David Bahn – Reflections

John 18:33-38

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” ³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” ³⁶Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, thatI might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”³⁷Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”³⁸Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

This account of Jesus’ conversation with Pilate is somewhat like that of Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus (John 3), and the woman at the well (John 4). The repartee seems as much about positioning as it does about communication. Pilate wants to put Jesus into his world but Jesus won’t fit Pilate’s simple categories. If Jesus is a political usurper, the answer is easy. I suspect that in Jesus’ day even if he were thought to be a crazy man the answer would be easy. Pilate could deal with Jesus easily and dismiss the matter summarily.

But simple answers – in the simplistic categories that Pilate is using – are not enough. There’s more to this man than whether he is a political threat or a crazy man, or even a trouble-maker.

Jesus is king of another realm. That realm will impinge on Pilate’s world and turn it upside down. Too often we want to put Jesus into simplistically-defined categories. Savior when we feel guilt. Healer  when we struggle with disease. Helper when we’re at our wit’s end. But not Lord of our leisure time or king of our business endeavors.

As we assess our relationship with Jesus over issues in our lives – big and small – we do well to consider that Jesus’ reign is eternal, spiritual, and not from this world. His reign is over all. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we’ll be able to place ourselves into the right contexts under him in all our dealings. We’ll not just think of him as Healer, or Savior, or Helper alone; we’ll know that he is all these things, and that they all relate to each aspect of our lives.

The truth of Jesus’ answers is that they are simple but profound – like much of John’s gospel. That he is King and Lord, Helper and Savior is a simple truth. But this reality has everything to do with every aspect of our lives. This is most certainly true.