I See Jesus the Truth

 April 3 2022

John 18:24-40

I saw on social media a while back that Vladimir Putin, you know, the evil madman of Russia who has no trouble ordering his military to target hospitals and civilians, was quoted as using a scripture verse to motivate his troops. The scripture in question is from the fifteenth chapter of John, the very words of Jesus, who told his disciples on the night he was betrayed, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Now, in it’s context, this is a beautiful teaching that Jesus is giving here; from the mouth of Putin though it borders on blasphemy. Sadly, he is not the only one who has used these same words from the gospel of John. They have been also used alongside of pictures of U.S. military which I also must admit is a bit cringeworthy. You see, when people pluck the teachings of Jesus out of their settings it seems like they can be used to support whatever endeavor comes along. The irony of using this teaching of Jesus that there is no greater love than for a person to lay down their life for his friends for military purposes is that a mere three chapters away we hear Jesus tell us that if his kingdom were of this world, his servants would be fighting. So, its really hard to take this greater love of Jesus, the love which led him to the cross and associate it with fighting in service to the kingdoms of this world. Somehow, it just seems like an exercise in missing the point.

The point of pointing out just how wrong we can be when pulling the words out of context is that what this misuse of scripture does point out is just how wrong we can be about who Jesus really is, as if, you know, Jesus really wouldn’t mind his words being used for this cause or that, would he? This is why we need this season of Lent more now than ever, so that we can once again take a look at Jesus, that we might ask Jesus to heal our eyes so that we might once again see him for who he really is. The greater love of Jesus moved him to lay down his life for his friends but he didn’t lay down his life upon a battlefield but rather on a criminal’s cross. Once again, we must ask ourselves is this the Jesus that we believe in, is this the Jesus that we give our allegiance to? You see, only as we believe in Jesus as the one destined to die on the cross for his friends will we then understand just why it was that the cross was always a part of his plan and only as we understand the necessity of the cross will we ever be able to understand just why if there was a cross for Jesus then there is a cross for you and I as well. We must never forget that the reason John wrote his gospel account was not only to exalt Jesus but it was also written for the church, those who have placed their faith in Jesus, so that they might see the example of Jesus, understand the source of his strength, so that when the time came for them to lay down their life on account of Jesus that they could be true to what they believed.

This desire to be true to what we say that we believe, this idea helps us understand just why it is that when we come to the story of Jesus being questioned by Pilate, we hear Jesus begin to speak about the truth. Really, Jesus, you want to talk about the truth, now, of all things, now, when your life is hanging in the balance, is this really a good time Jesus, to be bringing up the truth? We have to ask ourselves just why it is that Jesus at this moment has chosen to speak about the truth. To even begin to understand just what Jesus is getting at, I believe that we first have to define just what Jesus means by the “truth”. As we learned when we looked at the High Priestly prayer of Jesus, the name of God in the Old Testament, was condensed down to two elements, steadfast love and faithfulness. These when translated from the Hebrew into the Greek became grace and truth. Grace and truth, I believe were the ways that those who followed Jesus experienced the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. God’s steadfast love was a love which welcomed people into the very life of God, a love which demonstrated the favor of God, the grace Jesus showed to all. The faithfulness of God was experienced as being the truth of Jesus whose words and actions were the same. As the followers of Jesus, those whom the Father have given to Jesus, we are to be the one’s who bear the name of God, his grace and his truth to a world. It is this grace and truth which cause us to live before God whose favor towards us is written all over his face. It is the Father’s joy that causes us to be filled with joy and with joy filled hearts we go out into a world living lives that unashamedly demonstrate that we have experienced the grace and truth of God and it is this grace and truth we extend to others.

