Truth.

 

Sermon for 5^th midweek Lent, March 13, 2024

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

John 18:33-40  ³³Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus.  He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  ³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”  ³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew?  Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me.  What have you done?”  ³⁶Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews.  But now my kingdom is not from here.”  ³⁷“You are a king then?” Pilate asked.  Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king.  For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  ³⁸“What is truth?” Pilate said to him.  After he said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against him.  ³⁹But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover.  So do you want me to release the King of the Jews for you?”  ⁴⁰Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a rebel.) (EHV)

Truth.

Dear saints of the living Lord,

            Unless Pilate was the most gullible ruler ever, he had to see immediately that the accusations against Jesus were a sham.  The Jewish leaders brought Jesus before Pilate accusing Him of leading an insurrection against Rome, agitating against paying taxes to Rome, and especially, of calling Himself the King of the Jews.  How ridiculous it must have sounded to Pilate that the Jews would bring one of their own to trial for claiming to be their king.  Obviously, Pilate needed to determine who was telling the truth, or otherwise, determine what actually was the truth.

The difficulty for Pilate is evident among us still today.  Like in our times, many Roman citizens, especially those in powerful positions, were skeptical that there is any universal truth.  The Jewish Council, the scribes, and the Pharisees, would only consider something true if they believed it.  Among the people of our culture and our world, many believe that truth is pliable.  Your imagined truth could be different than mine while both could contradict another’s supposed truth and all “truths” could be equally valid, even if they are contradictory.  Of course, the assumption of contradictory truths just leads to fights about what is true.  This naturally leads to great difficulty in the courtroom because if there are conflicting truths, reaching a true conclusion might be nearly impossible.  Actually, for something to be true, it must always be true and always reliable. 

Pilate’s job in that early morning trial was especially difficult.  The province he ruled had a long history of revolts, rebellions, and conspiracies against Roman rule, and Pilate had, undoubtably, heard of Jesus’ tumultuous entry into Jerusalem just days before this trial, with the great crowds shouting triumphantly their recognition of Jesus as King.  Furthermore, Jerusalem was crammed with thousands of Jews from a wide variety of places celebrating Israel’s liberation from the control of the Egyptians all those centuries earlier.  Pilate had to be concerned about emotions running high against Rome.

Then, really out of the blue, the leaders of the Jews brought in Jesus accusing Him of leading a revolt.  Pilate had to be wondering about the motivations of those leading men.  If they truly thought Jesus was their king, why would they turn Him over to the Roman governor?  Had Jesus turned against them and their own designs on power?  Was it possible that the Sanhedrin had uncovered some mysterious plot against Rome, but hoped to save their own skin by turning Jesus in?

Trying to get to the heart of the matter, Pilate asked Jesus point blank, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  It’s hard to know what Pilate expected to receive for an answer, but he had to start somewhere.  Jesus then threw the governor a curve ball, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”  Imagine the shock of having the accused turn the table on the one judging his case.  Pilate was seeking direction in the case, but Jesus was seeking Pilate’s soul.  Pilate would have preferred some explanation of why Jesus was accused of rebellion.  Jesus wanted to lead Pilate to the truth that saves for eternity.

Pilate recognized that it was ludicrous for the Jews to bring Jesus before the Roman court to accuse Him of being their king, so he replied, “Am I a Jew?  Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me.  What have you done?”  Pilate expected to discover what Jesus had done to so offend the Jewish leadership that they would turn against one of their own people.  However, standing in the truth that only believers can know, Jesus pointed out the obvious, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews.  But now my kingdom is not from here.”

For Pilate, that answer was clear as mud.  Jesus claims to be a King, but not from here.  What could that mean?  He claims to have servants with the ability and power to fight and defeat any enemies, but where were they?  But then came the ultimate intrigue: “You are a king then?” Pilate asked.  Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king.  For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  “What is truth?” Pilate said to him.  

Pilate was likely a practical guy.  He had to have been quite ambitious to work his way up to being governor of a Roman province.  Most likely, Pilate had been forced to fend off many challengers before reaching that post.  However, the answers Jesus gave just seemed curiouser and curiouser.  The Jews accused Jesus of many things, but Jesus was clearly innocent of those charges.  Jesus Himself spoke of being a King, but hardly any kind of rebel.  Like others had noticed, Jesus spoke with authority unlike anyone else Pilate had ever met.  How was Pilate to determine the truth?

For much of our world today, the same challenge remains.  How is one to determine the truth?  Is it by observation of present conditions?  Do you take those observations and then extrapolate them into the future or the past?  That would be the expectation of most modern scientists and scholars.  However, things haven’t always in the past, and won’t always in the future, continue the same as they currently are.

Should we expect to find truth by sorting through various eyewitness accounts?  Most lawyers would contend that if the eyewitnesses tell exactly the same story, it must be because they conspired to tell the same story rather than reporting honestly, yet those same lawyers attempt to find any discrepancy that might help them reject the eyewitness accounts.  However, eyewitness accounts are valuable when each witness gives specific details that generally agree, such as the four Gospel writers.

Now, the Bible doesn’t tell us if Jesus gave Pilate a further answer to his question.  The answer is obvious, however, by faith.  Truth is not just an observation.  It certainly isn’t an unprovable theory.  Rather, truth is a person.  Not some ordinary person, but one Man who came into the world from somewhere else, for a purpose the natural, sinful person couldn’t imagine.  Early in his gospel account, St. John testifies, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) 

The truth is a message of hope for sinners in a broken world.  The truth is the solution for a world broken by sin, rebellious against God who created it, and lost in unbelief and pain.  That lost nature filled with pain and ruled by a rebellious spirit is why in our times, there are so many ideas about truth.  Each person wants to see reality his own way, but the eyes are blinded by the sin that infects us all.  The only solution is for someone from outside of our world to remove the blinding veil sin puts over our eyes.  That One, dear friends, is Jesus.

The truth is, if we seek to find truth in ourselves, the cacophony of voices of the world, the devil, and our own imaginations will keep us in darkness.  If we seek to find complete truth by observing the world we inhabit, all conclusions will be corrupted by the curse of sin that has corrupted every part of creation.  Again, keeping us lost in confusion with no hope of real truth.

Because we could only be saved, and could only know the truth if God reveals it to us, Jesus came into this world to testify the truth, and to set us free from the corruption and the blinding lies of Satan.  Because God did not abandon us to the fate of eternal condemnation for the sins that infected the world, He sent us His Word, first through the prophets, then, in the person of His Son.  The prophets foretold all we needed to know to recognize the Savior.  Then God’s Son entered our world through a human birth from Mary, and He set us free from the devil’s lies with His holy, innocent life, and His willing, substitutionary, sacrifice on the cross.  These truths are the basis of our faith. 

Still, we didn’t discover them.  Rather, the Holy Spirit brought them to our attention and used them to create faith in us, so that we can now know the truth that God loves us and has declared us innocent of all sin, and through Christ Jesus has made us welcome in His presence forever in heaven.

All the truth this world really needs to know is found in the Bible, because it is God’s Word to save a fallen race from the destruction cast upon us by the devil’s deceit.  Jesus said, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  We didn’t make a decision to believe Jesus.  He made a decision to save us, and by the Holy Spirit worked that faith in us. 

This is the truth: “This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’” (1 Timothy 1:15)  Along with St. Paul through whom the Holy Spirit testified this truth, you and I are the beneficiaries of God’s saving plan.  By His grace, He rescued us from the darkness of sin and death.  We have been rescued, redeemed, and reconciled with God by His truth, the Son who came into the world to save you and me.  Amen.

Amen.  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever.  Amen.