Dear
Emanuel Members and Friends –
“Then Pilate entered the headquarters
again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus
answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’
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?’ 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.’ 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.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’ John 18:33-37
The last Sunday in the liturgical calendar – and
this year, the last Sunday in November - is known as Christ the King Sunday or,
in inclusive language, Reign of Christ Sunday.
On this Sunday, the church lifts
up Christ’s reign over our lives, as we belong to Christ in body, mind, and
spirit. At the same time, the church
lifts up Christ’s ultimate reign over all things in heaven and earth. This reign is obscured by the brokenness of
daily life and the rebellion of those who grasp for authority, but will be
visible to all at the end of time, when “every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)
Each year,
on Reign of Christ Sunday, the gospel reading depicts Jesus as a king who
doesn’t act like a king (at least not as we’d expect), a king who uses his
power in ways very different from those of earthly rulers. This year’s reading (John 18:33-37) depicts
Christ before Pilate, explaining that his power does not come from this
world. Next year, we will read Luke
23:33-43, which contains Jesus’ word to the penitent thief, “Today you will be
with me in Paradise.” The year after
that, we will read Matthew 25:31-46, which portrays Jesus as a king who is to
be found among the poor and dispossessed, and identifies so passionately with
the poor that whatever we do for the poor or to the poor – for good or ill – we
do to Jesus. All three readings show
Jesus as one who comforts the poor while confronting the powerful, as one who
comforts the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable.
John’s Gospel lifts up a very exalted
view of Jesus’ foreknowledge of all circumstances and power over all things,
even in his earthly ministry. In the
Gospel reading above, Jesus has been arrested and brought before Pilate,
charged with inciting insurrection against Rome. Formally, on paper, Pilate is in charge of
the proceedings. But as John’s gospel
presents the story, even in chains, Jesus is fully in control of all that
happens, while Pilate and others merely perform the roles assigned to them,
like actors in a high school play.
We also need to recognize that John’s
gospel uses the term “Jews” in a specific way, to designate those Jewish
leaders, along with their followers, who did not accept Jesus’ teachings. Jesus
himself, along with his first disciples, were all Jews, and the contentions
between Jesus and the religious leadership of the day were internal
controversies within the Judaism of the day.
This caution is necessary because John’s words have been misused throughout
history to bring blanket condemnation on all followers of Jewish faith, with
tragic results.
In their conversation, Jesus and
Pilate appear to be speaking two different languages. Pilate is fixated on power: “Are
you King of the Jews?....so you are a king?” In other words, Pilate wants to know if Jesus
is making a power grab. Jesus, by
contrast, is focused on truth: “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.” Pilate,
unimpressed with Jesus’ words, mutters cynically, “What is truth?” meaning “Who cares about truth”.
Jesus testified that he came into the
world to testify to the truth. We live
in a time when the very concept of truth is questioned. There was once a time when everyone read the
same newspapers, watched the same handful of television stations, and were
informed by the same news. From 1949 to
1987, under the Fairness Doctrine, as a requirement to receive a broadcast
license, news stations were mandated to present controversial issues in ways
that were deemed to be honest and equitable.[1] But those days are long gone. Phrases such as “alternative facts” and “fake
news” are now part of our shared vocabulary, to the point where Pilate’s offhand,
cynical question “What is truth?” holds far more relevance than Pilate himself could
ever have intended. Talk radio, cable
news, and the internet allow persons on all points of the political spectrum –
far left, far right, and anywhere in between - holding virtually any viewpoint imaginable
to find kindred spirits and an echo chamber reinforcing their own views while
drowning out the views of those who disagree.
Freedom of the press is explicitly protected by the First Amendment to
the US Constitution. But now members of
the press are being called “enemies of the people” – a phrase with an ugly
history[2]. Although there is a strong scientific
consensus that human activities are causing climate change that threatens our
planet’s ability to sustain human life[3] – even a
recent Pentagon study characterizes climate change as a threat to roughly half
of America’s military installations[4] - politicians and pundits supported by the fossil-fuel
industry[5] ignore
this consensus and promote policies that promise only to accelerate climate
change.
Jesus said, “For this I was born, and
for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” An internet meme – a photo or drawing coupled
with a caption – does not necessarily equal a fact or convey truth. Nor necessarily does that chain email
forwarded by a friend. Previously-published
photos are often taken out of context and coupled with misleading captions intended
to inflame rather than inform. [A
Facebook meme parodying this tendency has a picture of Abraham Lincoln with the
caption, ‘Not everything you read on the internet is true – Abraham Lincoln”.] So when we share a meme on Facebook or
Twitter, or forward an email from a friend - we can do the work of Christ in
testifying to the truth, or we can bear false witness. We’ll need to engage in fact-checking and
critical thinking in order to know the difference. (Snopes.com is one of a number of websites
that can be used in fact-checking.) To
repurpose an old slogan from Smokey the Bear, “Only you can prevent fake news.” [This is one of the reasons that my sermon
manuscripts and newsletter messages sometimes contain footnotes, not because I
yearn for my long-ago college days of writing term papers at 3 a.m., but
because I want to be transparent about my sources of information.] In our
day of “alternative facts” and “fake news”, fact-checking and critical thinking
skills will serve us well. Indeed, in
today’s world, they are survival skills.
It has been said that, “If our pain
is not transformed, it will be transmitted.”[6] We all view the world around us through
various mental filters based on our own life experience. While we may hold views inherited from our
parents or based on what others taught us about Scripture or on long-ago high
school civics classes, it is sometimes the case that behind our most strongly-held
views are painful life experiences. This
is true for me; my own experiences of being marginalized have led me to care
about those on the margins. People with
opposing views may be able to stay in dialogue if they are willing to share
their stories, to share the experiences – however painful – that have shaped
them and have led them to embrace the views they hold. In sharing our stories, pain can be
transformed into understanding, empathy, and reconciliation.
Jesus said, “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.”
Jesus also taught, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” (John
13:34) Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the
waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning
and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead,
speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature
body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14-15) May we do our utmost to learn for ourselves
what is true. May we, as Christ’s
followers, follow Jesus in speaking truth in love.
See you in church! – Pastor Dave
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people
[3] https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
[4] https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/tab-b-slvas-report-1-24-2018.pdf,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-military/climate-change-threatens-half-of-u-s-military-sites-pentagon-idUSKBN1FK2T8
[5] The
website opensecrets.org contains information on campaign donations from a
variety of industries.
[6]
Richard Rohr offers a compelling meditation on this theme: https://cac.org/transforming-our-pain-2016-02-26/
No comments:
Post a Comment