Sermons Online ...
Sermon - What is Truth? - 26th November 2006
St Alban's Epping 7:00 am & 8:00am
Readings: 2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132:1-12; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
What is truth? Did Pilate really want to know? Or was it simply another question, fashioned as an answer, to escape truth? For the truth is demanding and often hard to hear and harder still to live with. Today, as the Church comes to the conclusion of its liturgical year, we are reminded of the Politics of Truth--Christ is King.
“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked Jesus. An affirmative answer to that question would have gotten Jesus into immediate trouble. Rome did not bear rival kings graciously. Yet, note, Jesus knows that trouble is coming and, so far has done nothing to avoid that. He has steadfastly maintained his identity through this entire trial, which began with the religious authorities. And so his answer is more than simply playing with words to save his neck. Jesus is saying more than “no” or, “I refuse to answer the question on the grounds that it might incriminate me.”
Jesus replies with a question of his own. “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Does Pilate really want to know who Jesus is? Or, is he simply doing another’s bidding, being the expedient politician? The irritation behind Pilate’s reply reveals not only his disdain for the people he has been sent to govern, but also with discovering that he is suddenly the one who is on trial. “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus’ answer is complex, and easily misread, “My kingdom is not of this world.” On the one hand, Jesus is not vying with Pilate or Caesar, for that matter. Jesus’ struggle has been with the religious authorities, who fear that if Jesus is not stopped, everyone will believe in him, and Rome will rise up and destroy both their holy place and their nation. Consequently they have concluded that it is better for one man to die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed. That is a political truth if there ever was one. The death that will emerge from this trial will be for the nation, a faithful Jew living out of covenantal obedience to Israel’s Lord, will remain faithful to God’s truth in order to be a light, not only to his nation, but to all the nations. His reign is not of or from this world. God is at work in and through this one standing before Pilate, to change the nature of human life and the future of the world.
While his kingdom is not of this world, it is not “other worldly,” but very much for the world. The misreading of this statement has enabled the emergence of a fallacious theology that spiritualised Jesus’ words into a world that could be safely compartmentalized and kept away from the day to day world in which you and I live. Such a view wants a division between theology and politics. It thrives on the notion of secular and spiritual reigns, attempting to build a great divide between the two worlds lest Jesus’ realm exert influence on this world and hold us accountable to something more than contemporary consensus on matters, whether the use of power, resources, values, or the accountability of those who govern.
So too for his authority, it is not from this world, a truth that even Pilate is beginning to learn. Jesus’ authority brought him to the attention of the religious leaders in the first place. Having now arrested, tried, and found Jesus guilty of their own charges and lacking the power to do away with him themselves, they have presented Jesus to Pilate as one doing evil, evil of such magnitude that he should be put to death.
“So you are a king?” It sounds like a question. It looks like a question and it was probably dripping with sarcasm. Yet John turns it inside out, making it into an unwitting confession. Jesus’ reply to Pilate must be listened to carefully. Is he telling Pilate something even more important about who he is, the reason for his birth, the reason for his life, the reason he can stand before priests and Pilate with such determined confidence, the reason for his unfolding passion, coming death and resurrection?
There is no “yes”, no “of course”, on Jesus’ lips. Rather Jesus says, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world....” Was that to become king? No. There were plenty gathered around Jesus who were ready to make him David’s greater son, the Messiah, expecting him to fulfil the politics of that truth. In addition, everywhere, Jesus did his best to deflect that expectation. In fact, his refusal to live into that expectation of him is one of the reasons the crowd had abandoned him. They had concluded he was not the one for whom they had been looking. So let him be crucified like all the other false messiahs before him.
“For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” Don’t let the subtlety of that be lost on you. Is he a king? However, his reign will not emerge out of the same power dynamics and political truths that dominate the ruthlessness of Rome or Judah. This is about more than competing political realms. This is about more than political reigns. This is about the politics of truth, “Truth” having come to bear witness to itself. For truth, it turns out, is not an idea, but an incarnation. The One who had said, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, now says, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice”.
Here is the most challenging and condemning statement of the encounter. Pilate hasn’t a clue, nor is he the least bit interested in truth. He simply wants to get this moment of political inconvenience dealt with. The interrogation that began with Jesus in the witness stand comes to its conclusion with Pilate, and those who have turned Jesus over to him, as the ones who are indicted. He is among them as truth, his presence is witness to the truth but they are not interested in the politics of truth. Their politics is driven by other agenda staying in power and maintaining the status quo and their privilege in it. Truth is the last thing they want.
He is the incarnation of truth. He is the faithful witness to the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Lord, the holy one of Israel. This is whose reign Jesus has come to reveal. He will remain faithful to that truth, even in death, for he is the faithful witness.
It is easy to miss the power of John’s words here, because we do not hear the double meaning behind the word “witness”. It is martus, and it means both “witness” and “martyr”. Jesus’ death was a faithful witness to the truth of God’s reign, God’s love for and commitment to the world, a love and truth so strong he would become a martyr and die rather than deny the truth of himself.
However, such truth cannot be destroyed. God raised this faithful witness to be the first born of the dead, and placed him in the position of sovereignty over all the powers of the earth--be they kings, presidents, prime ministers, tribal leaders, religious zealots or war lords. His kingdom is not from this world, nor of this world. His reign is for this world. It is grounded in the truth which leads to life and exists in the lives of everyone who listens to his voice and makes him their Lord.