JOHN 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”
Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”
So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say 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.”
The Way of Truth
Jesus confronts the full might of the Roman Empire when he stands before Pilate. Pilate, the Roman governor, must determine whether Jesus is a threat to the Emperor. His job was to keep the peace, and to quell any possible rebellions, anyone who challenged Rome.
It is in this intense situation that Jesus tells us why he came to earth, became one of us, and now faces his death on the cross. Why would the Son of God himself endure of all this for us, and for the whole world? Are we really worth it? And what is it that he is bringing to us?
We notice that Jesus talks openly about the kingdom that he comes to bring about. How is his kingdom, the Kingdom of God, different from the kingdoms of the world? A great temptation faces every leader – the temptation to lie, to manipulate people who follow them. In order to maintain their rule, kings and emperors place themselves above the truth. The truth easily becomes a victim.
Jesus is the opposite. His Kingdom is founded on truth. He does not use the truth to benefit himself; he does not manipulate his followers to get them to way to do what benefits him. Jesus witnesses to the truth. He gives up his life for the truth.
If you want to follow Jesus, you too will need to witness to the truth. In the face of your own weaknesses, sinfulness, and temptations, truth may hurt. We have to start from within, allowing ourselves to see who really are, even when it isn’t pretty. This takes courage, and is really only possible with God’s help.
Jesus says that we will know the truth and that the truth will make us free. The painful effort of entering into the truth about ourselves is for our sake. We will be cleansed and purified when we allow this to happen. In the truth we can be renewed, we can really begin to grow into the people whom God calls us to be.
Can you imagine a community of people who have taken the way of truth? That’s should how we live as God’s people. That’s how people will see us as Christians, when we also serve the truth. We owe it to the world to offer others the hope that truth wins, that Jesus, who gave his life to witness to the truth, has risen. This is the deepest truth of all of our painful, beautiful lives. The kingdom of God is real and among us. In the end of all things, truth wins, hope wins. We all win when we trust in Jesus.