Sermon Notes: The Truth Among Us

John 18:28-40

Notes:

- The crowd does not enter Pilate’s headquarters because it would have rendered them unclean. They needed to stay clean for the Passover celebration. What’s the central part of a Passover meal? A lamb. (John’s gospel is nothing, if not dramatic.)

- The crowd asks for Barabbas. The gospel writer tells us that Barabbas was a “bandit”. Bandit is the same word that is used in John 10, when Jesus refers to himself as the ‘Good Shepherd’. Bandits are contrasted with the shepherd as ones who want to harm the sheep.

- Why doesn’t Pilate let Jesus go if he knows that Jesus is innocent? Remember Pilate is in a political appointment. He is charged with upholding law and order in Judea. He ultimately decides to have Jesus killed to get things to settle down in his area. They never do.

- It is important to recognize that Jesus gives Pilate a chance to come to him (Jesus) as a believer. Pilate could listen and believe, thus coming into the light. He chooses political expediency over the Truth.

- In John 8, Jesus says, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”.

- In John 14, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Reflection:

Why do you believe in Jesus?

Push beyond your reading, your upbringing, your habits.

What is your experience with Jesus?

Fundamentally, experiencing Jesus is both a corporate (group) and personal event. We have our own experiences, but we come to understand them as experiences of the Truth because we can compare notes with other people who have been burnished by the same Truth.

Jesus doesn’t answer Pilate’s question with words. That’s because he is, himself, the answer, the Word.

The Truth is standing in front of Pilate as a tired Galilean- fully human and fully divine.

Simply by being. The sheer fact of his existence, his embodiment of all that is Holy, answered the question.

Ultimately, our stewardship of our time, talents, and resources is not a response to what we have read, what we have heard, or even what we hope for.

It is a response to the Truth we have experienced. It is our answer to Pilate’s question. It is the way we move in the light of faith.

Why do you believe? What do you believe? Who do you believe?

What is Truth?

May God grant us the grace to answer those questions, daily, with all that we have.

Amen.

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