Scriptures: John 18:33-37; Revelation 1:4b-8
Things aren’t always what they appear to be. That’s the basis for any number of optical illusions. For instance, if one line has < > on its ends and another has > <; lines are the exact same length won’t appear to be the same. Or certain patterns can be drawn in a way that they appear to be moving, even when they clearly aren’t. We’ve all experienced optical illusions — experiences which clearly indicate to us things aren’t always what they appear to be.
Things aren’t always what they appear to be. That should be clear to anyone who spends any amount of time on the internet. Any number of spoofs, spams, fakes and false-hoods get passed along on the internet as truth, firmly believed by those who re-post them. Things aren’t always what they appear to be.
And then there are things like the relatively worthless and common mineral pyrite, that has a yellow hue enough like gold that it was given the name “fool’s gold.” Things aren’t always what they appear to be.
Things aren’t always what they appear to be. And that was Pilate’s problem. Before him is a travel-worn man who looks like any other villager come to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem; yet the Jewish leaders had come to him accusing this plain, ordinary man of claiming to be a king. And to make matter even worse, when asked, the man himself says he has a “kingdom.”
What is Pilate to make of all this? Certainly this man doesn’t look — or act — like any of the kings Pilate knows. And that’s where the problem comes in for Pilate — and for us. We assume we know what a king looks like. But things aren’t always what they appear to be.
Jesus declares he is a king — but he is equally clear in saying he is not a king of a kingdom of this world. Instead, he says, he is the king of truth. And living in a world where truth seems increasingly difficult to define or find agreement upon, we may, like Pilate, be tempted to respond to this king with the words, “What is truth?”
And yet, Jesus stands there in front of Pilate — and in front of us — claiming to be the King of truth. Claiming to be the king who is the truth and brings the truth. What are we to make of this odd claim to kingship?
In Revelation we read several other descriptions of Jesus; descriptions that help us make sense of his odd claim. Descriptions that help explain just what Jesus means when he says he is the king of truth.
In Revelation we read that Jesus is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the earth. Each of these tell us something about what it means to say Jesus is the King of truth.
Jesus is the faithful witness. Jesus is the king of truth who faithfully witnesses to who we are and what God has done for us.
Jesus tells us the truth about ourselves. Throughout his ministry Jesus didn’t hesitate to confront sinners. Jesus didn’t mince words, he described us as we are. He talked openly about our greed, our lack of understanding of God’s will, or rebellion against God’s way. Jesus, in his words and by his life, didn’t just tell the truth about his contemporaries — he tells us the truth about ourselves. The truth that we are in need of repentance — a turning toward God.
Jesus tells the truth about what God has done for us. He not only bears witness to God’s actions in the past, he shows us God. In his life and death, he witnesses to the grace of God that reaches out to a fallen world — to us. He embodies God’s gracious redemption, that doesn’t wait for us to get our act together, but rather comes to us while we are sinners. He shows us God’s desire to heal, to restore, to make whole. He shows us God’s love.
Jesus is the king of truth who is the faithful witness to the truth about our own lives and the truth about what God has done for us.
Jesus is the king of truth who is the “firstborn of the dead.” As the firstborn, he indicates the truth about our future.
In his life, Jesus shows us the life God desires to create in us. He shows us the new person we become through the power of the Spirit during this life. Jesus called everyone to a higher righteousness — a life rooted in God rather than our own goals and ambitions. A life rooted in vulnerability and dependence upon God rather than self-secure self-dependence. Jesus shows us who we become in this life through the power of the Spirit as we follow him.
In his resurrection, Jesus shows us the life that is promised to us after our physical death. A life with God. A life that is so far beyond what we experience right now that Scripture struggles to find words and images that can even begin to describe it. A life that is as different as the seed is from the fully grown plant. As the firstborn for the dead, the resurrected Jesus shows us the life that is promised to us after our physical death.
Jesus is the king of truth who is the firstborn from the dead, the one who shows us our future, both in this life and after our physical death.
Jesus is the king of truth, the ruler of the earth. Jesus doesn’t just tell us the truth about ourselves, he tells us the truth about all creation.
Jesus tells us of God’s love for his entire creation. Jesus tells us of God’s desire that all creation be redeemed. Jesus tells us of the longing of creation for God’s presence and its groaning as it awaits God’s redemption. Jesus tells us of God’s work that makes not simply you and I new, but makes a new heaven and a new earth.
Everything isn’t what it seems to be. Jesus, the unremarkable travel-worn Passover pilgrim is King. Oh, Jesus isn’t a king of this world, for he is the King of truth. This Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus, the King of truth, we are called upon to believe — and to live — the truth in our own lives.