Thud’d’d’d’, That’s The Truth

John 18:33-38

By

Reverend Litton Logan

November 26, 2006

Scriptures:

John 18:33--38 (NRSV)

33Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” 38Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him.

Sermon:

          Many Christians are celebrating this Sunday as Christ the King Sunday.  This Sunday marks the end of the Church’s liturgical year.  Next Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent begins a new liturgical year.

          In these scriptures, we have heard read today Jesus is spoken of as a king in a way that is alien to most modern and ancient understandings of kings and their dominions.  Jesus is a King, who identifies with the plight of his subjects instead of wrapping himself in regal power, prestige, and luxury.  In this identification with his subjects in John’s Gospel, Jesus becomes the way for all humankind to discover the life-giving and life-saving truths of God for all times.

We hear this most clearly in John 14:6: 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (NRSV)

Thus, it is this matter of Jesus as the Truth, the Way, the Life or as Pilate asks, “What is truth?” that I wish to direct our attention this morning.

          Among the many commonalities we find in human beings from the very beginning is this astounding notion in its various perceptions and forms that there is an ultimate Something or Someone, Creator and Sustainer behind and within the workings of the universe. Humans perceive that there is a dynamic and ongoing relationship between the Ultimate Something or Someone in the universe and all life on this planet. In fact, one of the major sources of anxiety in the human condition across time has been how do we relate to the Ultimate. I mean, how do we endear our selves to the Ultimate, the Creator and Sustainer of Reality, and gain protection, prosperity, and realize our potential as creatures while avoiding disaster, death, and diminished potential in life? This defining and seeking understandings of our relationship with the Ultimate has led us to develop various theological and religious understandings of God and ourselves.  However, at the heart of all theological and religious systems lies the ageless question, “What is the right way or the truth of being fully human in relationship to that which we perceive as the Ultimate or God?” 

On the comedy variety series ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN/NBC/1968-73 comedian Lily Tomlin played a devilish five-and-a-half-year-old little girl named Edith Ann. Ms. Tomlin in her role as Edith Ann sat in a jumbo-sized rocking chair that made her look like a little girl. Rocking in her chair, Edith Ann would tell stories about her family and her dog, Buster. When she would emphatically concluded a point she would say, “Thud’d’d’d’d and that’s the truth,” in her adenoidal, little girl voice.

          Edith Ann was very wise for a five-and-a half-year-old.  Let’s listen to some of her brilliant insights: 

"Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world."
-- Edith Ann, [Lily Tomlin] American actress/comedian

"Frankly, I think the chances of having a happy childhood while you're still a kid going through it are pretty slim."
-- Edith Ann, [Lily Tomlin] American actress/comedian

"Acting childish seems to come naturally, but acting like an adult, no matter how old we are, just doesn't come easy to us."
-- Edith Ann, [Lily Tomlin] American actress/comedian

          I was always impressed by Edit Ann’s emphatic statement, “… and that’s the truth.”  The ability to know the truth of a thing is one of the most powerful and elusive capabilities of the human mind.  Edith Ann had no doubts about her insights or solutions.  Oh, to have the certitude of a child again.

We each have the ability to know the truth when we see it or hear it even if we don’t have the language of logic to defend our insights.   In fact, without this ability to affirm the truth our lives life would not only be meaningless and hopeless, but not human.   However, for our purposes this morning that is where the simplicity of truth ends

John, like the authors of the other Gospel writers, writes from within a community of faith to record stories and understandings about Jesus proclaiming God’s mighty work in Jesus’ life in hopes of persuading people that Jesus was God’s fullest manifestation in human flesh.  Jesus proclaimed and lived the most authoritative word of truth from God telling us and showing us how we are to live as human beings in relationship to one another and to our Creator and Sustainer.

Today we see Jesus appearing before Pilate—the hour has come.  Pilate’s true character and demeanor is watered down a bit by John as a concession to the Roman presence in his environment. [Pilate was a grade-A jerk] Pilate asks Jesus a series of questions concerning the charges that have been brought against him. These questions not only give us insights into John’s understandings of Jesus but an assessment of Pilate and his world.  Jesus finally, although obliquely, responds to the seditious accusations against him about his being a King by saying, “Yes, I am a king of sorts but my kingdom is not of this earth. If my kingdom were of this world my subjects would be here trying to secure my release and protect me.”  However, the ways of my kingdom and my mode of ruling are not common to this world. By inference, we hear Jesus saying that his rule is to be found in the hearts and minds of people, who wish to live in relationship to their Creator by the highest, truest ways possible. Those who follow Jesus will recognize that in him, his life, and in his words, they hear the very voice of God telling them how to be the best they can be in their quest for human authenticity in this world and in the next.  In Jesus’ voice, people hear a truth as old as the reason for creation--God is love and so should we be.

          Pilate sarcastically repeats the philosopher’s conundrum, “What is truth?” and in that question answers his own question about truth as well as passes judgment on himself and his world.  The assessment and judgment is that Pilate isn’t in the Truth, his world and all its power, might, and wealth aren’t in the Truth that gives a human life its ultimate goodness, its ultimate purpose, and gives the world its ultimate direction and purpose. Pilate and those of his ilk—those who place their confidence in human power models of governance, wealth, and human achievement--are not in the Truth that really defines us as special creatures of God and refines us as truly human.

          Pilate’s question is not meant to be an off-handed and dismissive question in John’s Gospel.  It is a question to John’s readers across the ages.  It is a question to you and me:  “What is Truth?”  Do we know what the Truth is? No, I am not talking about the philosopher’s conundrum or the theories of truth.  I mean, what is the truth of our lives in relationship to God?  You see, in the final analysis that’s the only truth that matters because we are going to be dead a lot longer than we’ve been alive.  As the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 13:8, human knowledge and our so-called human definitions of truth will pass away but the Truth of God will endure forever.

The truth of the proposition that God was in Jesus reconciling the world unto God’s self and its corresponding fact can only be proven at this time in the life of a person of faith.  The only truth we need really to concern ourselves with in matters concerning our relationship with God is that in Jesus’ words and life we see, hear, and know of God’s unconditional love for us.  We can trust that love now and fore evermore. In Jesus, we see the Truth of how we are to live with one another, creation, creature, and Creator.  John tells us that the essence of God’s nature as Creator and Sustainer is love and what God loves as such is never lost or forgotten, thus our hope in life and death.

          Eugene Peters in his translation of the New Testament, “The Message,” tells us how the writer of John understood God’s love:

John 3:16--19 (TMNT)
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And, why?  Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

          Edith Ann asks, "If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?"
-- Edith Ann, [Lily Tomlin] American actress/comedian

          Yes, Edith Ann, I will rephrase the question: What is the Ultimate Truth for our lives? Let us hear clearly the answer to the timeless human question about our right relationship to God in Eugene Peter’s translation of 1 John 4:13--20 (TMNT):

This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

There it is--the ultimate answer, the ultimate truth of how we are to be truly human in this world as well as the truest relationship to God. Thud’d’d’d, and that’s the Truth!