It’s at this point in his ministry that we’d expect Jesus to be pretty open about who he was and what he was trying to accomplish. After all, what’s he got to lose? He’s already been arrested, he’s in the middle of his ‘so called’ trial. He’s been dragged before the government official who has the power to either release him or condemn him... if there was ever a time for Jesus to be absolutely forthright about his situation it’s now.
At other times, he’s asked people to keep quiet about who he is and what’s he doing... remember the times when he says to the disciples... tell no one about this. Or to the person who’s been healed... keep this to yourself.
There are no doubt a variety of reasons that Jesus doesn’t want the word getting around... perhaps he doesn’t want people flocking to see him just because he can do miracles. Even though that became the case, he tried to downplay it as much as possible. I mean, think about it, he could have very easily become a sort of side show freak... able to raise the dead, heal the broken, multiply fish and loaves... who wouldn’t want to see that?
But now, before Pilate, in the relative privacy of his judge’s chambers, what reason did Jesus have to be secretive?
And yet, we have just heard this rather odd, convoluted conversation between Jesus and Pilate.
Pilate... are you the king of the Jews?
Jesus... are you asking on your own or did someone tell you to ask that?
Pilate... what did you do?
Jesus... my kingdom doesn’t belong to this world, I’m not that kind of king.
Pilate... so are you a king or not?
Jesus... you say that I’m a king. I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.
What we don’t get is the very next comment by Pilate... what is truth?
Now, imagine if this was all the record we had of Jesus talking.
What could we learn from it?
Well two things are clear... #1 - Jesus is a different kind of leader, he doesn’t fit in the the world’s expectations of what a leader’s supposed to do and be.
And #2 - Jesus has come to bring the truth.
He’s not what we’re expecting and he’s brought the truth.
I think those two things are tied together very closely. Meaning that the truth he brings is not what we’re expecting either.
Well... as you’re well aware, this dialogue between Jesus and Pilate doesn’t help Pilate much. I think that Pilate’s looking for a way to let Jesus off the hook here, but Jesus has to tell the truth. And he tries as best as possible to answer questions that have no relevancy to the life of Jesus. The questions have to be asked because of the charges brought against him, but Jesus doesn’t fit the mold. So Jesus ends us basically saying that he’s brought the truth...
Now, knowing what we know about Jesus... what is that truth? What’s the truth that he’s handed down to us? What’s the message of Jesus that was so unexpected? And what have we done with it?
When you boil down the teachings of Jesus, you’re left with... what?
Is it that the anticipated eschatological realities have been increased to the point where the impending cosmological conclusions are made manifest? There are those who think of Jesus in such terms... dissecting the words and symbols and turning them into a dried out, cold, boring, nothingness...
So I ask you again, what’s the truth? How did Jesus live and what did he teach and how have we, as the followers of Jesus, continued to live and teach that truth?
I believe that there was a point in my life when the lenses through which I viewed Jesus were changed. I began to see Jesus in a different way. I saw his actions and teachings coming together in some pretty specific and powerful ways. And to this day, it’s difficult for me to see Jesus in any other way.
Jesus manifested the love of God. What he did and said was always an attempt to communicate and display the love of God. A love which invited everyone to the table of grace.
The truth of Jesus, which is by extension, the truth of God is contained in his conversation with the Jewish religious scholar, which we talked about a few weeks ago... the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second is to love neighbor.
That’s the truth.
Look at the life of Jesus.
Look at the teachings of Jesus.
He was asked why he spent so much time with the poor, the outcast, the prostitute, the lame, the children, those who are cast aside by the more important people. His answer is simple, the truth is simple... because they’re the ones who need to know that God loves them. They’re the ones that need to feel God’s grace and acceptance. They’re the ones who are at risk of feeling that God has passed them by.
So, he’s accused of all sorts of things because he carries this message of radical inclusion to the very people who need to know that they are included.
And, church, he pushes us with that truth. He challenges each of us to enlarge the boundaries of our own circle to include those who have been excluded over and over again.
The church has not learned that lesson well. And it continues to amaze me that, even though it seems so obvious that this is the truth the Jesus proclaimed, the church, down through the ages has done just about everything else except to proclaim that message.
In fact, it’s been more the norm for the church to proclaim just the opposite... unless you believe and behave exactly like us, you are outside the realm of God’s grace. Unless you are baptized in a certain way, unless you are educated in a certain way, unless you dress in a certain way, unless you worship in a certain way, unless you... on and on and on... you are either outside God’s grace or at the very least we’re highly suspicious of you!
How radical is this truth of Jesus? Well, think about this, he went so far as to ask us to pray for our enemies, right? How difficult is that? How often do you do it?
Jesus knew that if you would just pray for the people that are the most difficult for you to pray for... you would be transformed. If you can pray for your enemies, then your attitudes begin to change. It’s absolute genius... when you pray for your enemies then you begin to see everyone and everything differently, and God’s grace and your love flows.
The truth of Jesus is unexpected. The truth of Jesus is a radical departure from the normal course of human events. It turns us inside out, with the love that we’d normally reserve for ourselves and those closest to us going out to others.
It’s not possible to follow Jesus and remain unchanged. Again, a little slower... It’s not possible to follow Jesus and remain unchanged.
It’s not possible to walk in the truth of Jesus and not become part of a counter cultural movement.
How could Jesus convey that to Pilate? At that point, it doesn’t matter. The message of Jesus had driven the protectors of the status quo to take drastic measures to bring him to end. Little did they know that it wasn’t the end, in fact it was far from the end. When you try to stifle the truth, it finds a way.
The grave could not hold Jesus. And the history books could not hold the truth that Jesus lived and taught. We’re not just a part of the church, we’re part of the movement of Jesus. A movement that continues to challenge us to live out the truth of Jesus. A truth that makes a mockery of the barriers people like to raise in order to give them the security of feeling like they are on the inside and others are on the outside.
To walk in the ways of Jesus, to walk in the truth of Jesus requires the church to continually challenge itself to open itself to the other.
What does that mean to us in this place? We’ve talked often of such things. Talk is cheap. Talk is easy. I have to admit that as a pastor, it’s easy to preach the good news, it’s nearly impossible to lead a church into that good news. To allow that good news to become incarnate in who we are and what we do. It’s much easier to confine it to a 15 minute speech and then go about our business.
It’s time for us to grapple with what this message means and how it changes how we live with one another and the community around us...
Life is too short not to take this truth and make it come alive. The work is too sacred to leave it to others. The movement too powerful and life changing to pretend otherwise.
How we relate to the poor, the homeless, those left hurt and wounded by a culture that is driven by money and class, those left outside the church because of their sexual orientation or identity, those who feel abandoned because they think they’re not good enough for God.
Those were the people that Jesus would hang out with, those are the people we’re called to reach. Following the example of Jesus transforms who we are, it changes how we do church, it changes how we worship, it changes how we live, it changes how we love, it changes us.
Jesus said he wasn’t the kind of leader we were expecting, he said he came bringing the truth.
Perhaps we need to become the kind of church people aren’t expecting... and then perhaps, just perhaps, we’ll find the truth.