Barbara Brown Taylor writes in one of her sermons, “According to John, Jesus died because he told the truth to everyone he met. He was the truth, a perfect mirror in which people saw themselves in God’s own light.” The moment when Jesus and Pilate confront seems to be a pinnacle of the Jesus story. All along Jesus has told us that he is the truth in John and now Pilate asks him head on. “What is truth?” Jesus doesn’t need to respond because the answer has already been given to us. As we continue to look at what it means to be a disciple in this journey, we have to talk about what it means to speak truth to power when Jesus is that truth. We are called to speak out and to work for social justice. What does that mean when Jesus embodies truth?
Now we could have a long philosophical discussion about the meaning of truth and what is true. Here is what we know through our Christian lens. Truth comes from God. Notice I did not say fact comes from God. When truth comes from God, it has to come through the whole grace and perspective lens. In order to interpret truth, we must consider what God values. God lifts up the lowly, the marginalized, the places the empire does not touch. Truth has to reflect that. Jesus did. Everything he embodied lifted up those who were forgotten. This is why Jesus is embodied truth. He is. This is why he doesn’t need to answer Pilate and why immediately, in that silence we are reminded that we must speak up.
In that very moment, we are called to speak to the power that Pilate is. Pilate is the governor of the area. He has been placed for one reason for the Romans. He has been put in that place to keep order in the region. He is not to judge. He is just to maintain. In that face of that kind of authority, truth can seem daunting but Jesus knows that all he has to do is to be in order to create change in that power structure. What must we do to speak truth to power. Truth is God’s love, God’s grace and the constant lifting up against what the empire values. Truth is a constant conversation. Truth is what we know all along if we read what Jesus does. The Gospel of John is constantly playing with what truth is and all John keeps coming up with is that truth is Jesus and we are following it. Because we are following it, we have a call to continue to fight for it.
When we highlight where inequality resides, we are speaking truth to power.
Further Thoughts for Meditation
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” ― Oscar Wilde
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.” ― William Faulkner