Lenten thought: What is truth?

Saturday. Sofa. Coffee.

Cold drizzle and clouds on the hillside, delaying daylight, create an appropriate outer climate for my inner mindset this morning.  It is a little foggy in there all the time, but there can be a happy oblivion in the safe cocoon of a fog. But cold drizzle just wakes me up for no apparent reason.  At least it seems so. 

Each year, during Lent, a particular moment of Jesus' final week in Jerusalem sticks in my head.  The moment is generally defined by a short passage of scripture.  It is different each year.  For instance, a couple of years ago it was "Give us Barabbas" .  

This year the simple thought that sticks in my head is:

 "What is truth?"

 Pontius Pilate famously asked "What is truth?" on the final day of Jesus' earthly life.  Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect, or governor, who ruled over the province of Judaea, where Jerusalem was located, during the ministry of Jesus. Pilate posed the question "What is truth?"  as he was involuntarily cast in an unforgettable supporting role in a complicated drama. Even before his big scene was finished it was clear that Pilate desperately wished for his part to be washed away.  But it could not be.

Pilate was the Roman authority before whom Jesus was brought by the Jewish religious leaders who wanted to get rid of Jesus for good.  The religious leaders claimed that Jesus had broken laws for which he should be executed.  

 Pilate, the secular Roman official, told the religious leaders to "judge him yourself by your own laws".   The religious leaders said they could not because their religious laws would not allow execution for the charges, but the Roman law would. 

Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar?  Even if it's Jesus?

How awful were these religious leaders?  They knew better. They said so. The religious law they had been given, which they took so much pride in following, which they espoused to be God-given to His chosen people, did not allow the execution of Jesus, even if He were actually guilty of the charges they brought.

But if Caesar killed Jesus, the religious leaders hands were tied, they were clean. Nothing they could do about it.

Sounds a bit too familiar to me somehow.

 Jesus said not to lie, and yet we defend, even repeat and promote with apparent glee the lies of our favorite candidates for political office, and most of all the lies about those that we oppose. Our enemy, if you will.  And we know how we are supposed to treat our enemy, don't we?  

Jesus said if we love Him we are to care for the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick,  the alien, the children, the widow and orphan and the oppressed, and yet we cheer and applaud those candidates, repeating their lies and loathsome rhetoric, who diminish the humanity of and deny responsibility for the least of us that Jesus loves so much.

Jesus said to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and yet, we roar with approval the horrific practice of indiscriminate carpet bombing, no matter who may be living, sitting or playing on that carpet.  

As Christians we act as if the teachings of Jesus do not apply to politics, as if the political arena is a free zone where anything goes.  This is a pretty silly notion when you consider that Jesus' whole ministry was conducted in the center of a political arena that would make this year's election look like a tea party. It was in that environment that he gave us His profound teaching of how to live and love.

Government is not the answer to all things. It can be the best or partial solution to some things.  Our politics at its finest should be a healthy debate about finding the optimum role of government in making all of our lives better.  And like Jesus, Christians should not remove themselves from the discussion.

But for a Christian, politics and government must never be places to go to hide from the teachings of Jesus.  It is not a free zone in which to achieve a result or promote opinions or say things that are contrary to the life and love of Christ. 

It is not a place to go to once again crucify Jesus.

The crowd outside that cried "Give us Barabbas" was angry because Jesus seemed to be less than what they had been waiting and longing for.  

The religious leaders inside that wanted Jesus dead were terrified because he seemed to be so much more. 

And Jesus gave no wordy defense of himself, merely saying he came to "testify to the truth."

It is no wonder, on that awful morning, Pilate asked the famous question.

"What is truth?"

Not so much different from this morning, it seems.

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