A sermon preached by the Reverend Sarah Grondin, at St. Jude’s Church Oakville, on Reign of Christ Sunday, November 24, 2024.
I speak to you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If I were to ask you, “Who are you?” Your answer might be qualified by first asking me back, “Well, who wants to know?” Because as much as we’d like to think that we’re our full authentic shelves with everyone, all the time, the reality is, who’s asking matters. Often we behave differently depending on who we’re with. For example, the way that we might describe ourselves based on our relations with our family or friends might differ from the way we are when we're at work, or at church. It's not necessarily that we consciously choose to present ourselves differently depending on the context, although we might, but often we feel a need to hide part of ourselves in order to “step into a roll” that we’re expected to fill.
And I’m certainly not exempt from this tendency. In some settings and with some people there’s full integrity and alignment between who I say I am, my words and actions, and the values and truths that govern my life. Everything lines up. I’m honest, whole, and real. In other words, “I’m comfortable in my own skin.”
But sometimes in other settings and with other people I’m different. I might get intimidated or doubt myself, so the real me doesn’t show up. Who I am on the outside no longer matches who I am on the inside. My words and actions, or more often my silence and inaction, contradict the values I claim to hold, and I lose myself. Maybe you know what that’s like too?
And maybe it’s just my imagination, but I feel like maintaining our authenticity, regardless of who we’re with or what kind of situation we’re in, is getting harder and harder. Those who are openly themselves, who are willing to let their truth shine in all places and times get mocked as being naïve, and as lacking the cunning to get ahead in life.
Our world has become so obsessed with climbing to the top, even if it means using other people as stepping stools, that if you don’t fit into the image of success, you’re a nobody. Our authenticity and self-identity cower in the face of power.
When you were a kid did you ever have a relative tell you to stop making a weird face, because if you did it too long, your face would get stuck like that forever? (Or maybe you’ve been the parent or grandparent telling that to a child…) Well, I’m here to bust that myth for you.
But sometimes, sometimes we spend so much time cowering, that we do forget who we really are, and whose we are. So when someone asks, “Who are you?” It may not be as easy a question to answer as it should be. In our Gospel reading today from John, we’re brought face-to-face with questions of identity, authenticity, and truth, as Pilate questions Jesus.
The dictionary defines the word identity as “the characteristics that determine who a person is.” When Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” he’s asking about Jesus’ identity. Pilate is looking for information, a definition…a yes or no answer. He wants to understand who is standing before him. But Jesus knows that who we are can’t simply be answered by our name, or our birth place, what we do for a living, who we’re related to, or even where we live. There’s much more to it than that.
Jesus never answers Pilate’s question, “Are you the king of the Jews?” in a straightforward way. Instead, our author, John, communicates some of the most important messages about Jesus’ identity by enacting them in the story instead of stating them outright. Rather than telling us who Jesus is, John shows us. John uses the trial before Pilate, and ultimately the crucifixion, to display Jesus’ kingship and the faithlessness of those who reject him.
Though Jesus is the one on “trial” and the defendant, he doesn’t feel the need to answer Pilate’s questions directly. In fact, Jesus even asks Pilate a question back… Jesus wants to know about Pilate’s personal stance on who he is— Jesus wants to know whether Pilate came to the conclusion that Jesus considers himself a king on his own, or was it planted by others?
It might seem like Jesus is trying to hedge his bets by figuring out Pilate’s angle, so he can answer accordingly … But what Jesus does by asking this question is expose how the kingdoms of this world work: we plant seeds and rumours and try to manipulate situations to get our preferred outcome; it’s backroom dealings and negotiations… blackmail, and winning battles.
But Jesus’ Kingdom is different… Jesus’ identity is centred on the fact that this different kind of Kingdom requires a different kind of King.
After a failed attempt at getting a straight answer from Jesus about who he is, Pilate shifts gears. Pilate then asks Jesus, “What have you done?” When Jesus responds, “My kingdom is not from this world,” it’s as if Jesus is saying you can’t understand what I’ve done apart from the values I hold.
For Jesus, the kingdom represents God’s desires and best hopes for you, and for me, and for the whole world! Jesus is telling Pilate that what he’s done is pour himself out for the world.
What Jesus has done is turn the status quo inside out, and upside down. What Jesus has done is allow himself to be handed over to crucifixion and death, because from the cross it’s Jesus who “hands over” his spirit in the end. It’s Jesus…and not Judas, the mob, or even Pilate, who exerts authority over life and death. What Jesus has done is defeat death, and by doing so, he’s paved the way for us to follow.
Because you see, our actions and our words reveal the values we hold, and the values we hold are expressed in what we do and say. That’s what being authentic is all about. Our outside self and our inside self are intimately related to one another… sometimes they’re fully aligned with each other, and other times they stand in stark opposition to each other.
As we prepare to enter into a new church year next Sunday with the start of Advent, perhaps in light of our Gospel reading, now is the perfect time for us to consider what we’ve said and done this past year. What values are being revealed, affirmed, or contradicted by the way we live our lives?
Jesus’ authenticity got him killed, and because of that, because of this in-breaking of the Kingdom of God, we’re presented with the opportunity to embrace a new of way of being in this world… one that demands our outside self match our inside self.
The last question that Pilate asks Jesus in our passage today is, “So you are a King?” ….Pilate wants to know, is it true? And Jesus once again deflects Pilate’s question. Jesus replies that he came into the world to testify to the truth and that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice. Jesus is trying to get through to Pilate that it’s not about titles and borders, army size or occupation of land. It’s about truth.
And throughout the Gospels we can see that for Jesus truth is not a fact, a concept, or a proposition. Truth is a way of being. It’s something to be done, not simply believed in. To make truth only a belief is too easy. I can believe that love exists, but am I loving my neighbor and my enemy? I can believe in the concept of forgiveness, but what does that matter if I don’t offer my forgiveness?
I can believe in the ideal of welcoming the stranger, and still close my doors and heart to the refugee and the migrant. I can believe a hundred different things are true and never do a single one of them. But if we’re not doing the truth, it doesn’t much matter what we say we believe. Jesus testified to the truth by doing the truth; by loving, forgiving, welcoming, healing, and feeding.
Truth is the hallmark of not only God’s Kingdom, but Christ’s reign as King. When Jesus talks about truth he’s not just talking about honesty or truthfulness. He’s not here to merely say true things. He is the truth. Jesus never let his identity, authenticity, or truth doing be determined by where he was, who he was with, or what circumstances he faced.
For us, it’s a work in progress. When we struggle for authenticity and integrity in our own lives, it’s part of the journey to reclaim our identity. It’s the way of healing and wholeness. And every place we go, every person we meet, every circumstance we face, holds before us the opportunity to be truth doers. Is it hard to “do the truth” and not just believe it? You bet! But we have the example of Christ the King to lead us.
So when the kingdoms of this world stand against us and ask, “Are you really who you say you are?” Through the grace of God we can refuse to cower any longer in the face of earthly power, hostility, and hatred. We can show the powers of this world what the real truth is… not by what we say, but by what we do. And when the world doesn’t understand how to live the truth of Christ, we have to show it how. Instead of cowering before earthly power, we can let our inside shine out for all to see by answering: “Yes, I am who I say I am. More than I was yesterday, and tomorrow more than I am today.”
Amen.