So, it comes, then, as no surprise that Jesus would be speaking of the truth here before Pilate. Yet, we must still wonder why the truth, why the faithfulness of God, why this would matter so much, right here as Jesus was on trial. It was this truth, this is the very reason Jesus tells us that he was born, the very purpose as to why he came into this world. Here as we draw ever closer to Good Friday we find ourselves pondering on Christmas. Again, we must ask ourselves just what does the birth of Jesus, this coming into our world, by the Son of Man, what does this have to do with this moment, this time of the trial of Jesus? Here the definition of just what is meant by this word the “truth” might help us begin to make sense of what Jesus is saying. In the Greek language, the word we translate as being, “truth’, is a word that means that which is not concealed, that which cannot be hidden, and undeniable reality. The reality which could not be concealed, the reality that could no longer remain hidden, the reality that was now undeniable with the birth of Jesus, is the reality of heaven. Listen to how John writes about Jesus in the first lines of his first letter, “That which was from the beginning, before the foundations of the world, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon  and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life- this life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us…” You see, before Jesus was born all one could do was to speculate about heaven. Sure, people knew of God, but you know, God was pretty easy to ignore but then came Jesus. Suddenly, the invisible realm of heaven became visible and that reality looked an awful lot like us. So, in his very human life, Jesus bore witness to the truth, the undeniable reality of heaven.

This undeniable reality of heaven that is the truth to which the life of Jesus made real to us, this reality is the reality of our faithful Heavenly Father. Thus we can see that what was known in the Old Testament as the faithfulness of God, his unchanging character, this describes the very reality of heaven. Listen to how James describes the realm of our Heavenly Father, from the first chapter, the seventeenth verse where we read, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow from his turning away from the light.” Do you hear how good and faithful our Heavenly Father is? This is the heavenly reality that Jesus allowed us to witness in his life, as he lived as one of us upon this earth.

When we understand that the truth that Jesus witnessed to was the realm of our Heavenly Father with whom there is no variation, there is no deviation from anything but being pure light, then we begin to understand why Jesus would say that his kingdom was not of this world. This kingdom is the same one spoken of at the end of the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, where we are told that the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom that cannot be shaken. You see, the reason that the kingdom of God spoken to by Jesus does not come about by earthly battles is that it is a heavenly kingdom built on the unshakable nature of our Heavenly Father. There is nothing in all of creation that can affect the rule and reign of God because he is our unchanging Heavenly Father.

By now, it should become clear just why Jesus is speaking here about the truth. Jesus is speaking of the truth at his trial so that we might be able to face the trials we face. One more clue that we need to fully understand where Jesus is coming from is found in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, the fourteenth verse, where the author of Hebrews tells us that it was through the eternal Spirit that Jesus offered himself without blemish to God. The Holy Spirit is our God who reaches out from the heavenly realm and takes hold of us, anchoring us to that place beyond the veil. This is what Jesus knew there in the midst of the trial where all seemed lost, that as he had come from heaven into our world heaven remained the rock upon which he was steadfastly anchored.

How very different was the witness of Jesus to the witness displayed by Peter. As we hear in the thirteenth chapter of John, Peter professed to Jesus that he was willing to follow Jesus all the way to the cross, to lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus replied to Peter, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times! Jesus knew the fragility of our human condition and he knew that even though Peter had the very best of intentions, Jesus also knew that Peter had a spirit that was unable to overcome the weakness of his flesh. This was so evident as we learn in the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, where Jesus goes to the garden to pray before his arrest and he asks Peter, James and John to pray with him but they instead fell asleep. The good intentions of Peter were never found to be true in his actions. This became so evident when Peter followed Jesus when they took him to the court of the high priest. There, outside of the court of the high priest, Peter was recognized and he was asked if he had been a follower of Jesus. To this Peter answered that he was not a disciple of Jesus.  Then some time later as Peter was standing and warming himself around a fire, there was another person who also asked Peter if he was a disciple of Jesus. Again, Peter denied that he had ever known Jesus. And then there came another who as they warmed themselves around the fire who pointed at Peter and said that he had been one of those with Jesus in the garden. Once again, Peter answered that he was never there, he had nothing to do with Jesus. Then the rooster crowed.  

