2024-11-26
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
November 24, 2024 Sermon. Rev. Wooster
Our scripture text today is known as “The trial before Pilate,” the story of Jesus being turned over to Pontius Pilate to judge whether Jesus should be condemned to death after his arrest in the garden. Pilate questions Jesus on the charge of rebellion, but Jesus has questions of his own.
Scripture: John 18:33-37
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 does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to 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.”
Let us Pray: Holy Spirit, we pray that you enter into our hearts, minds, and souls, as we contemplate these words of Scripture. Illuminate the eternal essence of your being through our hearing of it, and through your power, transform the words of your heart into the stuff of new life. Amen.
Who is on trial here, Jesus, or Pilate?
Pilate begins to prosecute Jesus: “Are you the king of the Jews?”
And Jesus’ retort to this question is that of a prosecutor prosecuting the other prosecutor. So, who is actually on trial? Here’s why that question matters: Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor over Judea, who keeps the interests of the empire secure and holds unprecedented power in the early first century, already knows that Jesus should not be on trial.
The Jewish leaders who turned Jesus over to Pilate were clear about what they wanted. They wanted Jesus crucified. Pilate had all the power to do their bidding.
But why did Pilate do it? This is the exact question that Jesus asked. Rather than answer Pilate’s question: “Are you the King of the Jews?”, Jesus poses his own question: Is this your idea, Jesus asks? Or are you just parroting what the people want you to do? Are you just looking for the path of least resistance, or, will you try to decide what is right?
Is Pilate trapped in fear? Will he lose his control if he does not do what the Jewish leaders are demanding? Highly unlikely. He had enormous control over all of Judea and its center, Jerusalem. So, when he asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews, was that really his question? Or is he fishing for reason that he can use to placate the status quo? It appears that Pilate is afraid of losing control, that if he doesn’t do what they want, word might get back to Rome that Pilate was losing control of his power. In their meeting, Pilate appears weaker than his status suggests, and Jesus appears more powerful than his status suggests.
Even though Jesus is the arrested prisoner here for interrogation, he turns the questioning back to Pilate. In his last hours, Jesus sees in Pilate a person caught in the shackles of his own position and power. With mercy, Jesus creates an opening for Pilate to become free. Here in Pilate’s court, Jesus is giving himself to be with the true person who is Pilate. Jesus is asking how it is with him, to share the difficulties of being trapped by Rome to do whatever he is told. Jesus is asking Pilate to share the truth of his life. And how does Pilate answer? In the next verse, verse 38, Pilate spits out the words “what is truth?” He then goes out to the Jewish leaders and tells them, “I find no case against him.” Pilate is likely a tormented soul. Torn in two between holding power and doing the right thing, taking the right path in his life.
Jesus eventually responds to Pilate’s question: “Everyone who belongs to truth listens to my voice.” In this very last conversation that he will have with a fellow human being before his death, Jesus offers Pilate a different path. Listen to me, he is saying to Pilate. Listen for my voice and your fear may subside. Jesus is fully himself in this moment. He is ministering to Pilate. Are you okay, sir? Are you sure that this is what you want? To kill me? You know I am innocent. You don’t want to do this. Jesus is saying to Pilate: “Do not be afraid.” You know the truth. You say that I am a king, and yes, for this I was born.Jesus is showing his Kingdom to Pilate. Jesus is the shepherd king, who reaches out to his flock, to lead them to a better place, a safer place. Pilate is the villain in this meeting, of course. In the end, Pilate is the one who gives the order to crucify Jesus.
So, the easiest thing for us to do is to say how mistaken and arrogant Pilate is – to say that Pilate is on the wrong side of history. That’s true. But I don’t think that condemning people as enemies of Jesus is actually the way for us to follow the teachings of Jesus. Yes, Jesus showed that the empire was unjust, but he also said to love your enemy. And that’s exactly what Jesus did when he was arrested and handed over to be questioned by Pilate. Jesus met Pilate with love. When do we not feel safe? When do we feal trapped in fear? Are their times when we have lost our freedom because we felt bound to keep control of some situation so we don’t lose face, or lose a job, or lose our friends or family? Are we sometimes……..Pilate?
Do we stay in certain situations, or do certain things in our lives for fear we’ll lose our safety? Is the fear of losing power so, well, “powerful,” that we are sometimes willing to lose our authenticity instead? Like Pilate, we know that Jesus is innocent. We know that Jesus reflects the full measure of God. So why are we sometimes afraid to speak truth to power, to be vulnerable in our generosity, or to question the status quo? Today is Reign of Christ Sunday in the liturgical calendar This is a day to celebrate the reign of Christ in our lives. To proclaim the reign of Christ is to contradict any power that counters the values of God. Christ is the true King, therefore any authority that acts differently is unjust.
Yet, the focus on the reign of Christ in our lives is more than this. Yes, Christ’s reign is about his majesty over all that is but it is more about his ministry than majesty. His ministry is to help us face the truth of our lives, to comfort us by being authentic about how we are doing, how we are coping. “Are you okay?,” he asks us. Are you sure what you are saying and doing is what you truly believe? Are you afraid? Today’s scripture passage closes with Jesus saying that he came into the world to testify to the truth, and when we belong to the truth, we listen to Christ’s voice. I’m a little jealous of Pilate in this circumstance, because at least he got to stand right beside Jesus and hear his voice. But Jesus’ voice does speak to us in scripture.
His voice speaks to us as we look at the beauty of the world, created for each and every one of us in which to live out our lives. Christ speaks to us when we are afraid or uncertain if we are using our own voice, perhaps so much so that we take on the voice of others around us, with their thoughts and opinions affecting our own.
Jesus met Pilate with love. And Jesus meets us with love, even when we act like Pilate. Even when we are trapped in our fear. Even when all we can feel is the pressure to handle the challenges of our lives, and we just want to get some control over things. Jesus offers us the confidence to live faithfully by what is true even when things are out of our control. We don’t need to keep everything secure—God does that. We don’t want to see ourselves as Pilate, but maybe there’s some truth to that. And if we can see a bit of Pilate in ourselves, then we can also receive the mercy of Jesus addressing our fear. “Is that really what you think?, he says. Or did you get that idea from somewhere else? Could you try taking another perspective? Can you set aside your bias and listen carefully for where the truth will lead you?”
Jesus loved Pilate while knowing that Pilate was too afraid to save him. Too afraid to let him live. Jesus met Pilate with Love. And then Pilate had him killed. Pilate knew the truth, but his fear overtook him. Jesus meets us with love while knowing that we, too are often afraid to take every action that Jesus calls us to take. Listen to me, Jesus said to Pilate. Listen for my voice. Listen to me, he is saying to us. Listen for my voice and it will ground you in your truth. I was born to be your King, Jesus tells us. The king of Truth and Love. I will always be with you, he tells us, even when you’re having trouble hearing my voice. Seek the truth in your life, and you will find me there.
Let us be authentic about how it is with us and allow ourselves to be led by the shepherding king who frees us from fear and leads us to be faithful to what we know is right. Let us rest in the arms of Christ the king.
May it be so. Amen.