A Sermon  by the Rev. Peter Bridge, Priest Associate

 

The King of Truth: Last Sunday after Pentecost:  11/22/15: 

John 18:33-37    CHRIST THE KING

 

“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.”

 

Mali! Paris! Nigeria! Beirut! Are you as shocked and confused as I am?  How am I supposed to react to the terrible events of the last couple of weeks??!! I am torn! Split apart. My anger and fear make me want to lash out; to drink the quick-fix cocktail handed to me by the news and by ambitious politicians. The ingredients of the cocktail are anger, fear and immediate aggression. “Bomb them” and “Close the borders”. Be afraid and give us your complete support as we unleash the biggest violence yet on these evil people. My confusion increases.  My fear increases. But out of the fog of my confused emotions comes a picture of Jesus, my King, saying the very opposite.  My King of Truth says: “for this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” And to what truth does he testify? A truth of non-violence.  And my King of Truth speaks to me in other ways too.  Our Presiding bishop Michael has just written to us saying “Be not afraid!” I  remember one of the 5 marks of mission:  “To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation”.  I remember Pope Paul VI saying long ago: “If you want peace, work for justice!” I remember also Jesus talking about the-king-judging-the-nations. The king will judge the nations on this standard: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me!”  (Matthew 25:35)

 

So I get a little courage and I start to talk to others about my Christian belief in non-violence and radical hospitality.  I point out that many experts (Christian and non-Christian) are saying that each new bombing raid produces more refugees and more people that will have a violent response to us.  More people that we and our children’s children way into the future will fear!!  I hear shouts of derision and contempt. Get real. These are evil monsters. We just need to get rid of them! I’m torn because it sounds like they are trying to get me to give my allegiance to a different king!

 

As we celebrate Christ’s sovereignty today, the lesson for us is clear. We are invited into a royalty of truth, an adventure of living with integrity and realness. Jesus says: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice!”

 

But it’s often scary and difficult.  Just as Jesus faced the hostility of the crowd and the interrogation of Pilate, so we, in our quest to live with integrity and truth, face the relentless onslaught of a culture which is historically prone to self-deception and to quick violent answers. Of course it’s OK to protect ourselves but we do well first to listen to our CALM KING!

 

Traumatic events make us especially vulnerable to false kings bringing dangerous messages.  The election season also makes us vulnerable because the ambitious politician wields not the simple shepherd’s staff of truth but the shiny seductive scepter of fear!!

In the midst of shock and confusion we need to be especially careful how and where we get our truth. Many groups are competing for our loyalty. They’ll try anything. Fear.  The illusory promise of perfect safety.  Whatever it takes to make us follow them.  And we are sometimes very vulnerable. We can be impressed and manipulated by the noise and power of  external symbols. But they are often empty of truth.  I love royalty. Can’t get enough of  Buckingham palace etc. when I’m in London. I have an excuse. After all that was once the house of my king and later my queen.  But even as I glory in it I have to remember that it’s my “museum” but definitely not my place of truth.  I love the Vatican, the treasures, the astounding liturgies.  I was once privileged to be just a few yards away from Pope Paul VI as he canonized  some new saints. It was quite exhilarating. I still find all that pomp rather exciting.  But again for me this is exciting in a “museum” kind of way. It could never be the center of my truth.  Power is not truth.  Wealth is not truth. The trappings of royalty are not truth. Even when those trappings have been adopted by a church they are not truth!  The same can be said about Canterbury which I also love.  In our Anglican tradition too we have much de-clutterring to do!  We must put in its place the “museum” part of religion lest it distort the deeper truth so needed for the healing of our world.

 

Jesus showed us once and for all how to put all those external trappings of glory and power into their place and go for something humbler and deeper. He doesn’t need the trappings of royalty but he is a king none-the-less:  the King of Truth!  He stares down Pilate and the authorities and basically says to them: “Guess what guys I’m not impressed!”

 

We must also learn from history when we are traumatized. When our fear makes us prone to grab for easy answers. I am over-simplifying this a bit but history moved from Ignorance(the dark ages) to the so-called Age of Enlightenment. But in some ways it proved to be the Age of Arrogance.  People thought they had all the answers and could even force their answers on other people. That eventually gave way to a new humility. It wasn’t exactly the VIRTUE of humility. Often it was just humility by default. A more realistic assessment. An appropriate suspicion of dominant cultures that claimed progress. Progress for whom? Progress for the rich? Progress for the powerful?! There was a new realization that we have a huge amount to learn from each other; that we don’t have all the answers after all. History writ large is a reflection of history writ small in each human being. Each one of us can sometimes drown in ignorance and confusion, our own dark ages.  Each one of us can sometimes arrogantly think that we are the truly enlightened ones, that we have all the answers, that we are answerable to nobody else because we have already solved all the problems. But, thanks to God’s patience and grace, each one of us also has the capacity to recover from this arrogance and cultivate a new and life-giving humility of spirit.

