For Sunday, November 22, 2015 – John 18:33-37
Today marks the close of another year’s journey with Jesus. Here we stand once more, overhearing Jesus be quizzed by Pilate. Like a teacher issuing a stern final exam, Pilate gathers his central concerns about Jesus into a single question, the key question-above-all-questions for us all: Who are you, Jesus—and what are you doing here?
There is a story about a man who was stopped by a security guard as he walked down the street. The guard asked him, “Who are you, and what is your business here?” Startled by the question, the man paused a moment before asking the guard what he was paid to perform such a duty as this. He offered to pay twice that amount if the guard would come work for him. “But what would I need to do to earn such a large sum?” the guard asked.
The man answered, “Every time you see me, I want you to ask me, ‘Who are you, and what is your business here?'”
It is easy to forget why we are here and who we are intended to be. Are we to be rulers or teachers, provocateurs of revolution or spiritual guides, disrupters or healers? What is the nature of the “kingdom” we call home? Who are we, really? How shall we represent ourselves?
This is what Jesus says: If my kingdom were from here, my followers and I would fight to keep from being handed over, but this is not our concern. What is your primary concern, Jesus? Only this, he says: to testify to the truth. To speak truth to whoever listens.
We have a long way to go still to hear the truth, to speak the truth, to become more in tune with who God is and who we are. Day by day, year by year, we either grow more generous of heart, less fearful of change, more aligned with love, or we do not. Moving now into the year ahead, beginning the journey once more, who will we become? What is our business here?
