Truth

Christ the King Sunday, The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling, Church of the Redeemer

Revelation 1:4b-8

John 18: 33-3

        In the closet of a previous rector’s office was the picture of a puppet, whose head was in a guillotine, and the words below it said, “The truth will set you free; but first it will make you miserable.”

COVID 19, holiday gatherings and travel, and the news around our world can stir up a lot of feelings these days. At times like these, we can get emotionally out of whack, lashing out at others with angry and resentful words, overreacting to people rather than responding to them, and stuffing our feelings as well as our faces. Some of us refuse to talk about certain issues, so we just avoid them altogether. Spiritually, we may wonder, where is our God?

Power and control are frequent battles in our political, religious, and socio-economic lives. People seem to be growing more careless with the truth and I often wonder if such deceptions are due to emotional reactivity, the increase in social media, an uncontrollable passion or lack of knowledge, or at worst, intentional lying. In a recent movie, when a child asked a man why he lied to his mother, his response was, “I guess because it was easier than telling the truth.” To which the child responded, “But that’s wrong.”

Truth-telling can make people angry, especially if it threatens their power, their cause, what they believe, or their image of themselves. And speaking the truth, like Jesus did, can get you killed, which makes lying or deadly silence even easier. When only one voice or one party or one person dominates a political, religious, or social system, or holds all the power, what happens to the value of our lives? When we’ve listened to only one perspective, and we don’t know the full truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, we may rush to judgment.

You know the saying that when one finger is pointed at you, then three fingers are pointing back at me. Which reminds me about our mutual responsibility, culpability, and accountability. Are we not counting on each other and ourselves to do what is right? To tell the truth even when it makes us miserable? And what happens to the integrity of our souls if we don’t? What happens when we don’t participate in resisting evil as our baptismal covenant requires? 

The court case in Jerusalem at the time of John’s gospel involved political, religious, and socio-economic consequences. The Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman kings of the Middle East had changed rapidly during this time, with power and control shifting around the region. In the middle were the Jewish and Palestinian people, who were often persecuted in the shifts. 

During the trial of Jesus, the emperor of Rome wanted to protect his power from internal and external threats. He appointed governors, like Pontius Pilate, to prevent revolutions and maintain firm control over people of diverse cultures and religious faith, and threats from other countries. He also had the power to execute people. So, in effect, Pilate was the Chief of Police, the Judge, and the Jury of Jerusalem at the trial of Jesus. Clearly Jesus was considered to be a threat. But to whom and why?

The Jewish people in Palestine at that time had a governing council they called the Sanhedrin. The chief priests of the Sanhedrin ruled over the Jewish people with their religious laws, their centralized worship, their governance, and the power of their positions. They had an enormous staff for Temple sacrifices and a small police force to keep order in the Temple. When pilgrims came to Jerusalem to exchange their money for sacrifices, and to offer their prayers to God, the crowds could become unruly.

During this time in Palestine, the people often chafed at the high taxes of the Roman government and the demands of their own religious leaders; and so when they gathered together in large numbers, they would often protest. Some common people, like Barabbas, became well-known criminals, justifying their Robin Hood practices of robbing the rich to pay the poor. Local prophets, like Jesus, spoke truth from a religious perspective. Both criminals and prophets acted and spoke up, often at their own peril.

During religious festivals, when faithful pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem, tensions would run especially high, and so Rome would send troops to the city to keep potential riots under control. Today our kings and presidents all around the world do likewise. Troops may arrive in our cities and along our borders when racial, religious, or socio-economic tensions erupt. Troops are gathering on the border of Ukraine right now in what is believed to be a power play by Russian leaders. And this week, the governor of Wisconsin called in the National Guard when the highly public trial of Kyle Rittenhouse came to an end in Kenosha.

In his own trial, Jesus told Pilate that he came into the world in order to testify to the truth. Consistently, he pointed to the power of God and the religious laws of their faith. He clarified that his kingdom was not part of Rome or Jerusalem. Rather he claimed that God’s “will is to restore all things, so that the peoples of the earth may be brought together under his most gracious rule, and be a place where God’s truth is revealed and reigns.” 

Jesus had often angered his religious leaders because he challenged their interpretation of Jewish law, their oppressive practices, and their hypocritical behavior. “Truth that is pure and simple is the luxury of the zealot,” wrote Katherine Grieb, New Testament professor at Virginia Seminary (Nov 2015).  And yet, Jesus wasn’t zealous for personal power but rather for God. He wasn’t speaking the truth for self aggrandizement. In fact, he was a faithful member of Israel, only pointing to the truth about God in an effort for religious reformation.

Threatened by Jesus’ growing power among the people, the chief priests sent their Temple police to arrest him. Secretly they solicited Judas to betray him, and publicly they accused Jesus falsely. In an effort to uphold a just Roman legal system, Pilate asked Jesus,“Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 

The great collusion against Jesus began in the dark, where crime rises and people are deceived. On that Mount of Olives, Roman soldiers and Temple police arrived in the middle of the night. Despite Peter’s attempts to defend Jesus, He refused any violence. “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said. “If it were, we would fight against you.” 

Jesus was first taken to Annas who was Caiaphas’s father-in-law and the previous high priest. He also privately questioned Jesus, who responded. “Why do you ask me about my teaching? I have spoken the truth and I have spoken it openly.” So Annas passed him along to Caiaphas, who, afraid of losing his own power, or the potential reaction of the Roman government, told their religious leaders, “It is better that this one man die than for him to cause trouble for all of our people.”  

Caiaphas quickly sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate; and three times Pilate refused to participate. ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law. I find no case against him.’ But the religious leaders replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death,’ and so they claimed that Jesus was a threat to the Roman emperor. Washing his hands of the whole affair, Pilate turned the verdict over to the mob.

Pilate is also famous for his question, “What is truth?” At our trials in the United States, we ask people to raise their hands, and “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." So help them God. But as Katherine Grieb graciously reminds us, "the truth is rarely pure and never simple. Our truths are often partial, incomplete and biased. Not one of us sees with the eyes of God.” 

Similarly, Paul Oakley once wrote, “The concept of truth does not sit well in twenty-first-century Western culture. It does not matter whether a statement made by a public figure is factually accurate or not – what matters is that it is repeated loudly and frequently so that people believe it and act on it.” (wordlive@scriptureunion.org.uk, 2018)  Pressured by the mob, Pilate succumbed to their demands to crucify Jesus. There on the cross, between two criminals, hung Jesus, the only One without sin. And over his head were the words, “King of the Jews.” 

The Gospel of John uses the word "truth" more than any other book in the Bible. “For this” Jesus said, “he was born and came into the world, to testify to the truth. If you listen to me,” Jesus said, “you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life” and if you know me, you will know God.

Next Sunday we will begin our run-up to Christmas, when we remember that Jesus is our King of kings and Lord of lords. We remember that He came into our world, an innocent baby, full of grace and truth. Today, listen to Him; for He tells the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, so help us God. Amen.