Truth on Trial
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Text: John 18:33‑38a
Today is Reign of Christ Sunday, the last Sunday in the church year. And on this day, we are supposed to be celebrating the reign of Christ, and the joy that entails. Sound the trumpets! Sing from the bottom of your heart!
Yet in the gospel reading today, there are no trumpets, no choirs. There is not even a quiet hallelujah. We find Jesus standing before Governor Pontius Pilate; a prisoner, bound and humiliated. He awaits a horrible, suffocating death upon a bare wood cross. The only crown he will wear is one of thorns, and only stripes of office he will carry are the cruel welts from a whip. It would seem we are left with nothing to celebrate. The only thing the Gospel of John gives us to consider is the conversation between Jesus and Pilate, and Pilate’s haunting question, “What is truth?”
This passage forces us to take a hard look at how we define truth, and compare it to what we find in the conversation between Jesus and Pilate in John’s gospel. Perhaps in light of this, we will learn something new.
“What is Truth?” - Normally, truth is defined as an expression of words or phrases that corresponds to reality. However, the conventional definition doesn’t work anymore. We live in a culture of many options, including options of truth.
We wrestle with Pilate’s question more often then we would like. Every time we turn on a television set or a radio, every time we pick up a newspaper, and every time we talk to or listen to those people around us, we are fighting with truth. There are news stories every single day that leave us scratching our heads as to who is right and who is wrong. Truth has become so compartmentalised that it depends upon one’s point of view, and as such many views of truth exist out there. It is a difficult world to live in.
According to church researcher Reginald Bibby, our society has become more of a buffet. We live in a world where churches and the truth that they represent are merely tasty foods from where people can sample, alongside a whole host of other deserts and dishes. Where church was once the main dish in society, be it an Anglican Pot Roast, a Presbyterian Haggis, or a United Church scalloped potatoes, a whole host of other societal foods have cropped up over the last century. With all the choices available, it is not surprising that church attendance has plummeted drastically over the past forty years. It is all too easy to point fingers at everyone else, blaming one part of the church or another for its decline. But that is not helpful! God is not calling us to point fingers.
Whatever the cause of the sudden drop off in people attending church, there has been an entire generation lost to this “crack in history.” These are the people born between 1960 and the early 1970s that, thanks to Vancouver author Douglas Coupland, are known as “Generation X.” This generation - my own - is the first where the majority has been raised without religion of any kind. The people you see in the pews who fall into this age range are the exception, and not the rule. This is our new reality, the world that we live in. Our conventional and traditional definitions of truth no longer work.
So “What is Truth?” Perhaps what we need to look again at the encounter between Pilate and Jesus. John’s Gospel has a wonderful way of telling the story on two levels... Pilate asks basic, straightforward questions, and Jesus speaks of something greater. Pilate asks, “Are you a the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answers, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
Pilate gets defensive, replying: “I am not a Jew am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me —what have you done?”
It seems we get an answer, but not quite, when Jesus says, “My kingdom is not from this world; if my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Pilate sees this as an opening. Finally, we have a confession! Claiming to be a king is a threat to the Roman Empire, and Pilate thinks to himself that he can do something about this. It seems as if Jesus confesses to the charge when he talks about his kingdom. Jesus can be filed, categorized, and executed...
In order to confirm what he has heard, Pilate asks Jesus again, “So you are a king?”
The answer, however, is not what he expects; “You say that I am a king.”
Jesus tells the Roman commander, “those are your words Pilate, not mine.”
At this point Pilate probably thinks that the guards have knocked the strange prisoner silly. Where he thought he had a confession to the charge that is brought before him, things are suddenly turned around again. Pilate begins to wonder who is really on trial here.
This is a conversation that seems to go nowhere, or at very least, the two men talk past each other. Pilate asks Jesus not once but twice, “Are you a king?”, and twice he does not get a straight answer. He wants to know whether or not Jesus considers himself a king, and therefore, whether or not Jesus is a political threat.
Jesus answers, “For this I was born, for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Jesus neither denies nor confirms that he is a king. Jesus claims the role to “bear witness to the truth.” But what is truth?
Truth as talked about in this gospel reaches far beyond our conventional understanding of the word. It is NOT a list of facts. This isn’t simply a statement of a particular point of view, nor is it something that can be easily defined or put into a box. Truth, at least how John talks about it, is the indefinable reality of God. Truth is the affirmation that God is present in creation with us, and nowhere is it expressed more fully than in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Truth is also meaning in life; God is present in our world, made known to us through Jesus Christ. Truth is the meaning of the cross; ultimately God is in control, and nothing else has the final say over who we are and what we are called to be. Truth is God’s love present with us now, knowing that not even death itself can break God’s caring bond.
