“AN INCONVENIENT INCARNATIONAL TRUTH”

JOHN 18:28-40

28  Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate's headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover.

29  So Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?"

30  They answered, "If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you."

31  Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law." The Jews replied, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death."

32  (This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

33  Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

34  Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?"

35  Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?"

36  Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here."

37  Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "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."

38  Pilate asked him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, "I find no case against him.

39  But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?"

40  They shouted in reply, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a bandit.

They were lining up outside Wal-Mart last Sunday.  I saw them sitting there all bundled up with their blankets.  One young man was even watching a battery powered television.  So, why where they there? You know why they were there. They were there because they wanted to make sure they were the first ones into the store when it opened Monday morning. They were there because they wanted to make sure they got a Sony Play Station 3. That’s the must have gift for Christmas this year.  Every year there’s a must have gift for Christmas.  Think back and you may remember when it was the Cabbage Patch doll. One year it was Tickle Me Elmo. This year it’s the Sony Play Station 3. The problem with those must have gifts is that everyone wants one which makes it hard to find one. The demand for the Sony Play Station 3 is so great that it’s actually led to a few riots around the country.  I understand that a few people have even been shot.

Oh well, judging from all of the catalogues that are being stuffed into my mailbox these days that’s what this season is all about, right? Wrong. That’s not what this season is all about. That’s what the merchants want you to believe it’s all about. That’s their reality. That’s the way they see it. 

Pilate was like that.  He saw things the way he wanted to seem them.  That’s obvious when you look at the question he asked shortly before he sentenced Jesus to be crucified. After Jesus announced that he had come into the world to bear witness to the truth Pilate asked, “What is truth?”  Now that wasn’t a sincere question. If anything it was a question that was loaded with sarcasm. It was Pilate’s way of putting Jesus in his place.

If you read between the lines you realize that what Pilate basically said was this, “So Jesus, you think you’re going to tell me what’s true?  I don’t think so.  Take a look around you Jesus.  I’m the one standing here with the scepter and all the soldiers. You’re the one who’s standing here with spit on your facie and a spear in his back. So, instead of telling me what’s true I think I’ll tell you what’s true.” And that’s exactly what Pilate did!

Pilate made his own truth that day.

You see, Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent.  At the same time though he knew that it would be a lot easier for him to give the high priest and his followers what they wanted.  So, instead of letting Jesus go, Pilate sentenced him to be crucified. Pilate made his own truth that day.

I think there’s a little bit of Pilate in all of us.  We all like to make our own truth from time to time. Take the woman who called a minister up one day and told him that she wanted to get married in his church.  The woman called the minister on a Monday morning and told him that she and her fiancé wanted to get married that Friday. When the minister heard that he politely informed the woman that he didn’t do “spur-of-the-moment” weddings.  “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I like to do some counseling with the couple before the wedding.”  At that point the woman became downright indignant.  “Fine,” she said. “I’ll just find someone else to perform the ceremony, but I want you to know something.  I think you’re absolutely wrong when it comes to ‘spur-of-the-moment’ weddings.  Some of my BEST marriages have been ‘spur-of-the moment.’”

We all like to make our own truth from time to time. All you have to do is listen and you’ll hear that truth being made. You hear it when someone says,

“It’s okay if I park in this handicap spot.  After all I’m only going to be here a minute.”

Or, “You know, it’s really the teacher’s fault that my child isn’t doing well in school.”

Or, “I’m telling you I wouldn’t have to drink as much as I do if my boss was a little more understanding.”

“If I don’t get that Sony Play Station my Christmas this year is going to be ruined.”

“I don’t believe in giving to charity.  Those people you see on the street are just a bunch of drug addicts and losers.”

“Did you hear about Mrs. So and So down the street?  I heard from a friend who works with her aunt that she threw her husband out of the house last week!”

We all like to make our own truth from time to time. In his book Growing Deep in the Christian Life Charles Swindoll tells a story about a man made a little truth of his own one day. It happened when the man stopped by a fast food restaurant and bought a bucket of chicken. The bucket of chicken was for a picnic he was going on with a woman he’d been seeing for a while. Now I’m not exactly sure how it happened but instead of giving the man a bucket of chicken the manager behind the counter gave the man a bucket of money.  The man and his date discovered the mistake when they sat down for their picnic.  When they took the lid off the bucket, instead of finding drumsticks and chicken wings found a bag with $800 in it. So what did the man do?  He quickly put the lid back on the bucket and went back to the store.  When he got there manager was in a state of absolute panic. The panic quickly went away though the man gave the manager the bucket of money. The manager couldn’t thank him enough.  “You know,” he said, “you’re the most honest guy I’ve ever met. I’m going to call the newspaper and ask them to come over and take your picture.  I want everyone to know what you did.”  At that point the man made it very clear that he didn’t want the manager to do that. The leaned over the counter and whispered, “You see, the woman I’m with…she’s, uh, somebody else’s wife.”

What is truth?  That’s the question Pilate asked Jesus that day.  Well, the answer to that question is simple.  Truth isn’t what you or I say it is. Truth isn’t what you or I want it to be. Truth is what Jesus practiced and preached. Truth is what Jesus did and declared.

Now having said that, it isn’t always easy to discern and decipher the truth that comes from Jesus. That’s especially true when it comes to the big issues of the day; issues like same gender marriage, abortion, the death penalty and global warming.  Jesus never talked about any of those things.  So, in a way, we’re all in the same shoes that a panel of theologians found themselves in one day.  The theologians were discussing when life actually beings.  The Protestant theologian was convinced that life begins when the baby’s heart beats for the first time.  The Catholic theologian was convinced that life begins at the moment of conception.  The Jewish theologian disagreed with both of them. “You’re wrong,” he said, “life actually begins when the last kid moves out of the house and the dog dies.”

What is truth? Sometimes it isn’t easy to discern or decipher the truth that comes from Jesus. One thing you can do that will at least point you in the right direction is to ask yourself this question.  Does this truth encourage me to show reverence for God, respect for others and to take responsibility for myself?

That’s the truth that led an 11-year-old boy to do something really commendable one day.  Herbert Tarvin’s story appeared in a USA TODAY story on Valentine’s Day back in 1997.  Herbert returned 85 cents that he found lying on a Miami Street and because of that, his entire sixth grade class at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School got to spend a day at Disney World for free.  You see Herbert picked that 85 cents up and returned the coins after an armored car crashed and spilled hundreds of thousands of dollars on that Miami Street. Herbert later said, he had to do, “the right thing and turn the money because it doesn’t belong to me.”  The only other honest person that day was a mother of six who turned in about $20 in quarters.  Shortly after the accident occurred, police announced that more than $500,000 was still missing.

A lot of people made their own truth on the street of Miami when they literally took the money and ran. They probably told themselves that the driver should have been more careful. They probably told themselves it was okay because everyone else was doing it. They probably told themselves it was only fair when you think of all the stupid fees the bank charges people. Pilate would have been proud. Jesus, on the other hand, was undoubtedly proud of that 11-year-old boy took the 85 cents he found and gave it back.  When it comes to the truth, you have to decide who you want to be proud of you; Pilate or Jesus?  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

November 26, 2006