by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
John 18:33-37
Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
Welcome to Christ the King Sunday. Every year I wonder how Jesus would feel about that title. In any event we will be concentrating on the last line of the gospel read just a moment ago. Pilate asked this question. “What is truth?” It’s a question that rings as loudly today as it ever has, I suspect.
Let’s start off with a funny I haven’t thought about in quite a few years. A businessman was interviewing job applications for the position of manager for a large division. He quickly devised a test for choosing the most suitable candidate. He simply asked each applicant this question, “What is two and two?”
The first interviewee was a journalist. His answer was, “Twenty-two”.
The second was a social worker. She said, “I don't know the answer but I'm very glad that we are having the opportunity to discuss it.”
The third applicant was an engineer. He pulled out a slide rule, something you don’t see every day anymore, and came up with an answer, “somewhere between 3.999 and 4.001.”
Next came an attorney. He stated that “in the case of Jenkins vs. the Department of the Treasury, two plus two was proven to be four.”
Finally, the businessman interviewed an accountant. When he asked him what two and two was, the accountant got up from his chair, went over to the door, closed it, came back and sat down. Leaning across the desk, he said in a low voice, “How much do you want it to be?”
He got the job.
There was a time in my life that I thought the truth was the truth. That was a long time ago. Now I recognize the truth in one instance may not be the truth in another. In fact, I am now aware that people, especially many important people, recognize that the truth can be hard to pin down and use that fact for their own advancement. They purposely lie in order to achieve their own goals. Fomenting confusion about the truth, and promoting lies in its’ place, is now an often-accepted method of communication.
We live in a world in which up and down have meaning. That is true because we stand on the earth and are held down by gravity. Also, the sun progresses across the sky in a certain way so we can tell East from West, and since we can do that, we are also able to discern North from South. There is a lot of truth to be found in these simple understandings.
Imagine for a moment you are in space millions of miles from the earth. Suddenly up and down, along with the rest of the directions we count on make no sense. We would be completely disoriented. It would be much like being under water with no idea where up or down is, much less any other direction we might be familiar with.
Therefore, we realize that our position in the universe is entirely dependent on our relationship with other objects, objects we can count on. When we lose awareness of them, we lose ourselves. We become directionless. We have absolutely no idea what direction by which we should proceed.
It seems to me that modern life has become something like this. Many of us have metaphorically lost our ability to know our position in the universe of human contemplation and action. We are often confused about what is right and what is wrong. We have lost touch with the truth. Through the loss of long understood fundamental guideposts, and the insistence from others that we take up new understandings that they support as real, life has become filled with confusion.
As Pilate asked Jesus. “What is truth?”
As I think about how he asked the question I hear sarcasm. He was a politician. He was accustomed to what we are talking about. He knew the truth could be manipulated. I can see him rolling his eyes as he spoke. “What is truth?”
Jesus, just before Pilate’s question, said this to him. “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate’s question was in response to this statement. I often wonder if Pilate later in his life thought about what Jesus had said, and even more importantly remembered what his response had been. I hope he did.
Jesus said he testified to the truth. We understand this to mean the truth he and God shared about the universe, and more importantly about us, the people on this earth. So, specifically what did he mean? Let’s take a look at some of what Jesus spoke about and represented.
He talked about having a loving relationship with God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. He demonstrated compassion in his words and actions. He spoke about the need for common sense when interpreting the scriptures. He taught us about prayer and even gave us one as an example. He talked about servant leadership – if you want to be the greatest you must choose to be the least. He described the Kingdom of God and how it has come close to each of us. He opened the gates of eternal life.
Isn’t this the star we can use to find ourselves? Isn’t the life of Jesus Christ and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the place to find where we are in the universe? To help us to move in a meaningful direction and avoid running in circles or following guideposts that just aren’t real? The Trinity provides us with a metaphorical up and down, an east, west, north, and south.
Our invitation is twofold I think today. First of all, let’s decide to spend time remembering what we have been taught in scripture about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. What advice do they give us for living? What signposts do they provide for finding our way? They are the light in the darkness that enlightens our paths if we will but pay attention.
And second, we are invited to use what we already know and are continuing to learn to examine whether what others tell us is the truth. Does what they say match the truth found in the Kingdom of God? Is what we are being told loving, compassionate, and filled with the Holy Spirit? Does it fit within what we find in the commandments of the creator? Does it serve our neighbors or tear them apart? Does it bring us closer or push us away from each other?
This morning we know we have the tools to find truth. Let’s use them and encourage others to do the same.