 

Jesus, the King of Truth, is the great model for our seeking after authenticity in our own lives.  The king keeps inviting us to travel with him along the royal road to truth. Like his, so also our truth-producing journey needs SOLITUDE, COMMUNITY AND SERVICE! Solitude, Community and Service to sustain us on the journey and keep us on the royal road to truth!

 

SOLITUDE:  Where did Jesus find the courage to stand unflinchingly before Pilate?  How was Jesus able to speak truth to power with such incredible resolve? He had discovered his truth and his integrity in the desert.  In Solitude!!  Solitude is a sacred treasure-house of truth.  Solitude is not the same as Isolation.  Isolation breeds fear, wants to run from people.  Solitude prepares us to return ever more available for rich engagement with other human beings. Just as Jesus faced down his demons in the desert, so also we can look our own falseness in the eye and begin the process of rooting it out.  We can discover those truths deep within.  It is so wonderful when someone trying to heal a relationship at last finds the humility to say: “Yes, I realize now that I do that unfair thing.  I need to work on that and take responsibility for it.”  A healing moment.  Those healing moments can and must happen also between groups and nations.  Someone needs to make the first courageous move. A true leader, not paralyzed by the fear of political fall-out, is able to say: “Yes, we’ve been doing that unfair thing. We need to take responsibility for it.”  Future generations need us to think this through in the healing solitude of God’s blessed desert. Not in the noise and tumult of sensationalist media or fear-mongering politicians. Another way of saying this: Quietly pray! Anglican Spiritual Director Austin Farrar had a great formula for discovering truth. He used to say: “You know on your knees!”

 

COMMUNITY:   I have said that Solitude prepares us to go back to the rich engagement of community. Here too Jesus shows us the royal road to truth.  Imagine how pale a life Jesus would have lived if he had been tempted to stay in the synagogue debating with the rabbis.  Imagine too if he had aspired to become part of the elite group of Sadducees who ran the show but were completely isolated from the people.  This might have resulted in a kind of book-learning Jesus or a smug legalistic Jesus. Jesus knew that the truth is in great danger when it gets tangled up with powerful groups and elite institutions who twist it for their own purposes. Jesus knew that a deeper wisdom, the whole truth, is something that can only come as a result of engagement with the whole community.  He knew that little cliques and power groups try their best to monopolize the truth but their attempts to do so are destined to fail in the long run.  He knew that if you want the whole truth you have to embrace the glorious wealth of diversity. The Enlightenment Age was ultimately surpassed because of its narrow arrogant approach to the truth; that dangerous belief that it could solve all problems scientifically and rationally. Full and open engagement with all parts of the community tends to cure one of that kind of arrogance.  Some of the worst results of colonialism would never have happened if people had thought less about bringing their truth to other lands and thought more about the great privilege of enriching their truth in other lands!  Truth thrives when we wholeheartedly embrace our membership in the human race, not just our race. 

 

SERVICE:    Truth is perhaps in the very greatest danger when we seek to lord it over other people; when we want them to serve us.  Our king of truth modeled a life of service.   As seekers after truth we can never forget that most telling portrait of our King washing the feet of his friends (John 13:14). When he is done he says: “So if I your Lord and Teacher has washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Yes, our truth shines out brilliantly in our service to others.

 

Will you choose the royal road to truth?  Today’s world is depending on you.  And tomorrow’s world is depending on you. Will you follow the king of truth?  In a few moments we’ll recite the creed.  Hopefully we’ll do so with enthusiasm and conviction.  But the truth cannot be confined in any Creed. The truth our king speaks to Pilate is a truth discovered in a life that was truly lived. A life lived to the full. A life of solitude, community and service.  It’s the truth not of words eloquently spoken but the truth of service bravely undertaken. This is the truth your king invites you to grow into.  Will you cultivate this kind of truth in your life?!

 

Yes, Paris makes us cry out! Mali makes shout “Why?! Why!? Why!?”  In the midst of all this trauma we are desperately searching for answers. I challenge you with this thoughtful quote I heard somewhere during these last few difficult days: “Don’t ask the meaning of life; Life is asking the meaning of you!”  Who are you?  Who…. is your king?

 

(Peter J. Bridge  11/22/15   Trinity Cathedral)