Prop 29B, Christ the King 2012 + Be Free

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Melissa Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
Year B • Proper 29 (Christ the King)
(2 Samuel 23:1–7; Ps. 132:1–13; Rev. 1:4b–8; John 18:33–37)

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "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."  Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38a)
Moments of truth are integral to living a life of faith. 
I experienced one interesting moment of truth with the local Ministerial Association several months ago.  In the wake of leader Rabbi John Sherwood’s death, the group got together and tried to sort out what its goal was as an organization.  And, as often happens with grief, the group got a little more honest, went a little deeper than usual.  And one member shared a truth.  “I was worried that you all wouldn’t want me here because of who I was” and so on—Mormons, Evangelicals, Episcopalians, Unitarians, Buddhists, Seventh Day Adventists, we all realized we had had trepidations coming to the group because we worried about how we might be perceived, whether we would be accepted. 
After that, we were all so much friendlier with each other, because we had shared a truth from our hearts, a truth that made each of us vulnerable, and that kind of set the group free a bit.
As it says in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (NRSV).”
Or, as Flannery O’Connor said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”[1]
And we Christians really are an oddity.  How could we not be?  We follow the oddest King ever.  Jesus even admits to Pilate that by the world’s perspective, his servants, who could also be seen as his “oarsmen,” or “ministers of the gospel” according to my interlinear translation, would be defending him.  But instead, he is there, alone, politically naked.  He’s about to be really, practically naked and physically humiliated.  And in this scene you can feel the tension between Jesus and Pilate.  Pilate, edging around him as if they are in a boxing match, Jesus dodging back and forth too—Do you ask this on your own?  Do I look like a Jew?  Well, no, but that’s not the point, is it?  The point is the truth. 
Jesus practically points out to Pilate that the truth is that Pilate is too scared of a possible revolt instigated by the Jewish leadership to be courageous enough to own the truth that Jesus hasn’t broken any law.    Pilate supposedly has all the power in the situation, but he is powerless because he is held captive by fear.  Jesus, who frees us, who came into being precisely to share the truth, will not back down or be held back by fear.  Even in this situation, he is the King in the way that matters.
A little bit before this, we have the interplay between Jesus owning his truth before the high priests, even as Peter is busy denying him, denying the truth he so obviously saw in Jesus.  Jesus’ ability to hold onto the truth is not lost on us here, even when his life is at stake.
As you may have noticed, there has been a lot of conflict recently in exactly where Jesus lived, in Israel/Palestine, and I thank God for the cease fire thus far.  Yet I have heard from those who have hung out around that part of the world that there isn’t a lot of truth in some of the ways the reporting is being done on both sides.  But pictures rarely lie, and you can see that the truth is that people are hurting.  I feel the need to pray for both sides, for healing.  To pray for leaders to get over their ideologies and see the truth of God’s love for all people, be they Israeli Jews or Palestinian Muslims or Christians, or some blend thereof.  For a cease fire that never ceases.
So…why is truth so important?  Many will say it is painful, which it can be.  Many of you have owned or shared truths that were hard to share.  I know I have.  Here in this congregation, at times truths have been shared that were difficult.  Sometimes it seems easier just to keep a truth to yourself in order not to harm others.  And truths do need to be shared gently, and sometimes carefully.   But many times, in owning our own truths we are freed.  Freed to be who God created us to be.  Freed to be in genuine relationship with others and with God.  We make ourselves vulnerable in doing so, but we are gifted with so much grace in response.
Author Cheryl Strayed had an interesting and grace-filled epiphany while hiking the PCT, or the Pacific Crest Trail.  She saw a truth in her life.  She realized that she had been amazed by her father’s abandonment, and that this feeling had so submerged her in the depths of her own life that she had forgot how amazing life truly is. 
Here’s how she puts it:
“There were so many other amazing things in this world.
They opened up inside of me like a river.  Like I didn’t know I could take a breath and then I breathed.  I laughed with the joy of it, and the next moment I was crying my first tears on the PCT. 
… I felt fierce and humble and gathered up inside, like I was safe in this world too.”[2] 
I was safe in this world too.  When we own the truth of Jesus, the truth of his life and death and the kingdom that he lived into, we are free.  We can own the royal priesthood that is our birthright through baptism.  When we know that Jesus’ kingdom that wasn’t about power or prestige, but it was about humility, grace, integrity, loving our neighbors and all these things that the truth shines out to us; and when we own this truth, we are free, too.
So here is my challenge for you as we look towards the Advent season, and our New Year of faith.  What is your truth?  Where are you vulnerable?  Share it with a trusted friend in love. 
May you grab a quiet moment in the next month to be with Jesus and your own holy truth.  Maybe that truth is something deep and dark that needs to be shared with me or another priest in the rite of reconciliation.  Or perhaps owning your truth is about simply sharing the light of the gospel with others without reserve.  Whatever it is, be wise, but be not afraid.  Live into the fullness of life that God has prepared for you, and be free.


[2] Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, (New York: Borzoi, 2012), 234. 

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