ISAIAH 52:13 – 53:12

PSALM 22:1-21

HEBREWS 10:1-25

JOHN 18:1 – 19:37

Sermon – Good Friday - 3/29/02

Truth and Power on Good Friday

“Truth” and “Power” are two words which reverberate loudly in St. John’s account of Jesus’ final hours. It was the job of God’s prophets to “speak the truth to power”, telling the king what God wanted him to hear, not what the king himself wanted to hear. Speaking the truth to power is a risky business, and some prophets—including John the Baptist—paid a very high price for doing so.

But Jesus was not merely speaking the truth, although he told Pontius Pilate that was why he came into the world; he was (and is) “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” as he had told his disciples. But when he tells Pilate, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth hears my voice,” all Pilate can reply is, “What is truth?”

We don’t know Pilate’s tone of voice or intention as he spoke those words. Was he speaking with the sarcasm of a hardened cynic who laughed at the notion of considering “truth” before executing someone? Was he speaking with a moment of genuine wonder, his mind open for an instant to ponder the deep questions of life? Was he speaking with bemused indifference, brushing aside philosophical issues to consider, instead, what to do about Jesus?

We don’t know—but what we see in his behavior is a political hack who declares he “finds no case against” someone who he is nonetheless willing to have whipped and publicly humiliated and, finally, executed just because the religious “powers that be” don’t like him. Pilate tries to find a “middle ground” between executing Jesus and releasing him unharmed but, like everyone else in John’s Gospel, finally has to make a decision for Jesus or against him. Pilate is finally pushed to decisiveness by reminders that his prime responsibility is to be the Emperor’s representative. Any concern Pilate might or might not have had for truth disappears when he faces the prospect of displeasing the ultimate mortal power in the ancient world—the Roman Emperor.

Pilate is very aware of his power as Rome’s representative—including being the only one who can order someone’s execution, just on his own say-so. He expects people to grovel, or at least to defer to him. Jesus continued to astound him, not even answering his questions. So Pilate finally blurts out, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?”

“Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above…’” Moments from being condemned to a grisly death, Jesus is speaking the truth to power—no, being the Truth and speaking of true Power. Pilate does not allow Jesus to function—or not; it is God who allows Pilate to function.

Exposed as a mere insect who God declines to swat, Pilate does his thing: sentencing Jesus to death while mocking both Jesus and the religious leaders who are so apopleptic about Jesus’ claims to authority.

In his last act before Jesus’ death, Pilate has a sign nailed to the cross over Jesus’ head—written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek so that anyone from anywhere in the Empire (!) who was there could read it, saying, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

Finally, almost in spite of himself, Pilate has used his power to testify to the truth: Jesus was and is the King of the Jews…and (we know) of everyone who could read Hebrew, Latin or Greek (or any other language). Behold the King, suffering on behalf of his people, an executioner’s cross his throne. Behold the Truth and ultimate power revealed: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.”

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church