Christ is the King, O friends rejoice!
Brothers and sisters with one voice.
Let all men know he is your choice.
These words of Bishop George Bell seem an appropriate place to begin this sermon thinking about Christ the King.
And I want to explore a little what that choice might look like for us and its consequences for how we see the world around us. Particularly in these days following those horrific terrorist attacks in Paris nine days ago.
The readings this morning offer us;
Firstly a vision of the Messiah King in the Old Testament as Daniel dreams of the future.
And secondly an encounter with that king who is before Pilate a short time before his death.
In that memorable scene, Pilate is trying to work out who is this man before him. He asks legitimate questions. The answers though are frustrating for Jesus speaks elusively of kingdoms ‘not of this world’ and that he is here to ‘testify to the truth’.
A bewildered Pilate ends the reading by almost inevitably asking ‘what is truth?’