Image: "Thoughtful Vista", 2010, Texas Flowers, Vicinity of Bertram, Tx.
John 18:37–38 Pilate, therefore, said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause, I was born, and for this cause, I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
John 19:10–11 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have the power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
John 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
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In one of the most memorable movie lines Hollywood produced, Jack Nicholson, as Col. Nathan Jessup, responded to the persistent probing of Tom Cruise's character who said: "I want the truth!" Col. Jessup sneeringly and emphatically proclaimed: "You can't handle the truth!" Nicholson's entire personality went into that moment. It was a truly great scene.
Col. Jessup had no real excuse for his crime but there was some validity to what he said. There are truths in this world that push us to the limits of our sanity. Sometimes we are confronted with an abyss, a gaping darkness, before which we not only tremble, we feel like Alice spinning down the rabbit hole. True "truth" can be a scary thing.
In John 18 & 19 we see the shape of one such truth: we see the horrifying depths to which sinful men can descend. If it doesn't horrify us then we are not really letting the story sink in.
In 18:20-23, we see Jesus answering the high priest and his henchmen. Like Cruise's character in the movie, they are relentlessly pressing Him to say something incriminating. They asked Him about "his disciples and His doctrine" and Jesus, in full control, replies: John 18:20–21 ... “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret, I have said nothing. 21 Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.”
And then... one of the guards slapped Jesus, the Lord, and King of all the universe, across the face.
Even as I read this and write these words, this causes me to shudder. Pilate will later say to the crowd: "Behold the man!" (19:5) Let us here say "Behold Fallen MAN!" How horrid is this mental image! Man so gripped by arrogant wickedness that when he has the opportunity, he slaps the living Lord!
We see this depravity in Pilate as he waffles before the gathered crowd of Jews. We see him as Man the Politician, placed in power and having the authority to execute justice and righteousness. He hears Jesus state clearly that He was a king, but not a king whose servants would bring war and political revolution. Jesus tells him that everyone who is of the truth hears His voice. Pilate, not in the arrogant tones of Col. Jessup, but rather in the world-weary relativity of politics, replies: "What is truth?" (18:38) He stands before the Truth. Truth is talking to him. Truth is nagging at his conscience. But, Pilate's sin is too deep. He, with some sadness, turns away and steps into the abyss.
The depravity is even more starkly seen in the vicious crowd that screams out to Pilate: "We have no king but Caesar." (19:15) 1500 years of Israelite Covenant history with the Lord God Almighty were spent in anxious longing for a coming Messiah, the Lord's Anointed. For centuries the prophets had portrayed how He would be recognized. Isaiah spoke so clearly of Him that no living mortal of the time, sufficiently acquainted with the scriptures, had any excuse for not recognizing Him. As Jesus Himself said, if you don't believe Me, believe the works that I have done! Here, standing before him, beaten and bloody, was Jesus of Nazareth, and the High Priest, who certainly was sufficiently acquainted with the scriptures, commits the terrifying blasphemy of denying any king but Caesar!
All the lessons of history, of the book of Judges, of the rise of the first king of Israel, Saul, were figuratively thrown into the firepit. The willful self-deception of fallen humanity was on full display. That is the context that surrounds the crucifixion.
The truth is: that same depth and blackness of sin is our own natural state. Ours! Yours and mine! Apart from the intervening grace of the Holy Spirit, we would be indistinguishable from them. That is our abyss, yours and mine. And we have to handle it.
We have to handle it because there is another truth that applies to that one. Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, by His enduring these shameful things at the hands of wicked men, has saved us from our own darkness. That darkness no longer controls us. It no longer is powerful to pull us down. We have to know it is there, to face it, but also to understand that it has been defeated.
No longer is the darkness the only truth for us... there is also the truth of pleasant fields where sanctified men and women can walk in peace and righteousness with their Lord.
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