“Listen to the Truth,” John 16: 12-15

Just a few hours after this passage we just read, after this conversation that Jesus was having with his apostles, Jesus was arrested. He was beaten and abused and then he stood before Pontius Pilate to either be condemned to death or freed due to the accusations that were being made against him. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of Jews?” Jesus responded with a question of his own, “Do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate then pressed Jesus with more questions and finally Jesus responded saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.” To which Pilate responded, “So you are a king.” You can feel that Pilate felt like he had caught Jesus into something. He was feeling proud of himself. You can almost hear him while he already felt a racial superiority, you can almost feel that he had caught this king of the Jews, he had gotten answers from him that Jesus did not want to give. You can feel the pride of Pilate’s heart. Jesus answered him, “You said that I am the 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.” And that led to a question that has been asked and argued over and often dismissed ever since it was spoken. Pilate asked, “What is truth?” In this week’s sermon, Pastor Abie Kulynych answers this question and urges us to “Listen to the Truth.”