Yet there is still Pilate’s impatient and unresolved question hanging in front of us “What is Truth?” especially, what is Truth today?
I think Truth today means reflecting the love of God in the way that we treat each other. It means living like people who are redeemed. Truth means being people who know that God loves us, regardless of who we are. Truth also means living out the knowledge that God is with us - to be witnesses to the truth, the meaning of life in our lives.
Yet how do we do this in a world that perceives the church and its message as an option —a voluntary organization? How do we communicate the love of God to a generation for whom the “language” of the church has been lost?
Vancouver author Douglas Coupland, after his first two books Generation X and Shampoo Planet, wrote an introspective and profound work in 1994 called Life After God. Coupland was raised without any kind of church background, and it is reflected in the degree of uncertainty and irony that can be found on almost every page of this book. Yet interspersed throughout Coupland’s troubling thoughts, expressed in his short stories, are powerful words that we inside the church must hear. At the end of this work, after 360 pages of unsettling, bitter and disquieting prose there is a hushed confession:
“Now —here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I will ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God —that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.”
These are the words of one who was raised outside of the church. These are the words of one who speaks for a generation and a society. Perhaps even, these are the words of a prophet. Perhaps this generation, this world already knows deep within that they need God. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is already at work in places that we can only imagine, and kindling fires of longing in people who have never known religion of any kind. Yet while they know it, they are not looking for it inside of the traditional church, because younger generations distrust institutions as a whole.
So our challenge as the church is to be less institutional. We must be prepared change the way we think if we are going to be able to to accept them if or when they come looking. We must not try to get them to fit our expectations or our ideas... but instead be able to listen and name where God is moving in life. We must be prepared to live truth, to speak the language of meaning.
We need to give of ourselves, because God gives us the gift of grace. We need to be kind, as God reflects ultimate kindness through Christ’s life. With God’s help, we need to bring hope to those who have none. With God’s help, we need to speak meaning to a world that has lost it. We need to love, as God loves us - all of us - in a way that absolutely nothing can break. This is how we can be living witness to the kind of truth that we hear Jesus speaking of in John’s gospel.
So what is Truth? Truth is God, speaking meaning into our lives. Truth is God’s love for us all, whether we are sitting in a pew or driving past the church door. Truth is a cross. Truth is a crown of thorns and a trickle of blood. Truth is an empty tomb. Truth is good news, living out as Douglas Coupland once wrote, “the words that tell us we are whole.”
Amen.
Text: John 18:33‑38a
Today is Reign of Christ Sunday, the last Sunday in the church year. And on this day, we are supposed to be celebrating the reign of Christ, and the joy that entails. Sound the trumpets! Sing from the bottom of your heart!
Yet in the gospel reading today, there are no trumpets, no choirs. There is not even a quiet hallelujah. We find Jesus standing before Governor Pontius Pilate; a prisoner, bound and humiliated. He awaits a horrible, suffocating death upon a bare wood cross. The only crown he will wear is one of thorns, and only stripes of office he will carry are the cruel welts from a whip. It would seem we are left with nothing to celebrate. The only thing the Gospel of John gives us to consider is the conversation between Jesus and Pilate, and Pilate’s haunting question, “What is truth?”
This passage forces us to take a hard look at how we define truth, and compare it to what we find in the conversation between Jesus and Pilate in John’s gospel. Perhaps in light of this, we will learn something new.
“What is Truth?” - Normally, truth is defined as an expression of words or phrases that corresponds to reality. However, the conventional definition doesn’t work anymore. We live in a culture of many options, including options of truth.
We wrestle with Pilate’s question more often then we would like. Every time we turn on a television set or a radio, every time we pick up a newspaper, and every time we talk to or listen to those people around us, we are fighting with truth. There are news stories every single day that leave us scratching our heads as to who is right and who is wrong. Truth has become so compartmentalised that it depends upon one’s point of view, and as such many views of truth exist out there. It is a difficult world to live in.
According to church researcher Reginald Bibby, our society has become more of a buffet. We live in a world where churches and the truth that they represent are merely tasty foods from where people can sample, alongside a whole host of other deserts and dishes. Where church was once the main dish in society, be it an Anglican Pot Roast, a Presbyterian Haggis, or a United Church scalloped potatoes, a whole host of other societal foods have cropped up over the last century. With all the choices available, it is not surprising that church attendance has plummeted drastically over the past forty years. It is all too easy to point fingers at everyone else, blaming one part of the church or another for its decline. But that is not helpful! God is not calling us to point fingers.
Whatever the cause of the sudden drop off in people attending church, there has been an entire generation lost to this “crack in history.” These are the people born between 1960 and the early 1970s that, thanks to Vancouver author Douglas Coupland, are known as “Generation X.” This generation - my own - is the first where the majority has been raised without religion of any kind. The people you see in the pews who fall into this age range are the exception, and not the rule. This is our new reality, the world that we live in. Our conventional and traditional definitions of truth no longer work.
