Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. - John 18:33-38
Ultimately, it is not what you say about Jesus but what you do with Jesus that matters. You must stare Jesus in the face and decide whether you really want a world where Jesus is king.
There were several options open to Pilate, and the truth was that he was going to disappoint someone.
- He could disappoint the local authorities. They could make his life hell through any number of overt and covert acts of passive aggressive behavior. Many were friends with Herod.
- He could disappoint his boss. One way or another, Jesus was a trouble maker. Rome wanted continued submissive income from Israel, not a martyr and civil unrest.
- He could disappoint his wife. She told him to have nothing to do with this man (Matt. 27:19)
- He could disappoint Jesus.
In the interests of self-preservation, he disappointed the person who he felt really didn't matter for his happiness. He didn't worry about what was true, but whether the lie was comfortable.
The truth about ourselves and about Jesus is uncomfortable, because it requires re-orienting away from self and comfort. So we, like Pilate, so often choose the comfortable lie.
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