John 18:33 - 37
If you know a little about the bible, there are many passages that display Jesus as a cosmic king, coming down from heaven accompanied by angels; riding a white horse leading an army of saints; Our readings from Daniel and the Book of Revelation are just two examples. Even Jesus in other parts of the New Testament predicts his majestic second coming. So why do we pick this reading, when Jesus is standing before Pilate and admitting that he is a king, but not of a worldly kingdom.
Most kings we are aware of got their kingdom by warfare, or inherited it from someone who had been a conqueror. Unlike the ceremonial kings we see today, the kings of the past were almost always in some kind of battle with other kings over a border or some sort of natural resource. If you read the second Book of Samuel, you get the impression that King David was always going off to war or sending his generals to do so. King Malcom, the husband of Saint Margaret of Scotland, who with his wife turned a backwoods country made up of a loose association of clans into a country that was the envy of many in Christendom, died defending the border of his country with England. But not Jesus --- not if we see how he rules.
Jesus says that he came into the world to testify to the truth and that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice. If we were to read further into this gospel, we would hear Pilate clearly join those who do not belong to the truth when he asks “What is truth?” And that’s a question modern man is asking all the time, even Catholics, who actually have a Church which Jesus guaranteed would be the ultimate source of truth. But even that claim is contested. Probably the majority of Catholics don’t even bother with trying to find out what the Church teaches about the moral questions of the day. On the other hand, we have a lot of people who think they know -- and then there are those who dismiss any attempt at finding out the truth by appealing to the idea that “it doesn’t matter what you believe, just so you are a good person.”
But Jesus seems to be saying that truth is really important for his disciples; in fact, in another part of John’s gospel he calls himself the way, the truth, and the life.
One of the reasons some kings were successful was because they had charismatic personalities and were loved by their subjects. Of course others were successful because they were cruel and cunning and had subordinates who knew what would happen to them if they got out of line. But Jesus’ kingdom is different. He invites his disciples to look at the world through his eyes; to make our choices based on his way of choosing. And to draw others into this kingdom of his not by charisma or coercion but by doing what he did -- living the truth, being true to the truth. That of course inspired thousands of people down through the ages to give up their lives rather than bowing to what was false. There have been many very impressive martyrs. One that comes to mind is fourteen year old Jose Sanchez del Rio, who was canonized in October of 2016. During the Mexican civil war between those who wanted to turnt Mexico into a communist state versus those who wanted to keep the country Christian, he wanted to join the Cristeros, those fighting the atheistic government. He was eventually told to renounce his faith, but refused, despite torture. Finally he was shot. And that seems to be a characteristic of most martyrs; in the face of even life-threatening opposition, they cling to the truth, they cling to Jesus Christ.
A Father of the Church, Tertullian, who lived in the fourth century, made that famous statement that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church”. We’ve all heard that one. But another statement he made is this: “The only people who will be in heaven are martyrs.” Tertulian meant that everyone who gets to heaven will be in some sense a witness to the truth of Jesus Christ.
There are many things our church teaches that our society doesn’t agree with. The nature of marriage; when human life is worth preserving; whether gender is real or just a construct. We have to bear witness to the truth. One truth which we are going to concentrate on this year is the nature of the Eucharist. Our church believes in the real presence; Vatican II said that it is the source and summit of the Christian life. Yet polls show that the majority of Catholics say that it is just a symbol, and many of us who say we believe don’t really demonstrate it. A protestant minister once said that if he really believed in the real presence you couldn’t get him away from the altar. Jose Sanchez died rather than renounce his faith. What can we do to have a faith that strong? As we receive our Lord today, let us pray that we receive him worthily, aware that he is truly there in the form of the bread and wine.
