Caught Between Truths
November 3, 2024
John 18:33-19:16, Psalm 2
Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.”
“So you are a king?” Pilate said.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth?” Pilate asked…
… From that moment on, Pilate wanted to release Jesus.
John 18:36-38, 19:12
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Jesus is clear that his kingdom is not of this world and that his primary purpose is to “testify to the truth.” Pilate responds with the question that has haunted us all for over 2,000 years… “What is truth?”
Here in the 21st century, we are still sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for Jesus’ answer, as though the conversation somehow got cut short. And in the meantime, we have had more than enough “truth-sayers” trying to fill in the blanks with their own answers to this seemingly impossible question. As a result, we now live in a culture where truth is so drowned out by lies that we can hardly tell the difference. When lies are told often enough, they don’t necessarily become facts, but they do create a certain kind of truth that shapes reality. When enough people believe a lie and act on it, it’s veracity no longer matters. Real people get hurt, and most often it is the innocent and marginalized that are harmed the most.
Just a few weeks ago a gunman was arrested in North Carolina over threats of potential harm intended against FEMA workers. Lies and conspiracies about the government relief organization have run rampant in the aftermath of two disastrous hurricanes and the fact that they are not true doesn’t change the real harm they are causing to relief workers and storm victims in desperate need of help. Sadly, this is only one of many examples where the truth or lack of truth has become irrelevant and caused great harm to entire groups of people throughout our nation during the current election cycle.
The same reality was true for Jesus. It didn’t really matter whether he was a king or not, or what kind of kingdom he proclaimed. It didn’t matter if he actually deserved to die. For Pilate, and far too often for us, there was a voice far louder than truth. It was the voice of fear. The lynch-mob that yelled the loudest got to decide what truth was. Jesus is guilty… Crucify him!
And in the end, truth surrendered to the fear of the people and quite literally died at the hands of both the mob and the state.
Jesus says that if his Kingdom were of this world, he would respond with violence as the world does, but instead he chooses not to fight because his Kingdom is not of this world. How tragic then that his followers across the centuries continue to fight. We continue to stir up people’s fear with lies and conspiracies for the sake of political power, wealth and security.
Perhaps the mobs of fearmongers understand Jesus’s truth better than it seems. The truth of God’s kingdom will not give them the earthly power they desire. It will call them to surrender and to lay down their lives for the sake of love, even the love of their enemies.
“What is truth” indeed, that it would call us to sacrifice so much?