Text: Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of
this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the
Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."
Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"
Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I
was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear
witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John
18:36-37)
"To be or not to be, that is the question." At least that is the question for
Hamlet in Shakespeare's play of the same name.
But what kind of a question is it?
No baby comes into the world asking whether to be or not to be. It is not a
question that normally comes up in the course of everyday conversation. Why is
that?
Because life happens. "To be or not to be" is not really a question or choice
at all. Like salvation, "to be" is a gift of God, not of works so that no one
can boast (Eph. 2:9).
Yet virtually everyone of us, if we have not already or are not presently doing
so, will indeed ponder this question at some point of our life. When the pain
and suffering, disillusionment and distress, disease and disability, and/or
injustice and persecution the sinful, cursed world inevitably brings to bear on
us becomes more than we feel we can or should endure - "to be or not to be,"
the great question of whether life is worth living, comes to each of us. Some
confront it much earlier in life than others, but it is a rare or disingenuous
soul who, at the end of their earthly travels and travails, could honestly say
they have not at some point considered life as less desirable than death - "to
be or not to be?"
With Hamlet, we in our own sinful flesh, are (at least on occasion) tempted by
the attractions of death over life -- especially when the sickness, pain,
suffering, trouble, misfortune, heart-ache, disaster, harassment and nightmares
that "the flesh is heir to" as a result of sin become relentless and
overwhelming to us.
Our human answer to the question of life, "to be or not to be" - the answer of
philosophers and scientists, the answer of spiritual gurus and politicians, the
answer of progressive minded "ethicists" and humanitarian "experts" -- is based
upon some kind of cost benefit ratio. When the suffering outweighs the joy;
when handicap no longer allows productivity; when the quality of life no longer
is worth the fight against death - "not to be" seems like the logical and
loving choice for anyone with an ounce of compassion.
Sadly, as a result, suicide, euthanasia (that is, mercy killing or assisted
suicide), and abortion are not only tolerated, they are seen as acceptable and
even noble in the eyes of a faithless, Christ-less world. Sadder still,
factions within "Christendom" itself come to embrace such things in the
"spirit" of charity.
But such logic and love could not be farther from the truth. The question
whether "to be or not to be" is forever settled in heaven and answered for you,
me, and all the world in the Son of the living God - the one who suffered, was
crucified and died, and is resurrected and ascended to the right hand of His
Father and yours.
"To be or not to be?" The Apostle Paul sums up the answer nicely for us in his
letter to the Philippian Christians who, it seems, struggled with the same
question: ". . . to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil 1:21, NKJ)
Never forget, dear baptized and beloved of God, that both life and death are in
the hands of our gracious and merciful Lord - who, regarding death, exhorts us
"not [to] fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather
fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (NKJ)
In other words, even if one decides in favor of, and even acts upon, the
negative "not to be," the soul lives on and is still in the hands of the One
who has created and redeemed us all - and therefore subject to His judgment.
The truth of the matter is no person can ever decide not to be. "To be or not
to be," that is not the question at all. The question is where, and most
importantly, with whom, the person is "to be" for eternity.
Thanks be to God, this question is "forever . . . settled in heaven" (Psalm
119:88-90), and has been from the very foundations of the world (Matthew 25:34;
Ephesians 1:4) - for Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, is "the way,
the truth, and the life."(John 14:6 NKJ). "To be" with Him is an eternity of
life in heaven, and "not to be" with Him is an eternity of condemnation to hell.
In today's Gospel, Pilate comes up against that truth. Pilate, as the Roman
governor of Judea, occupies an office that is given and authorized by God to
have the power of life and death. He bears the sword of the state so that there
may be law and order for the good of those who have fallen short of the created
image of God and need protection against the wantonly lawless of this world.
Seemingly, he has a life and death decision to make. Is this Jesus "to be or
not to be?"
But that is most certainly not the question here either. For Jesus very name
means, "to be is salvation."
The irony in this encounter is that Pilate asks the real question that everyone
needs answered - and in so doing stumbles across the answer.
In the verses immediately following our Gospel text: Pilate said to [Jesus],
"What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and
said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all." John 18:36-38
The truth was right in front of his nose, and Pilate did not see it -- did not
see Him. Yet Pilate spoke the truth without even knowing it - "I find no fault
in him."
And this is most certainly true. In Jesus there is no fault, for He is the
sinless Son of God.
But that was not at all what Pilate was talking about. For Pilate, the only
truth that day was that which he had determined in his own mind and heart --
the truth was what he, the mighty governor of Judea judged it "to be or not to
be."
In this Pilate is the embodiment of what is considered today to be
post-modernism, the age of subjective truth. But clearly there is nothing new
under the sun. That is there is no truth except that which is determined to be
true by a persons own heart and mind is not post-modern, it is the essence of
the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and a breaking of the First Commandment.
For to assume one can determine truth is to claim godhood.
So Pilate is also everyman, because Pilate is every sinner - every person born
into this world since Adam and Eve, save the very Son of Man Jesus Christ. And
every man, every sinner, thinks the same way.
And again, thanks be to God the Father, who for your sake and mine, placed upon
His one and only Son every fault. For Jesus - the One in whom there is no fault
of His own to be found by Pilate, or any man, or God the Father Himself - is
also the Son of Man who bore the sin of every man and crucified it all with
Himself on Calvary in order to bury it all with Him and leave it all forever in
the grave. Having been raised from the dead in His body, the Son of God and Son
of Man ascended to the right hand of His Father to live and reign forever. This
is most certainly true. And Jesus, the very "to be" of salvation, is most
certainly the Truth.
Dear Christians, the Truth is right in front of your noses today as well. It is
in your ears by the preaching of the Word of God that forgives you all your
sins. It has been poured over your heads in the waters of Holy Baptism. It will
be upon your tongues in the bread and the wine that is the very body and blood
of our Lord at His Holy Supper.
The truth is Jesus the Christ, who is here with you today, and even unto the
end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
And the truth is that if "to be or not to be" is the question for you today,
the answer is right here for you as well - "to be is salvation." For that is
the name of your Jesus and mine, the one "name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12, NKJ)
And most importantly for you today, it is the name that has been given to you
that you can know with certainty the Way, by the Truth you have heard, for the
Life that is yours forever - In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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