Thursday, October 04, 2007

Mat 27:11 You say [it].
Alternative: You name me.

This is Christ's response to Pilate when he was asked if he was the King of the Jews. While the Greek word translated as "say" has a variety of meanings, it is specifically a response to being called by name. In English, we might respond simply by saying "here," "present," or "you called?" to indicate our identity in response to someone saying our name. This word is used in a similar manner

Notice that Christ does not name himself as a king. As in the previous verse, he simply responds to someone else's naming him. This is reemphasizes an important point about Christ's view of kingship. His message is proclaiming that the "kingdom of heaven" is on its way. In Jhn 18:36, Christ says his kingdom is not of this world (kosmos -world order), but through the course of the Gospels, Christ spends most of his time describing the "kingdom of heaven," which, as we explain can also mean that the "universal rule" is under way, in the sense that the laws of the universe.

What makes Christ kingdom different is that entering into the kingdom of heaven is completely voluntary. You aren't born into it, but you choose to be reborn into it. It isn't a piece of ground, a place, but a state of mind or, perhaps, grace. Christ spends most of the Gospel describing the nature of this kingdom and it spreading throughout society, from one person to another like leaven being mixed in the bread.

Since this kingdom is voluntary, it is up to it citizens to claim their king. Christ is talking to us as well as Pilate when he tells us that we can name him king.

The idea of "kingship" can be interpreted as a ruler, one whose will is to be obeyed, but a more important idea of Jewish kingship is that the "king" is selected by God to have power. The Greek doesn't make it clear whether his kingship is over the Jews or simply decending from the Jews. Christ was select by God as the king of this very special kingdom, where each individual must choose his rule.

"Said" is from legĂ´, which means "to gather," "to pick up," "to count," "to tell," "to recount," "to say," "to speak," and "to call by name." It doesn't mean simply speaking, but verbally connecting things together, enumerating things, recounting things.