The Last Sunday of Pentecost is always the Feast of Christ the King, though the Gospel account of that image varies - one Year shows the solders mocking him: "Hail king of the Jews!" In one Year the Chief Priests are seen taking great umbrage at the inscription over the cross: "The King of the Jews" and demanding a correction to "He said he was King of the Jews."

But this one, this most memorable one, this encounter with Pilate, recurs only every three years, and three years ago I did not get a chance to preach on it, or preach on anything at all! And it is such a portrait! Unforgettable. Here is this Judean Procurator, a minor Roman Official in a backwater province of the Empire, now face to face with the Savior of the World. Now in the presence, albeit unwittingly, of God Incarnate on earth. And this Pilate is ... sarcastic. "Am I a Jew?" In the presence of things he cannot possibly understand, could hardly grasp, or even be aware of, he is ... cynical: "What is truth." This is a dreadful man. As Christians we are usually reluctant to label, to call out names, so we soft-pedal, we overlook - but there are dreadful men in this world - and women, Jezebel was a dreadful woman and Pilate was a dreadful man. His wife tried to intervene: "Have nothing to do with that innocent man," she bravely warned her heartless husband - but he brushed aside her wise words of caution. Not for the first time, I suspect. There is nothing about this man to admire. I loathe him. And I worry about him, am I like him? And how like him am I? Of the two of them, who am I more like? Pontius Pilate or Jesus Christ? More like Pilate - sarcastic when confronted directly, cynical when sensing something far beyond my abilities to begin to deal with - or am I more like the Savior the World, the Messiah, seeing all things, knowing all things, sustaining all things, enduring all things, suffering all things, redeeming all things? Of course I am more like Pilate, and less like Christ. I am bold enough, possibly insulting enough, to suggest that you, as well, edge slightly more toward Pontius Pilate than Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord

The odd thing is, that it is not that I am not powerful enough to be Christ, though surely I am not, but what I have in mind at the moment is that I am not restrained enough to resemble Christ. Not subdued enough.

On this day of all days, the Feast of Christ the King, we have this unforgettable Gospel image before us - Jesus bruised and battered, alone and pushed to the brink, standing before Pilate, who is in a testy mood, annoyed, a little bored, very irritated. The ... uhh - as I recall it, Judean procurator I think he was ... face to face with God, Incarnate the maker of the universe who has all the power of the entire universe, in his hands, all the forces of creation at his immediate disposal and this, this, ... procurator did I say he was? ... is going to ridicule him. Whew, takes my breath away!

And this King of Kings and Lord of Lords is going to stand there and speak the truth with a quiet bedrock modesty. Not using his awesome power, but relying on an even more breathtaking power - the incredible power of unlimited patience, the unconquerable power of infinite forbearance. Usually badly mistaken as weakness.

No, he is not going to demolish the opponent as we might, not going to bring brilliance to bear in a way that would return in kind and even better, that would also belittle and humiliate the one confronting him. That is the way of Pilate - to mock someone or something else. That is not the way of Christ who refuses to bring to bear the power he has, who relies instead on a strength and serene confidence that comes from knowing what one can do to all the pretty procurators of this world, and the emperors as well, and not doing it.

Note well what is not going on in this passage, in this appearance of Christ before Pilate. Note well what is not being established as a precedent for Christians. There is a modesty, but not false modesty - he is not trying to please or placate Pilate, he is not seeking to discover what Pilate wants to hear and then offering that. And this is not about real and detestable abuse from a spouse or family member, or a criminal assailant on the streets of our cities.

Pilate has just said to him "So you are a king?" And Jesus had answered, evenly and mildly, "For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth".

Jesus declares quite directly what he is all about, and not is not power as Pilate has known it. Jesus bears witness to the truth. He who is the truth, embodies the truth, incarnates the truth, modestly asserts: "I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth." That is it.

Imagine not using your words to demolish another, imagine not using your mind to win every contest. When you are unappreciated, ridiculed, humiliated, imagine witnessing to the truth with a majestic modesty, saying really nothing more than the simple, dignified truth. Not because have gotten used to demeaning yourself or think you are unworthy of defending yourself. Not rather, just not using whatever resources you have in a lesser way, not taking the tempting lower road.

Jesus gives the example, and sets the standard. With an almost unimaginable inner strength he limits himself to speaking the truth, quietly, modestly, without rancor or vitriol himself. There is nothing weak about that, rather it is the supreme dignity of bearing witness to the truth, refusing to make any peace with oppression, refusing to co-operate in exploitation, refusing to endorse or overlook some grotesque injustice, and all those less grand instances of incivility, thoughtlessness, unfair criticism.

The world has never understood this, never will, but we need to try. We won't understand fully until the final end when we ourselves are fully understood, but we need to try to appreciate that his ways are not the world's ways. When we speak of him and praise him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords we need somehow to distinguish between what the world would mean by that image of power and what the solitary figure standing before Pilate would mean by such a concept.

And then we need to seek that same surpassing power of persevering patience and compassionate forbearance, and just bear witness to the truth - pure and simple, nothing more, nothing less. God help us. As he did his Son.