Over there is Jesus, speaking about witnessing to the truth and here is Peter lying through his teeth to save himself. This is the contrast that we need very much to see. Peter, had anchored himself in the reality of this world, to the person that he had been created to be. He could boast all he wanted that it was he that would follow Jesus all the way to the point of laying down his life for Jesus, but the frailty of his own wherewithal, was no match for the consuming fear that Peter felt in the darkness of that night. For if his strength was only found within himself then they only way to remain strong was to remain alive and remaining alive meant denying that he ever knew Jesus.

It is the witness of Peter which explains the dynamic that is the unchanging nature of God, that his name is grace and truth. It is God who is the truth, the undeniable reality that could not be hidden in the life of Jesus. God, and God alone is the unchanging one, the one with whom there is no shadow of turning with him. God, and God alone is faithful. How so unlike us, who have great intentions yet fail so miserably to turn those intentions into actions. We are people who simply are unable to be true, to always follow through on just what it is that we say that we are going to do. This is why he is also a God who is known as being grace-filled because we are a people so in need of grace, people desperate for forgiveness because we are so unable to be true to what we promise. 

Jesus came from the very faithfulness of heaven to give us the gift of grace. Through this wondrous mercy and forgiveness we are at last able to follow Jesus  into the Fathers house. Yet as wonderful as this good news is, we must also remember that Jesus came not merely to forgive the sin of the world but to take our sin away so that we no longer have to live under the power of sin. No, through Jesus, instead of living under the power of sin we are able to live through the very power of heaven. This is what John witnessed to when he said in the first chapter of John that just as Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit he would be the one who would baptize us with that very same Spirit. You see, Jesus came to give us the very life that he lived, a life grounded in the reality of heaven through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus offered himself up to his Heavenly Father upon the cross. He offered himself up to the Father without blemish not only so we would be forgiven of our sins but also so that Jesus might anchor our lives in the heavenly realm through that same Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus promised his disciples as we hear in the sixteenth chapter of John that when the Helper comes, whom Jesus will send from the Father, he will bear witness about Jesus. Through the Spirit, Jesus told them, they would bear witness about Jesus because they had been with him from the beginning. Then Jesus adds, that he had spoken to them about the Spirit because it was the Spirit, he is the one who would keep them from falling away, the one who would make them into faithful witnesses. This is the reason Peter could not follow Jesus all the way to the cross because Jesus had not yet been glorified upon the cross, the cleansing of sin that was needed so that the Holy Spirit could be given to the disciples. Without the Holy Spirit, Peter and the rest of the disciples simply could not follow Jesus all the way to the cross because their spirit, their drive or wherewithal simply was not able to compel their flesh to comply with their intentions. But all was not lost, because Jesus promised his disciples, “You will follow me afterward.” After Jesus went to the cross, after he had laid down his life for his friends in the greatest act of love, then the true reality of heaven would at last be opened to them and the Spirit of that reality would come and take hold and anchor their life.

Jesus as we have often heard is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the way into the reality of heaven, into the Father’s house. Jesus is the truth, the reality of heaven which cannot be hidden, the undeniable reality of heaven that has descended to earth. Jesus is the life securely anchored to the reality of heaven, so that through the laying down of his life, this life might be come our own. Pilate, who represents the world, asks Jesus, “What is the truth?” The world, so caught up in making great claims that they have no ability to bring into being, is caught up in its delusion that they can create security through their own effort. This is why the kingdoms of this world must be fought for constantly because what is built is always built upon the sand of this created reality. But there before Pilate is Jesus who was born for one purpose, to witness to the truth, the undeniable reality of heaven. To enter the kingdom of Jesus does not involve any fighting but only requires that one is born from above, born of the Spirit, the Spirit of truth. When Jesus baptizes us into the heavenly reality that the Spirit brings upon this earth, we discover, a new life with a new hope for a world so tired of fighting over kingdoms. This hope is built on the unchanging character of the purpose of God which is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls, a hope that enters into the realm of heaven where Jesus our forerunner has gone on our behalf. To God be the glory!Amen!