What is truth?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

B Christ the King – 22 November 2015 (also Commitment Sunday)

Text: John 18:33-37

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Today marks the final Sunday in our Church Year, meaning that next Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, we will begin anew yet again. Every year, from Advent 1 to Christ the King Sunday, our Church Calendar takes us on a trip through parts of the life of Jesus. Sometimes, these stories are told sequentially, and other times – like today – the stories appear out of sequence.

Today’s gospel story from John 18 is straight out of what we call Holy Week – that week after Palm Sunday that leads us to Easter. That week includes the stories of Jesus’ final days and hours, and this is one of those stories: this interaction between Jesus and Pontius Pilate. By this point in John, Jesus has been betrayed and arrested, he’s had his time in front of the high priest, he’s been denied by his disciple, Peter, three times – all those powerful stories that make up our Good Friday liturgy every year.

Jesus then goes to see Pilate, and his life hangs in the balance with this man – quite literally – for Pilate is the one with the power to free Jesus or to have him executed. During their exchange, Pilate asks Jesus the Big Question: “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Now, Pilate is asking because it’s his job to chase down traitors. He doesn’t really care to honor Jesus as a King. He wants to find out if he’s dealing with someone who is a troublemaker – someone who’s going to rally all of the Jews and cause an uprising in the Roman kingdom.  He even reminds Jesus that he isn’t a Jew – reminds Jesus that, if Jesus is, in fact the King of the Jews (as others have said), Pilate owes him no allegiance whatsoever. And so, he asks Jesus point blank: “What have you done?”

This is where Jesus gets a little…nebulous. 

“My kingdom is not from the world,” Jesus says. He assures Pilate that if his was an earthly kingdom, his followers would surely do what Pilate fears and cause an uprising against their Roman occupiers. But then Jesus says again that his kingdom isn’t from here. Pilate – trying his best to keep up – asks, “So…you are a king?” (You can almost hear the confusion in his voice!) Jesus continues by saying that he has been born to be a king, and to testify to the truth, and then, Pilate has one more question: “What is truth?”

Then, Pilate leaves. He asks the crowd if he should release the King of the Jews, and when they say no, Pilate has Jesus flogged and, eventually, executed. 

And this is the context for our gospel lesson today, Christ the King Sunday. 

What is truth? And what is the truth to which Jesus testifies?

We live in a world that talks about truth, and yet the truth about Jesus can be elusive. There are many voices out there, clamoring that they are the truth – the absolute truth – “Listen to me! Listen to me! I have the truth!” So much truthfulness can make our heads swim, flooding our hearts and minds with endless questions.

And yet, Jesus gives us the answer – he says, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice,” and surely the inverse is also true, that those who listen to the voice of Jesus belong to the truth. 

This past week has been, for me, a week filled with one of Scripture’s most common teachings. Do you know what that is?

Do not worry about anything.

That – or some variation of that - is one of the most common teachings in the Bible. Whether it’s an angel telling someone not to be afraid, or Paul writing to an ancient church community, or Jesus talking to his disciples – again and again, the ancient words of Scripture tell us not to worry. And yet, we live in a world that is filled with worry. 

I’m reading a book right now called Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear – written by my seminary ethics professor – and one of the points he makes right away is that there are plenty of people and corporate entities who want us to get worried and to stay worried because our worry and our fear make them very rich. And so worry and fear surround us, so much that we can hardly escape them.

But worry makes us stuck. Lois said it perfectly in Bible study the other day: “Worry’s like sitting in a rocking chair,” and she’s absolutely right on. When we worry, we stay in one place, immobilized, expending a lot of energy by not getting anywhere. When we worry, we look right here – and right here only. When we worry, we are unable to think creatively or lovingly, and we are often not very generous. When we worry we have a very hard time hearing the voice of Jesus.

We belong to the truth. Jesus has said that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and we belong to Jesus, and so – my brothers and sisters – we most definitely belong to the truth. 

This came from our Women of the ELCA Bible study for this month:

When we are…

rushed and stressed

rested and attentive

despairing and depressed

fruitful and healthy

barren and weak

strong and centered

and everything in between…

we belong to God. We are beloved.

(Gather magazine, November)

Can you hear Jesus saying this to you, today?

Because THAT is the truth.

Amen.

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