The Pontius Pilates of the world seem to be winning. Jesus is clear about his mission as Christ the King: “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” Pilate’s mission is clear too – impose his will on others. Pilate scoffs at the notion of truth and his reliance on power rather than on truth is current events, not ancient history. In politics, in advertising, in social media say anything you want without any regard to the truth. Call it what you want – alternative facts, spin, truthiness – insisting on your view instead naming things correctly dominates the landscape. There was a cartoon in the newspaper where a teacher was handing an exam back to the student who responded: “Professor, you may disagree with me but to mark my answers “incorrect” is very disrespectful of my deeply held beliefs about math.” The true answers for a math test have nothing to do with one’s deeply held beliefs. They have to do with the laws of nature. That our society has chosen to elevate one’s opinion above the truth is directly contrary to the mission of Jesus.
If we had continued reading from St. John’s gospel the next line would have been Pilate asking scornfully “what is truth?” That is a very modern question. The insight of philosophers and social scientists is that human beings are not objective but have a certain point of view based on our own experiences and mental constructs. Determining the truth is filtered through our limitations. To this way of thinking, there is no “God’s eye” view which sees the truth as it is. However, what the philosophers and social scientists don’t acknowledge is that we do have a God’s eye view available to us – it is called divine revelation.
The life of Jesus bears witness to divine revelation. Truth is that God exists. In a recent Gallup poll only 61% of Americans were sure that God exists. But whether God exists or not is something which a poll cannot determine but is instead found in the very constitution of reality. No matter what the survey said, God is and God is loving us right this moment. Truth is that every person you meet is a child of God, precious in God’s sight, made in God’s image and likeness. How we deal others connects us directly to our relationship with God. To treat others as political footballs ignoring the foundational truth of their divine heritage is of Pilate, not of Jesus. Truth is that Mother Earth, our common home, needs to be treated with respect and care. Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter if you believe in climate change or not. Its coming is not a matter of belief but of reality. The truth about our environment is not determined by our opinion but the laws that God has built into nature.
If Jesus testifies to the truth it is up to us to stand up for the truth in the face of voices to the contrary. When Burger King advertises, “Have it your way. You Rule” we have to respond, No, Christ rules. We believe in Christ the King, not a burger king, and when we let Jesus rule in our minds and hearts we are able to thrive in this world as God intends. When we have it our way, things get messed up. When we do things Christ’s way, grace abounds. Allstate says, “You’re in good hands.” We say, unless you’re in Christ’s hands you are in the wrong hands. He’s got the whole world in his hands and we’ll always be wringing our hands until we acknowledge that the hands that we can rely on are those of Christ. When we hear that “Nationwide is on your side” we need to remind everyone that the only place safe and secure from all alarms happens when we have Jesus on our side. Putting our reliance on anything or anyone other than Jesus puts us on the wrong side. Chevy trucks might be “like a rock” but Jesus is the true rock. Relying on Christ as the firm base of our lives, his command to love, his call to humble service, his dedication to forgiveness, will enable us to stand fast in the face of any storm or trouble or difficulty that might come our way. And Coke is not the real thing. Jesus is the real thing. Jesus shows us what human life is about – not getting, having, grasping but giving, caring, loving. All the stuff the world holds out for us as an ideal is so much smoke and mirrors. Jesus gives us the real way to joy. You don’t have to join the army to be all you can be, all you’ve got to do is live for God. Each one of us has been blessed by God and becoming the person God made us to be is the way to a full and happy life. And Christians are not like the Marines, the few, the proud. Christians are the many, the humble. Many because God has called us not because we are good but because God is good. And humble because we know that everything is a gift, not an accomplishment on our part but a blessing which flows from the God who loves us. You might remember a TV show with the tag line: “the truth is out there” The truth out there is that Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of what matters most. The challenge for us as Christians is to get the truth that is out there, in here, inside us. That only happens when we accept that we are living in God’s world, not one of our own making. Everything that exists is a gift from God and aligning our thoughts, words and actions to conform to God’s world is how we accept Christ as our King.
