THE TRUTH ABOUT CONTROL

November 25, 2012

Pentecost Last

2^nd Samuel 23:^1-7

Revelation 1:^4-8

John 18:^33-37

(prayer)

It has become one of the classic Jack Nicholson lines:

“You can’t handle the truth!”

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Jack Nicholson, portraying Col. Nathan R. Jessop, in the 1992 Rob Reiner film, “A Few Good Men” famously said that line to the young defense lawyer, Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) who had just proclaimed: “I want the truth!”

"You can't handle the truth!"

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The prefect of the Roman province of Judea during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, wanted the truth about Jesus and those kingship rumors swirling around him:  ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’

A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ was what Pilate hoped for, and Jesus did say, ‘My kingdom is not from this world.’ which sounds pretty much like a 'yes'.

‘So you are a king?’

‘You say that I am a king ... I came into the world, to testify to the truth.’

‘What is truth?’

Jesus’ simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ wasn’t so simple.

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Pilate knew about kings, and caesars, and governors.  If Jesus was claiming to be a king, Pilate had an image in his head about what that would be like.

But Jesus messes things up, buy avoiding a discussion about the 'title' and instead talked about his role: ‘my kingdom is not of this world ... I came into the world, to testify to the truth.’

Now the debate can begin, because truth is almost always based on opinion and interpretation rather than on objective experience and facts.

Even mathematical and scientific inalienable truths are only true because they have been observed to be true long enough until most people accept it without having proofed it themselves.  We know almost universally accept that, with-respect-to right triangles, a2+b2=c2.

Of course certain other scientific observations are not true for everyone: the Flat Earth Society still exists (although it has less than 500 members); the age of the universe and development and origin of life on earth are still debated.

What any given person holds as true is relative to how they interpret their experiences and what they are willing to take by faith (faith being what one is willing to believe in the absence [or sometimes in spite] of evidence).

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Pilate is the highest authority in the room - he expects to have the last word.  Pilate has control of the situation.  His truth will reign supreme!

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But the truth is that the governor, who represents the greatest empire on earth and controls the seat of power in Judea, has come face-to-face with a simple peasant who refuses to be controlled. 

And Pilate had no idea what to do.

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The problem was... the governor was not ready for the truth that Jesus had to tell – Jesus' truth was ... what Pilate believed about power and authority were not always true.  How can you be 'in control' if your subjects aren't subjugated?

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Pilate represented an empire whose foundation is military might, whose reality is power, whose leader (Caesar) is a god.  He wasn't ready for Jesus' alternative vision: the vision of a different realm, one which is grounded in seeming powerlessness, whose leader is a servant.

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The irony in all of this is that 'truth' is only true in certain situations. 

Almost every time I preach on this conversation between Jesus and Pilate, I quote Andrew Lloyd Webbers' lyrics from Jesus Christ Superstar: the Pilate character sings "What is truth?  Is truth unchanging laws?  We both have truths.  Are mine the same as yours?"

Truth is based on one's interpretation of experience and what we are willing to take on faith.

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We can see that at play in the other two readings for today.  As King David reached the end of his life, his life experiences taught him some truths about his life and his relationship with God.  And as John of Patmos wrote to young churches on the edge of this new faith expression called Christianity, they were encouraged to hold to the truth of their strengths, to know the truth of their potential.

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Experience and faith build our guiding truths.

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When Jesus was asked by Pilate if he was a king, the response was 'my kingdom is not of this world.'  We hear that with our post-easter ears, with the kind of language that is in the Revelation passage:  Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

That kind of phrasiology comes into the church's lexicon through the experience of the resurrection and sixty years of church development since Pilate interrogated Jesus leading up to John's time.

But during the time described in our gospel lesson, Jesus as "ruler of the kings of the earth" was not true yet ... certainly not for Pilate, and likely not even for any of Jesus' followers who were cowering in the shadows outside of Pilate's house.

Jesus' authority was not based on political or military power.  Jesus had disciples and followers because of his powerful words and actions.  Jesus was an inspiration to people of all classes of society - he lived the promise of the love of God and he inspired hope in others.

Some did hope that Jesus was the embodiment of the ancient promise of a messiah from God.  Messiah is a regal word - it means 'annointed' - a reference to the coronation rituals of the kings of Israel's past.  That is the rumor that reached Pilate's ears.  But in the one direct Biblical reference to Jesus being the Messiah (cf. Mark 8:29ff as well in Mt and Lk), Jesus rejects that notion, speaking more about sacrifice and suffering-for-a-cause than sitting on a throne.

In the gospel of John, just a day before the account of Jesus before Pilate (cf. John 13), Jesus washes his disciples' feet as a practical parable about servant leadership.  He encourages those who have been served to go out and serve others.

For Jesus, this is much closer to the truth than what Pilate thinks about Jesus alleged kingship.

It is true that Jesus' realm is not of this world.  At least not the world Pilate knew - the world which is seduced by power and greed - at the expense of true equality and honest servanthood.

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We have just witnessed an election in the US where the truth about the equality of all voters was an underlying issue: and the efforts of some in power to effectively treat some voters as less equal than others (i.e. the ones less likely to support the ones wielding this power).

Coincidently, last night, I went and saw the movie Lincoln.  It was interesting to watch what was seen as true by the different factions as the US House of Representatives of 1865 as they debated the abolition of slavery.  It's like they were living in different worlds.

"My kingdom is not of this world."

Or in other words, "My kingdom is not of your world, Govenor Pilate."

The simple truth is that Jesus and Pilate lived in different worlds (or more accurately, they have different world views – that’s why they can’t agree on the nature of power and authority.

I suspect that most of us can agree with the truth of that statement.

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The question for us today is ...

Can we handle the truth about the kind of servant-based power that Jesus’ truth proclaims?

What does it mean for us to ascribe power and authority, not by might or office, but by the value of words and actions?

I think we do that (generally) on small scales – that is how we choose our friends, our mentors, our mates:  we appreciate (and long to build relationships with) those whose words and actions impress and inspire us.

Why is it so hard to do that on the larger scales, of national politics – of international relations?

As Christians, who should be inspired by Jesus open circle, where the outcast and the sinner, join the women and the children and men as welcomed people of a God of everlasting, unconditional love, why do we still placidly accept the inequality that is promoted by leaders around this globe.

In two weeks, you will be given the opportunity to add your voice of support to specific struggles for human rights, as our Inreach-Outreach Committee provides for us materials from Amnesty International’s Write4Rights Campaign.

That’s a positive step to move into Jesus’ worldview.

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Witnessing to the truth of God’s reign of justice and love will upset and unsettle those whose power is based in greed and might.  We are invited to trust in God’s presence always (as King David was able to see at the end of his life).  We are invited to be inspired by the hope of the young Christian churches who were reminded that the Risen Christ is eternal – beginning and end – Alpha and Omega – A and Z – who is and who was and who is to come, THE almighty.
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In the circle of God's love, where the served go out and serve, we may just find our most basic truth!

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Thanks be to God, let us pray:

God of our lives, in your truth the marginalized are role models, the voiceless sing words of hope and the powerless gain strength.  May we work for this world of peace and harmony so that we may know the wonder and beauty of your realm.  Amen.

#210VU  “Christus Paradox”