JOHN 18:33-38 WHO DO YOU THINK JESUS IS?

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

Jesus is still bound before Pilate, but this “trial” unfolds on three different levels. His literal circumstance is that he is the defendant before Pilate. Yet the substance of his answers indicates that he is prosecuting the Governor and in addition, being a witness for the wronged party, who is God. Jesus deals with this Roman official in much the same manner he did with the Pharisee Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well. He cuts to the central question for all human beings, Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles. “Who do you think I am?” The question is put in personal context for each individual. The Pharisee hears the truth in terms of the Exodus. For the Samaritan woman, Jesus speaks of Jacob’s well. The Roman governor is introduced to the Truth through the concept of kingly power. Jesus is revealed in these three conversations as the Light, the Living Water and the Truth and as he tells Nicodemus, “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” (John 3:21).

Where are you in your understanding of the Christian faith? No matter if you are an ordained minister, theologian, missionary, Sunday school teacher, Bible study leader, devoted church member, new believer or an inquirer, Jesus is constantly challenging you to a greater understanding of God. Jesus’ challenge is personal and seldom a lightning bolt from the sky. You need be in conversation with him and attend carefully to his words. Today, our most likely venue for such a conversation is the discipline of Bible study and prayer. Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman asked questions and listened to Jesus’ answers – Pilate asked the most important question of his life, and walked away without waiting for the answer.

Soften my heart, O Jesus that I might spend more time in your Word and wrestling with what you have revealed to the world. Guide me to ask the questions that will lead me further into the truth, and to patiently listen to your answers. May I have a hunger for the truth and seek to have it satisfied only by you. Amen.