JN 18: 37-38  & 19: 16-30  

Jottings on John…From the Good Friday Gospel… 2018  

In asking Jesus, “Truth? What’s that?”, Pilate’s dismissive of both Jesus & Truth. Leaders who don’t admit the difference between ‘truth’ & ‘alternative truth’ are also dismissive. Now the leaders of the Australian Test Cricket Team appear not to know the difference between Truth & not truth - in their case, by cheating. Whenever we settle for alternative truths, or cheating, over Truth with a capital T, we’re aligning ourselves with Pilate & how he sees things, rather than with Jesus, God’s Truth.

Truth goes to the heart of Jesus' mission & kingship. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus has had to wrestle out in the wilderness with the Truth of Who He is. What kind of Messiah He’s to be. He’s been tempted to hand Himself over to devilish ways of being Messiah, but discerns there’s no Truth in that direction. Instead, Jesus commits to being God’s Truth; living out God’s way of seeing things & doing things. How can we explore this?  

When Jesus appears before him, Pilate doesn’t ‘get’ Him! “You’re not really a king, are you?” he asks. (Try that with differing emphases!) When Jesus replies, “You’re the one saying I am”, Pilate’s response is,“You don’t look like a king to me!” Pilate’s unable to see the God possibilities in Jesus, God’s very own person standing in front of him; most certainly different from any king he’s seen or known, or likely to. Pilate is genuinely puzzled by Jesus, but unwilling to go beyond his own conundrum: When is a king not a king?’ Is it worth asking, too, ‘When is God not God?’

The way to help anyone, inside or outside the church, puzzling over Jesus’ kind of kingship is by our living out the Truth of His kingship. So they can see God’s Truth as Jesus lives God out in us, and ‘get’ it! Get Him! Get God!

Jesus tells Pilate, “Everyone who belongs to the Truth can hear my voice”, echoing what He’s earlier said to antagonistic fellow Jews [8:47]. Later, when Pilate refuses to change the wording over Jesus’ cross, has he simply had enough of the Jewish leaders & their complainings? Or, is this Truth-about-Jesus question still bothering him? Perhaps it should be bothering us more today?

Jesus, nailed to His cross, is the Essence of the non-negotiable Truth of God. He Himself puts the seal on that in His last words before He dies. Personally, I can never settle for the tame, ‘It’s finished’, or ‘It’s over’, kind of translation. I’ve no doubt Jesus is saying, & meaning, “I’ve done it!” “I’ve brought it off!” And that’s God’s Truth!