Truth-Force

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Akansas
November 25, 2006; Last Pentecost, Proper 29, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(John 18:33-37) -- Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

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You may be familiar with Mohandas Gandhi's guiding principle of "truth-force," satyagraha. (pro. sut yah gra-ha) The word literally means "steadfast effort on behalf of the truth." The word is sometimes rendered in English as "soul-force." It is the quiet and irresistible pursuit of truth. Occasionally, said Gandhi, the quiet, irresistible pursuit of truth requires civil disobedience and non-cooperation with injustice in the strong confidence that truth will always triumph. Real power eventually overcomes mere force.

So with confidence, Gandhi led India's people to oppose the British Empire's colonial rule, but, for him, that opposition was only a secondary concern. "Why worry one's head," said Gandhi, over a demise "that is inevitable? ...That is why I can take the keenest interest in discussing vitamins and leafy vegetables and unpolished rice." Gandhi's primary goals were positive ones: ending untouchability, cleaning latrines, improving the diet of Indian villagers, improving the lot of Indian women, making peace between Muslims and Hindus. Gandhi believed this is the path of "steadfast effort on behalf of the truth," and that it is the path to God. It was a path that required the non-violent overthrow of the British occupation, but only as a secondary consequence of a primary commitment to satyagraha. (sut yah gra-ha), steadfast effort on behalf of the truth. (from John Dominic Crossan, "In Search of Paul," p. 410, quoting Jonathan Schell, "The Unconquerable World.")

Vácalv Havel organized resistence to the Soviet Empire. He called his strategy "living within the truth." His was an activism "directed at achieving immediate changes in daily life" through an "unshakable commitment to achieving modest, concrete goals on the local level." He focused on the ordinary needs of ordinary people localized here and now, and he insisted on performing "repeated and consistent concrete action -- even though it may be inadequate and though it may ease only insignificantly the suffering a of a single insignificant citizen." Havel became the first President of the post-Soviet Czech Republic. (Crossan, quoting Hável, "Living in Truth.")

Are you the King of the Jews?" asked Pilate. Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep mefrom being handed over..." "So, you are a king?" "You say that I am a king... For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate crucified Jesus after this conversation. Jesus was crucified as the King of the Jews for proclaiming the inauguration of the Kingdom of God. Jesus asked the revolutionary question -- What would it be like if God ruled, instead of Pilate and Caesar? Then, Jesus declared this divine rule as a fact, as the truth, here and now. "Blessed are the poor, the meek, those who mourn, the peacemakers." "The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the prisoners are set free." "Your faith has made you well." "Do not be anxious; look at the birds of the field." "Give us this day our daily bread." "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." "Unbind him and let him go." Jesus claimed these as facts. This is the truth. "The Kingdom of God is among you," therefore "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Pilate didn't buy it, and executed Jesus as an enemy of the state. Maybe Pilate realized how powerful and threatening the truth really is. After all, today when we ask, "What does Rome think about it," we mean a church.

Jesus went face to face with the ancient world's greatest empire. Gandhi and Havel also stood face to face with great empires in their generations. They were unarmed, as we conventionally think of armament. But their weapons were far more powerful than conventional weapons of destruction and violence. They were armed with truth. Gandhi's steadfast effort on behalf of truth; Havel's living within the truth; Jesus testifying to the truth. And they changed the world. Margaret Mead has famously said, "A small group of people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

We are the inheritors of the truth of Jesus in our generation. We are the ones who are called to live in his Kingdom, to declare it as fact. Now some people are put off by that language. We don't have kings or live in kingdoms any more. For many, "kingdom language evokes patriarchy, chauvinism, imperialism, domination, and a regime without freedom." That's "the opposite of the liberating, barrier-breaking, domination-shattering, reconciling movement the Kingdom of God was indended to be," says emergent church pastor Brian McLaren. So maybe our language could use some help. McLaren has been playing with some other metaphors for what Jesus was talking about when he proclaimed the Kingdom of God. McLaren offers six metaphors:

• The Dream of God -- "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," or as McLaren puts it, "May all your dreams for your creation come true," O God, like the dreams of a mother for a child.

• The Revolution of God -- a spiritually grounded radical revolution of peace, love, reconciliation and justice that stands up to the totalitarian regime of pride, power, lust, greed, consumerism, money and all of the "isms" that divide us.

• The Mission of God -- a healing mission to cure the ills of the world.

• The Party of God -- the joyful feast of welcome and inclusive abundance, where people "stop fighting, complaining, hating, or competing and instead start partying and celebrating the goodness and love of God."

• The Network of God -- people who are plugged in, connected to God and one another in a worldwide web of love.

• The Dance of Love -- we join in union with the Father, Son, and Spirit who live "in an eternal, joyful and vibrant dance of love and honor, rhythm and harmony, grace and beauty, giving and receiving." (Brian McLaren, "Decoding Jesus," from "Sojourners Magazine," March, 2006)

Jesus started with twelve people who created a community committed to living together in this new reality. Gandhi began by including untouchables, cleaning latrines, improving nutrition, and reconciling religious enemies. Havel started by focusing on the ordinary needs of ordinary people here and now. It only takes a few people living purposefully within the values of the truth for the world to be changed. "A small group of people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

I don't know about you, but I sometimes feel overwhelmed when I read the newspaper. The problems seem insurmountable. What can we do that would make any difference?

But is our situation any more challenging than a Jewish peasant on the fringes of antiquity's greatest Empire; ...or a mediocre Indian lawyer confronting a the Empire on which the sun never set; ...or a Czech poet-playwright resisting the fierce and violent communist oligarchy? Truth-force, soul-force is more powerful then these.

Be of good courage. The Kingdom of God has drawn near. The Dream of God, God's Revolution, the Mission of God, God's great Banquet, the Network of God, the Dance of Love -- all of this is a fact, a truth to be lived within, as repeated and consistent concrete action, even though it may be inadequate and though it may ease only insignificantly the suffering of a single insignificant citizen. That is why I can take the keenest interest in discussing vitamins and leafy vegetables and unpolished rice. This is what changes the world.

I like the way Sister Joan Chittister puts it: "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again."