“My royalty is not of this world.”

During his Passion, in response to Pontius Pilate asking him, “So you’re a king?” Jesus said, “My royalty is not of this world.”

We name kings and queens those who have a kingdom and who in service to a country, exert their power over its institutions. Today, it isn’t necessarily a king or queen that has this power but, in many cases, it’s a head of state and they are simply mafia bosses. They have officially ordained power but hidden behind it they use weapons to maintain it. When the time comes to hand over their position to others, they refuse. It may not always work like this, it can be different but the important thing for us is Jesus’ statement: “I do not assert my power in the same way as those who sit on a throne.”

Those in power may assert this by utilising armed forces who are at their command, so they exercise this power by violence. However, there is also another way, a less direct, more implicit assertion of power using persuasion. Have you ever heard or said, “After everything I’ve done for you, is that all I get in return?” This expression presses people to express their gratitude, it’s a form of seduction. This kind of persuasion forms part of our economy. We are always clamouring for the latest new thing and selling our souls to try and get it. Of course, new things can be good, but it is as if people have been deflected from their path. Each different way that power is asserted shares a common outcome: it is a sort of abduction of the soul.

The abduction of the soul happens when many things that appeal to us demand our attention, but what is then left inside of us? What is there except for this race? What remains other than wanting just one more thing, and one more, and one more? This deflection, this abduction of the soul leads to people no longer thinking for themselves. Their future is decided for them, they are digitally guided by what is offered to them. There is no more time for leisure, no time left to take proper care of yourself.

Jesus said to Pilate: “My Kingdom, my Kingdom…” Jesus is not a king in the sense of other kings who have power in the world. Perhaps you need to have discovered God’s goodness within you to understand the nature of his Kingdom, to feel it holding and protecting you. It's hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it. God’s goodness is the breath that I have because I know He is there, that He is good, that He is always with me in any situation. That’s why Jesus said to Pilate: “If I was a king, in the sense of the kings in this world, I would have an army and guards...But my royalty is not of this world.”

You say, “Our Father...thy Kingdom come!”. You may have experienced this intimate feeling within, where someone is taking up all the space? That could be for good reason, “I love you and offer all my inner space, all my intimacy. You reign within me... I think about you always.” So, the “Kingdom” in question, is Someone who loves me, who loves me from within. I know, I have found it, and I never stop telling Him, “There you are, my place is yours.” Jesus said, “Father, You within me and me within You.” This one within another that exists within God is given to us by his Breath, by his breathing. Jesus gives us the gift, following Him, of his filial breath.

One day, a little Portuguese girl arrived in France. Her parents did not speak French. She learnt it more quickly as she went to school. She wanted to take her first communion. I asked all the children preparing for the communion, “Why do you want to take your first communion?” They wrote downs their replies, they were all things that had been told at home, ‘to be better’, ‘so I don’t sin’ etc. Nonsense really!... This little girl didn’t have any words put into her head by others. She wrote on her paper: “I want to take my first communion so I can breathe in the air of Jesus.” I have never found such strong, poetic wording to express this phenomenon! This little girl said that she needed to be close to Him and breathe his air. Well, this is what was to happen on the day of Pentecost. The disciples would discover the breath of Jesus’ soul within them. It's so important.

Another time, I was 13 years old, a priest was telling us about the words of a Muslim Sufi who lived in the 9th or 10th century in Iraq : “Jesus, who is as essential to me as the air I breathe.” At that moment, I started to count my breaths and instead of simply being aware of the air I was breathing, within me I started to say with each breath, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus who is as essential to me as the air I breathe.” As time went by and I continued to do this, I discovered that Jesus became closer to me. Before, he was someone people told me about, who I loved and felt drawn towards. But then, I discovered Jesus’ friendship. “Jesus, who is as essential to me as the air I breathe.” A new closeness grew, and this was because of the words of this Muslim who was crucified precisely because he lived by the presence of Jesus.

Who keeps you alive? Who do you live within? Who lives within you? “My Kingdom is within you,” The Kingdom of God is not on the outside. Jesus has always denied this form, he does not want to be king of the world. He wants to be king of each heart, the heart of every person. We can inhabit his soul and he inhabits ours.

Roger Robert
14 April 2017

French to English translation by Debbie Garrick and Cécile Simon