not understand these things any better than Pilate. They either assume that the Kingdom of God can be advanced through the use of political power, or they assume that the Kingdom of God will only be established when Jesus returns and uses military power to destroy his enemies. Both views are a distortion of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Kingdom is totally different from the kingdoms of the world. It cannot be established by force, whether wielded by a democratic political system or a Rambo-like Saviour on a white horse.

Jesus and Pilate

After he had been arrested, Jesus had an interesting discussion with Pontius Pilate about the nature of kingship. He said,

My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place (John 18:36).

Jesus was not saying that his kingdom was spiritual, without any impact on the world. Rather he was literally saying that his kingdom does not come “our of the world system”. It has nothing to do with the world system. If it did, his followers would take up arms and fight for him. The fact that they did not fight is proof that his Kingdom is different.

This was a radical claim. Christians often assume that as the Kingdom of God advances the political system will be Christianised. This is not true. Jesus Kingdom is totally different from anything in the world. The world system is based on force and coercion. Pilate understood this well. Force is so strongly rooted in the political system that it cannot be modified or Christianised. It will have to be replaced by something totally different , that does not depend on force.

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. (Matt 20:25-26).

Jesus does not want Christians "lording it over" the rest of society. That would be contrary to the gospel.

We should also understand that democracy is just another method of "lording it over people". The majority just "lord it over" the various minorities. We think it is bit safer, becasue we hope that if the people "lording it over us" get too rough, we can vote them out of power. This is often a vain hope.