Hunger no longer exists in America. Oh, there are still 33 million people who don’t have enough to eat. The lines for the food pantry isn’t growing any shorter. St. James provided 1000 families with groceries this month. Many children cry themselves to sleep because there is an ache in their belly. Too many elderly are finding that cat food is quite as nasty as they imagined. And yet, the government, has decreed that there aren’t any hungry people in the United States. However, the administration admitted there are some people who have a “very low food security.” This is brilliant, you have to admit. We do away with hunger at the stroke of a bureaucratic pen. We should have thought of this sooner. We can do away with sickness in the same way. No one is really sick. They simply have a “very low health index.” Let’s do away with war. It is merely a “very high violence indicator.” Poverty doesn’t really exist. There are simply some people who have a “very low monetary situation.” Racism can be eliminated. People aren’t really racists. They simply have a “very low skin tone variation threshold.” We could apply this to our own lives. Don’t tell the landlord can’t pay the rent because you’re broke. Just say you have a “temporary income shortfall.” Don’t tell the teacher you didn’t do your homework because you were out boogeying. Just say, you had a “reverse priority occasion.” Don’t tell the boss you don’t want to come into work. Just say, you’re exercising an “alternative personal option.” It’s not how things are, but what you call them that matters.
Or not! Can you imagine your landlord, teacher, boss buying into those excuses. I don’t think so. It really doesn’t work anywhere. There was a movie a few years ago that I didn’t see but I loved the title, Reality Bites. Calling things by different names doesn’t change reality — and reality bites. No matter what you call it, hunger bites when your cupboard is bare. No matter what you call it, war bites into children and other living things. No matter what you call it, racism bites into the very soul of humanity. All of which serves as something of a background for the scene between Jesus and Pilate as recorded in St. John’s gospel, the eighteenth chapter. Pilate, just like politicians at all times and everywhere, is concerned with how things appear, how he can name them. Once he has nailed this Jesus character down, he’ll be able to move onto something else. But Jesus doesn’t play that game. He is not interested in what things are called, he is interested in how things are, in the truth of things, in how they bite. The volleying back and forth about Jesus as king – “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Do you say this on your own?” “I am not a Jew.” “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” “Then you are a king?” “That’s what you call it. I came into this world to testify to the truth.” – is Pilate trying to fit Jesus into his categories and Jesus trying to get Pilate to see things as they really are. Being a king is something that Pilate understands. It’s about power, it’s about prestige, it’s about prominence. Jesus, even though he is a king, won’t claim the title because it will label him in ways that will obscure the truth of his identity. Instead of power, love. Instead of prestige, sacrifice. Instead of prominence, service. So Jesus strives to get Pilate to see him as he actually is instead of letting himself be crammed into some pre-determined box. The tragedy is that Pilate would rather keep his concepts rather than see the truth.
Reporters as they go out on a story are told that if they want to get at the truth of a situation they have to be able to answer the five “w”s: who, what when, where, why. Maybe we could use that method today as a way of describing what it means to recognize Jesus as the truth. Who came to testify to the truth? Who is the king whose kingdom is not of this world? Who is alpha and omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come? Who is the Son of man, coming on the clouds of heaven with dominion over all peoples, nations and languages? What is the truth? What did the angel call the Son of God born into our world as he appeared to Mary two thousand years ago? What name is above every other name so that every knee shall bend and every tongue confess to the glory of God? What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! When you’re down and troubled and need a helping hand is there someone on whom you can call? When he calls me I will answer, I’ll be somewhere listening for my name. When I think about the Lord, how he saved me, how he raised me, how he filled me with the Holy Ghost, how he healed me to the uttermost, it makes me want to shout, Alleluia, thank you Jesus. Where does a marriage find an anchor to make it through better or worse, for richer or poorer, until death us do part? Where can our young people look to find direction and purpose in this ball of confusion? Where can my heart which is breaking because of the griefs and hurts and troubles I’ve seen find solace? Why do we trust that when our time on earth is done there is a place reserved for us in glory? Why do we hope that despite our many sins the forgiving, merciful and compassionate hand of God will be extended to us? Why do we continue to love and forgive those people who hurt us? I don’t know why Jesus loves me, I don’t know why Jesus cares. I don’t know why he sacrificed his life, Oh, but I’m glad, so glad he did. Who is our Lord? Who is the Christ? Who is our king? Who carries our burdens every day? Who is our wonderful savior? Who has never failed us yet? Who brought us all the way? Christ the King.
