25 November 2018 – Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King
No truer word
We seem to live in a time of questioning the sources of information. Lobbying influences, media outlets can all contribute to making us wonder. We now have online misinformation, and findings that outside influences can literally hack voter details and sway elections. So it’s little wonder that at a far more local level, when it comes to an election, we often wonder “is this candidate telling the truth as they see it- or are they just telling the people what they want to hear.” It’s our own version of Pilate’s “truth- what is that?”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus and Pilate are engaged in a dialogue on the subject of truth. Jesus is on trial for his life- both he and Pilate know that. Were Jesus a politician- we would probably see an effort to justify Himself with a lengthy discourse or fancy rhetoric. He makes no effort to say the things that Pilate wants to hear. In short Jesus is true to who He is- the Son of God and doesn’t seek to make himself into something people would find more palatable. I often wonder at how much time and energy we waste on trying to be something other than who God wants us to be.
In recent months I was interacting with a media person who declared they would like to set up a religion based solely on the teachings of Jesus. When I asked the simple question- would that be ALL the teachings of Jesus- they retreated. Somehow I feel that were it today and some modern version of Pilate assessing Jesus we would have more or less the same result- maybe not as bloody an end- but ultimately of his message being rejected by the forces of today. “all who are on the side of truth- listen to my voice.”
Jesus knew why he came into the world, to tell us the truth- to tell us the truth about ourselves, to tell us who we are and where we are going; to teach us to understand the truth about life and living. All the times we wonder “Why was I born?” “Why am I living?” “What can I get?” “What am I giving?” We spend millions trying to explore the universe and hope that some blip from space might speak to us of life beyond on other planets. But we seem very embarrassed if not cynical about the possibility of a personal God who just might have something to say to us… if we just step aside from the baying crowds outside the courts of the various Pilates of our time and age who stifle the word of truth.
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