So “What is Truth?” Perhaps what we need to look again at the encounter between Pilate and Jesus. John’s Gospel has a wonderful way of telling the story on two levels... Pilate asks basic, straightforward questions, and Jesus speaks of something greater. Pilate asks, “Are you a the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answers, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
Pilate gets defensive, replying: “I am not a Jew am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me —what have you done?”
It seems we get an answer, but not quite, when Jesus says, “My kingdom is not from this world; if my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Pilate sees this as an opening. Finally, we have a confession! Claiming to be a king is a threat to the Roman Empire, and Pilate thinks to himself that he can do something about this. It seems as if Jesus confesses to the charge when he talks about his kingdom. Jesus can be filed, categorized, and executed...
In order to confirm what he has heard, Pilate asks Jesus again, “So you are a king?”
The answer, however, is not what he expects; “You say that I am a king.”
Jesus tells the Roman commander, “those are your words Pilate, not mine.”
At this point Pilate probably thinks that the guards have knocked the strange prisoner silly. Where he thought he had a confession to the charge that is brought before him, things are suddenly turned around again. Pilate begins to wonder who is really on trial here.
This is a conversation that seems to go nowhere, or at very least, the two men talk past each other. Pilate asks Jesus not once but twice, “Are you a king?”, and twice he does not get a straight answer. He wants to know whether or not Jesus considers himself a king, and therefore, whether or not Jesus is a political threat.
Jesus answers, “For this I was born, for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Jesus neither denies nor confirms that he is a king. Jesus claims the role to “bear witness to the truth.” But what is truth?
Truth as talked about in this gospel reaches far beyond our conventional understanding of the word. It is NOT a list of facts. This isn’t simply a statement of a particular point of view, nor is it something that can be easily defined or put into a box. Truth, at least how John talks about it, is the indefinable reality of God. Truth is the affirmation that God is present in creation with us, and nowhere is it expressed more fully than in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Truth is also meaning in life; God is present in our world, made known to us through Jesus Christ. Truth is the meaning of the cross; ultimately God is in control, and nothing else has the final say over who we are and what we are called to be. Truth is God’s love present with us now, knowing that not even death itself can break God’s caring bond.
Yet there is still Pilate’s impatient and unresolved question hanging in front of us “What is Truth?” especially, what is Truth today?
I think Truth today means reflecting the love of God in the way that we treat each other. It means living like people who are redeemed. Truth means being people who know that God loves us, regardless of who we are. Truth also means living out the knowledge that God is with us - to be witnesses to the truth, the meaning of life in our lives.
Yet how do we do this in a world that perceives the church and its message as an option —a voluntary organization? How do we communicate the love of God to a generation for whom the “language” of the church has been lost?
Vancouver author Douglas Coupland, after his first two books Generation X and Shampoo Planet, wrote an introspective and profound work in 1994 called Life After God. Coupland was raised without any kind of church background, and it is reflected in the degree of uncertainty and irony that can be found on almost every page of this book. Yet interspersed throughout Coupland’s troubling thoughts, expressed in his short stories, are powerful words that we inside the church must hear. At the end of this work, after 360 pages of unsettling, bitter and disquieting prose there is a hushed confession:
“Now —here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I will ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God —that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.”
These are the words of one who was raised outside of the church. These are the words of one who speaks for a generation and a society. Perhaps even, these are the words of a prophet. Perhaps this generation, this world already knows deep within that they need God. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is already at work in places that we can only imagine, and kindling fires of longing in people who have never known religion of any kind. Yet while they know it, they are not looking for it inside of the traditional church, because younger generations distrust institutions as a whole.
So our challenge as the church is to be less institutional. We must be prepared change the way we think if we are going to be able to to accept them if or when they come looking. We must not try to get them to fit our expectations or our ideas... but instead be able to listen and name where God is moving in life. We must be prepared to live truth, to speak the language of meaning.
We need to give of ourselves, because God gives us the gift of grace. We need to be kind, as God reflects ultimate kindness through Christ’s life. With God’s help, we need to bring hope to those who have none. With God’s help, we need to speak meaning to a world that has lost it. We need to love, as God loves us - all of us - in a way that absolutely nothing can break. This is how we can be living witness to the kind of truth that we hear Jesus speaking of in John’s gospel.
So what is Truth? Truth is God, speaking meaning into our lives. Truth is God’s love for us all, whether we are sitting in a pew or driving past the church door. Truth is a cross. Truth is a crown of thorns and a trickle of blood. Truth is an empty tomb. Truth is good news, living out as Douglas Coupland once wrote, “the words that tell us we are whole.”
Amen.
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