Word from Pontius Pilate to America: “What is Truth?”

Stan Moody:

Jesus stepped into our world with a message that seems to have been abandoned by us white American evangelicals. While Jesus may be Savior, He is presumed to have left us with the task of selecting our own lord of choice. The Lordship of Christ demands something of us that is widely inconsistent with our inbred either/or natures.

2,000 years after the advent of Christ, we find His remedy for sin – repentance and service – fading to affirmation of America and Israel as the past, present, and future Kingdom of God on earth. Passover and Easter seem to have merged together the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the doorposts of and the blood of the “Lamb of God” – Jesus – at the cross.  

“Not This Man! Give Us Barabas!”

Christian nationalists can be heard crying, “No! Not the WOKE Son of God; not an invisible Kingdom outside this world!” “Not this man; give us Barabas!” (re John 18:40). In our post-church-growth evangelical world, we have turned the corner to rebuilding God’s Kingdom on earth in exactly the opposite sense of Jesus’ message in His Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). We are in danger of having crossed a line in the sand from which there is no going back:

This is the judgment, that the Light (the Christ) has come into the world; and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).

“So, You Are a King?”

Pontius Pilate was the perfect judge in a world about to reject and condemn the uncertain Light in favor of the continued comfort of darkness. He consistently pulled it off by relativizing truth. His exchange with Jesus at His trial speaks volumes (John 18:35-38):

“I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me; what have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this world.” “So, you are a king!” 

Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” 

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

Pilate served as the titular head of our either/or world against which Jesus came to offer an alternative. To Pilate, truth was subjective – a matter of personal interpretation. We know that because he immediately left Jesus and went out to those accusing Him, saying, “I find no guilt in Him!” In that sense, Pilate believed that Jesus had a right to His own interpretation of truth.

“We Have No King but Caesar!”

Jesus’ accusers, it would appear, would have made classic American Christian nationalists: “Republicans are good! Democrats are evil! Independents are gutless! Abortion is murder! Homosexuality is an ‘abomination to God’! Dominion over Creation is commanded by God! The Kingdom of God is here on earth, under our control!” While there may be an element of truth in all of these distinguishing features of good and evil, we somehow have lost faith in the remedy.

It is far easier to cry out, “Give us Barabas!” than it is to join Jesus in His eternal Kingdom separate and distinct from the politics of flat earth but revolutionary thereof. 

We have embraced the subjectivity of Pilate over the objectivity of Jesus, who promised, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Pilate, whose subjective truth had him assenting to the right of Jesus to declare Himself king regardless of the cost, was trapped into the position of reasoning with an angry crowd: “Shall I crucify your king?” “We have no king but Caesar” (John 18:15). The angry crowd will have its way – at least for 3 days more or less. To Pilate, his failed role was to strike a balance between competing truths. 

We are reminded of the angry crowd that has secured political power in the US, for whom Jesus is “Savior”, but our President is king! The hope is that we all will come quickly to the place of understanding that the co-worship of God and money rises against the Rule of God.

White Christian nationalists, whose perspective on the Rule of God has locked onto either/or constructs and nothing in between, have created a god in our own image, barely distinguishable from human governance. Jesus stands apart, overlooking the Confessing Church and Washington DC:

America, America, who rejects those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!” (from Matt 23:37-39).  

The Antidote:

The antidote is not the restored greatness of America or national Israel. The antidote is, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” (Matt 4:17), beginning first with the household of faith – the Confessing Church – and spilling over onto Pilate’s subjective world!