March 27, 2022
John 18: 28-40
Lent 4

Last week, we left Jesus in front of the high priest … being questioned about his teaching and his ministry while Peter remained by the fire in the courtyard … denying all connections to Jesus and to his fellow disciples. In essence, Peter denies his identity to those who question him.

This week, we hear that Jesus has been sent from the high priest’s home to Pilate, the Roman governor.

John’s version of the trial is the longest of all the gospel writers … the truth that the officials are trying to discern lies at the very heart of John’s gospel.

The religious authorities want Jesus removed from the scene, but they lack the power to make that happen … only Rome holds the legal power of life and death in the region. 

The priests can punish for religious offences, but to rid themselves of this teacher means that Jesus will have had to commit an offence against the empire.

He will have to be considered a threat to Rome’s power … evidence will need to be presented to declare Jesus a revolutionary for him to be sentenced to death.

Pilate has arrived in Jerusalem from his headquarters on the Mediterranean coast. 

It’s just before the Passover Festival … when the Jews remember how their ancestors declared themselves free and left the bondage in Egypt. In Roman minds, if there was a time for unrest among the people … it would be during this period of remembrance.

In John’s version of events, the priests cannot name the offence that places Jesus in the hands of the Roman official … although, ironically, later in the story they call for the release of someone who could actually be considered a revolutionary … the troublemaking bandit Barabbas.

The priests leave it to Pilate to figure out how to accomplish their goal.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate first asks.

Jesus responds with a description of the kingdom that is not governed by the rules and expectations of the world.

Near the end of the interrogation, Pilate asks the question that we frequently find ourselves asking … especially in this time of disinformation and self-interest …  “What is the truth?”

“What is the truth?”

Pilate questions Jesus … trying to understand the man before him … trying to determine what crime he had committed that would call for the severest of all Roman punishments. 

Pilate isn’t seeking a philosophical or a theological discussion … he is looking for facts that would support the priests’ contention that Jesus is a threat to Roman rule.

But none of Pilate’s questions pull an answer that provide those facts. Like many people, Pilate is trying to figure Jesus out. 

Even though he is seeking facts and evidence, Pilate finds himself in a different type of discovery.

Jesus responds to Pilate’s questions with questions of his own … inviting the Roman to understand into the kingdom that comes when God is made known to the world. 

Although Jesus may stand accused before Pilate, it is the Roman governor and the religious leaders who are being judged … and, by extension, the listener is called into reflection about where they are in the story and in their journey.

Through the back and forth of the questioning, we are invited to go deeper into our quest to understand Jesus and … by extension … to understand what are we called to do … how are we to serve.

Maybe we can consider what we stand for? What commitments have we made or are willing to make to live into a life of faith?

If we consider this week’s and last week’s Gospel lessons, we can continue to ask what is my identity?

Theologian Lamar Williamson Jr. once examined this passage from John. He noted that the writer of John realized that there are two ways to ask the same question and that “truth is what is real.”

Truth and the reality that frames it are different for each participant in the story.

Williamson wrote: 

“For Pilate, politics was real. For Jesus’ accusers, religion was really real.”

Jesus, on the other hand, is the truth.

The search for truth is not only about looking for the truth of Jesus, but also about look for the truth within ourselves … to consider what truth claims us … is it the truth of Jesus Christ? Or is it the truth of something else that holds our hearts?

What truth do we carry with us during our journey?

During this time when misinformation is rampant … many times forged through vested interests … how do we know what is real and what is manipulative garbage? 

Just consider the reports regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine … the information is molded by the source offering it. 

We’re left wondering where the truth actually lies?

Perhaps, as John’s gospel stresses, truth lies within our relationships … that truth is known through our relationship with Jesus. It is the truth that was made known to the world through Jesus’ ministry and acts of inclusion … through his suffering, death and resurrection. 

It is a love-filled truth … a grace-filled truth … that we are called to embrace and to make known through our relationships with others and with the world.

It is a truth that we find at the foot of the cross.

AMEN