Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” – John 18:36-37

Easter, 2025

This is it. This is what it all boils down to. This is why Christianity is still around today, some two thousand years after a young rabbi named Jesus was put to death because his message was too inclusive and too uncomfortable – is too inclusive, is too uncomfortable – for the status quo.

But you can’t kill real love. Because real love just won’t quit.

The Jesus kind of love won’t quit, because it literally pours out from the heart of The Creator and it is the foundational energy that holds everything together. Think about that for a moment. It wasn’t that Jesus performed some kind of magic to trick death but that Jesus understood a different kind of truth, one that death cannot touch.

Christ’s cruel death at the hands of the authorities may well have been inevitable, given the world that he lived in, but so was Easter morning. “If my Kingdom was an earthly kingdom,” Jesus said to Pilate when the Roman governor was trying to wrap his head around how this generous, kind and compassionate man could be such a threat, “my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over…”

It is as if Jesus is pointing out that this is not a level playing field, that Pilate could do whatever he pleased but the mighty power of Rome would – regardless – be completely ineffective.

Why? “Because my Kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus says.

This is what the tyrants, the bullies, the demagogues and the petty dictators of every age always fail to understand. “You have no power here. Be gone (before somebody drops a house on you too!)”

One final thought for this glorious Easter Day, and I believe this is crucially important: Jesus may have said that his Kingdom is not of this world – but his Kingdom is definitely for this world.

The reason I am here, Jesus pointed out in many ways, is so that everyone can experience the best possible life, life in all of its fullness.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life (NLT) – have life and have it to the full (NIV) – real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of (MSG).” – John 10:10

He is Risen! – DEREK