April 2, 2010
Isaiah 52: 13- 53:12 + Hebrews 4:14-16,5: 7-9 + John 18:1-19:42
Someone once said, and I wish I had thought of it, that a cynic is a person who has given up…….. but not shut up. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s so true! This world is full of cynical people. They are everywhere. They are on radio talk shows. They write acerbic letters to editors. They are talking heads on television. They shout out in congress proclaiming Armageddon, and a few sit in theses pews hopeless and angry, cynical and negative. One great cynic is featured in John’s Gospel. He has given up but does not shut up – hopeless, his cynical exclamation ought to leave us stunned yet challenged, looking and longing, restless and miserable, dissatisfied and searching. In the 38th verse of chapter 18, the cynicism stains the page with bitterness and hopelessness. “Truth,” Pilate sneers, “What is that?”
Caught between Jesus and the leaders of the people he listens trapped between what they said and what he said both insisting that they are telling the truth. How often have we been there; trapped between what one says and what the other says, both insisting that they are telling the truth. We hear it from politicians, and sadly enough, we even hear it in the church. The New York Times says this about the Pope, the Vatican says something else. Fox News says this, and CNN says that.
Democrats say this is the truth, Republicans insist that they know the truth. In the formerly respectful, polite, halls of congress, someone shouts; “Liar” at the elected head of State. It’s the cry of a cynic. The child comes home from school and says the teacher said this, and when questioned, the teacher says, “I did not”, and the battle begins. The boss at work says one thing, and another insists that he said something else. Before long the seeds of hopelessness are sown deeply and begin to spring to life and a cynic is born.
My people, the cynic is without hope. The cynic has given up. Pilate gives up and the Truth gets crucified. In spite of all appearances, this day is about hope, and if this day does not stir hope in the human heart, all is lost, this death we remember today was in vain, and we are left to shout at each other in anger, in fear, and we shall be hopelessly lost forever.
Pilate wants to know what Truth is, and Truth is right in front of him, but it is not an angry shouting mob. We want to know truth, and we live in a world like Pilate’s not knowing who to believe even when we really do know the truth because sometimes recognizing and accepting the truth will require courage or a change in our thinking and behavior. We live in a world in which heads of state lie openly to advance their agenda or to conceal their sins; a world in which attorneys, guardians of the law, advise clients to deny the truth, conceal facts, and lie in order to “get off.”
We live in a world where parents tell their children to lie about why they have not been in school or church, or why the homework isn’t done. We live in a world just like Pilate’s where the good-old-boys hide their friends and their crimes and pass the blame. It’s all a trap into which the hopeless can fall and be lost.
What is to become of this nation?
What is to become of this church?
What is to become of us? If hopelessness and the cry of the cynic has its way?
We have no future, and there will be no Easter.
The faithful believer, the true disciple of Jesus Christ does not look to others to save, to rescue, to
relieve, heal, or calm the storm.
When we are caught and know not which way to go,
When the truth seems impossible to grasp, to find, or to hold on to,
There is only one place to look and that is to Christ Jesus, the one who is the Truth. No one possesses Christ. No one possesses the Truth.
Truth does the possessing.
What we must remember and discover in the telling of this passion story is that looking only at Christ leads us to truth, the truth about ourselves; and looking only to Christ secures our hope when there is every reason to be the cynic.
We do not give up on ourselves, or on each other.
We do not give up on our dreams and hopes
that rest upon the Gospel’s vision of the Kingdom of God.
We do not give up on this church which is founded upon a group of men who fled at the first sign of trouble and one who outright denied knowledge of Christ not once, but three times.
We do not give up on a vision of justice for all
even if securing it is expensive and means some sacrifice of comfort and security.
This day in the face of the cross and standing at the feet of a dead man is about hope believe it or not. If you believe it, there will be something to do tomorrow night in this church.
If you don’t your cynical cry will face a growing shout of Alleluia.