3/11,18/09 - Midweek Lent - John 18:33-38

FATHER, FORGIVE US WHEN WE SHRINK FROM THE TRUTH!

We speak differently depending on whom we are talking to at the moment, don’t we? If you happen to be talking to your spouse or your children or a good friend, you may be a bit more direct and blunt with them, right? You might talk to them about the important things, about serious subjects. On the other hand, when you meet a person for the very first time, you usually aren’t as direct or as blunt or as harsh with them, you don’t talk about the serious or important topics because you don’t know how they will react and they don’t know you or your personality all that well yet. And that’s a normal thing. It’s a good thing to be cautious with your words and sensitive to other people’s feelings. But there are some situations in which your words should never change - no matter whom you are talking to. Whether you are talking to someone you know well or someone you don’t know well at all, there are certain conversations that demand that you speak about the most important thing there is: the Truth. And I don’t just mean avoiding a lie. I’m referring to speaking the Truth of the Bible to someone. You can tell someone the truth in a conversation without ever speaking the Truth of God’s Word with a capital “T”. In many conversations that you have in this life, speaking the Truth in some way is absolutely necessary and you cannot back down from speaking it.
Consider the situation Jesus was in as he stood in front of Pontius Pilate. He was in a situation that demanded he speak the Truth of God’s Word, and he did not back down from the Truth. He spoke it boldly and confidently and courageously. John writes in chapter 18, “33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" 34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" 35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." 37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." 38"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews.”
Jesus spoke the Truth. The Truth about who he was, what he came to do, and who it was that should listen to him. It is an amazing thing that as Jesus’ life was on the line - this was the very day of his death remember! - even though Pilate would soon hand him over to be crucified, Jesus’ thoughts were not preoccupied in what was awaiting for him on the cross, he was concerned about Pilate’s soul! He asked Pilate questions, he challenged his thinking, he spoke the Truth! Was Pilate looking for the Truth? In a way he was looking for the truth in a judicial sense. But was Pilate interested in the Truth of God’s Word? No, not at all. Pilate wasn’t there for the Truth, he was there to get Jesus off his hands as soon as possible. But Jesus spoke the Truth to him anyway - boldly and confidently and courageously. And it was this very Truth that made the Jews shout for his crucifixion all the more, prompting Pilate to give in to their demands.
That’s a hard thing to do: speaking the Truth when you know people do not want to hear it. And so I’m sure that if any of us were in the situation that Jesus was in, we probably wouldn’t have spoken the Truth so boldly. We would have most likely kept our mouths shut because the Truth was getting us into a lot of trouble! And I am sure we would have acted like that because we back down from the Truth even in the trivial situations that we face in our own lives. Our lives might not ever be in danger for speaking the Truth, but our friendships have been at times. Our reputations have been on the line in some situations. I have personally been involved with too many conversations in which my friendship or reputation would have been in question if I had spoken the Truth of God’s Word. And so when I found myself in those situations, more often than not, I didn’t speak the Truth at all. I didn’t speak the Truth of God’s Word to a friend who needed to hear God’s law - because I didn’t want to possibly harm our friendship. I didn’t speak the Truth of God’s Word to a neighbor who needed to hear the importance of being in the Bible on a regular basis - because I didn’t want our conversation to take an awkward turn. I didn’t speak the Truth of God’s Word to a co-worker who needed to hear the comfort of a God who loves and cares and has died for all people - because I didn’t want that person to think of me as some crazy religious nut. I have shrunk from the Truth of God’s Word on more occasions than I would want to go back and try to count. I have placed my supposed friendships and my earthly reputation above God’s Truth at times, and I can’t excuse myself. I can’t say anything that would pardon me for backing down from saying what I should have said. The only thing I really can say is, “Father, forgive me for shrinking from your Truth.”
Have you ever prayed that prayer to your Father? Might I suggest you pray it again or for the very first time tonight? Because I don’t think you are all that different from me and I would guess that you have shrunk from God’s Truth in a number of situations just like I have. On a regular basis we place our passing friendships and earthly relationships and overrated reputations above God’s Truth. We shy away from speaking the law and we oftentimes hesitate to even speak the gospel. Is there any excuse for that? Is there any legitimate reason to hold back the Truth of the Bible from a wandering soul? Is there any way that we could make it through an entire day without finding it necessary to pray at the end of it, “Father, forgive me for shrinking from your Truth”? And when we compare our lives to the life of Christ, our sins are that much more evident. The contrast makes our sins that much uglier. Of course, when our sins are that ugly, in comparison God’s grace is that much more glorious.
Jesus was certainly involved with situations that were much more difficult than the confrontations we will ever have to face. And in each of those instances Jesus proudly proclaimed the Truth. And he spoke the Truth not for his own good, but for ours. Because our salvation counted on him to stand up for the Truth! When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he spoke the Truth to the mob who came and arrested him. He spoke the Truth to the high priest and the Sanhedrin later that night. He spoke the Truth to Pontius Pilate here in the palace. He spoke the Truth to the women who were mourning his march up to Calvary Hill. He spoke the Truth to his mother while he hung on the cross, to his heavenly Father during his suffering, and to the thief next to him just before the end. Jesus never backed down from speaking the Truth because just as he said to Pilate in John 18, “For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." And Jesus not only spoke that Truth, he fulfilled the Truth. Every one of his actions was another step towards the Truth. He promised he would come, he promised he would suffer, he promised he would be betrayed and abused and killed and rise again. And so he did! Jesus spoke the Truth, fulfilled the Truth, and he was the Truth! He is the Truth! And Jesus was and is the Truth not for his own glory, but for yours.
Jesus had to suffer a lot for being the Truth while you receive all the benefits. Jesus was betrayed for being the Truth - you are adopted as his own special child because of it. Jesus was mocked for being the Truth - the angels rejoice over your faith because Jesus is the Truth. Jesus was beaten and hit and flogged for being the Truth - you are healed. Jesus suffered an eternal punishment for the sins of the world because he was the Truth - your sins are forgiven because of what happened to him. Jesus died because he was the Truth - you will live. Jesus didn’t have a very pleasant existence in this life just because he was the Truth. Jesus suffered on this earth all because he was the Truth. And that is exactly what he had planned. He started as a baby born in a barn 60 miles from home and his life went down hill from there! And he was OK with that. Because he was here for you. He was here to fulfill the Truth for you. He was here to speak the Truth for you. He was here to be the Truth for you. And you know that Truth. You believe in that Truth. And you will one day see that Truth face to face in the glories and perfections of heaven.
As we speak about the Truth in the context of John 18, I can’t help but think about what Pilate said to Jesus at the end of this story tonight before he went back out to the Jewish crowd. Jesus told Pilate that everyone on the side of Truth listens to him and Pilate looked at Jesus in the face and said, “What is truth?” What is truth!? You’re looking at him Pilate! Pilate was looking the Truth in the eyes! He was speaking to the Truth and listening to the Truth at that very moment! But Pilate didn’t see it because he didn’t see Christ. Pilate didn’t hear it because he didn’t hear Christ. And moments later he condemned the Truth to a wrongful and wicked death. But that wrongful and wicked death was just right. Because that wrongful and wicked death was just what we needed. And Jesus’ wrongful and wicked death is now the Truth on which we rely. I pray that the Lord helps us speak that Truth as boldly as Jesus spoke it, as faithfully and as Jesus fulfilled it, and as courageously as Jesus lived it. Because there is really no other Truth available in this world. There is no other Truth people desperately need to hear and believe.
Amen.

“May the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” - 2 Thess. 1:12