How do you know something is true? How
do you know that it isn't a piece of information or fact that has
been twisted into a new truth. After witnessing a particularly nasty
political season we all have seen truth twisted so that it bears no
resemblance to what it once was. We have witnessed those who
manipulate truth in order to change minds, sway opinions and gain
followers. It does not matter if you are on the left or the right.
It doesn't matter if you are a politician now or two thousand years
ago truth was not easy to figure out. Pilot knows this better than
most. He is ruthless, brutal and cares nothing for the Jews nor most
of his subjects. He only cares about where he is in the pecking
order with Caesar and this little issue with Jesus is truly in his
way.
Pilate has to reach a conclusion. He
has gone between the people accusing Jesus of trying to be a king and
Jesus trying to figure out if he is truly trying to have political
power or if he is just angering the Jewish leadership. He has to
deal with the matter without making great waves and it getting back
to Caesar. If there is a riot between Jesus' followers and the rest
of the Jews that just means more trouble.
Jesus tells him twice that he is not a
king. He is not a ruler of a particular group. He does speak of his
kingdom being not of this world - which finally gives Pilot
something to go with. He also tells Pilot that his followers will
not take up arms to save him since his kingdom is not of this world.
This gives Pilot the room he needs to
satisfy the Jewish religious elite and stop any rioting from
occurring. All he has to do is order Jesus to his death.
But then Jesus says, “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.”
Pilot truly questions what is the
truth....
That I think is the question Jesus
leaves with each of us. What is the truth we live? Who is king over
our life and our soul? Do we let the worries of this world, the
twisted truths that we see, hear and live everyday rule our lives, or
do we look towards that which is not of this world? Do we look
toward God to help us hear the truth, to help us find our way? Can
we hold up what we think we know as truth to God and truly listen?
Are we willing to see that it isn't what we thought it was? Are we
ready to see things in a new way – for that is what God does. That
is Jesus' truth. A new way of living and being. Jesus' truth is a
way of understanding God's love in new ways that release us from our
pain when we allow ourselves to listen to the truth.
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