What Are We Fighting For?
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a 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.”
Jesus is just so brilliant. Look at the way He argues with Pilate in this scenario. But first, look at what is at stake.
Jesus has been brought to Pilate to be judged. The judgment will be a matter of life or death, and if Jesus read the writings of the prophets, He knows it will end up in death.
But Jesus isn’t scared. Instead of arguing to convince Pilate about what is wrong and right about the situation, Jesus presents the truth. Throughout this sequence, Jesus presents the truth to Judas, guards, Pilate, the High Priest, the High Priest’s father-in-law, and others. Jesus doesn’t attack them. Jesus doesn’t call them names or make them look stupid. The closest He comes to such tactics is asking Pilate “do you say this, or did others say this to you?” Even then Jesus is giving them room to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions.
The peace of Christ has been given to all Christians. We live in an amazing time where our voice can be heard by any number of people. Any of the 4,000,000,000+ people on the internet can read this post that you are reading right now. With such potential voice, do we want to argue like Jesus or like the Pharisees? Do we want to insinuate and condemn or bring forth the truth for all readers to judge on their own?
Jesus’ kingdom is not from the world. It’s not of the world or His servants would be fighting with the world in the world’s ways. Let’s bring forth the truth. Jesus said everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice. As we listen and repeat what we hear, more and more of the world that seeks will find the Truth they are looking for.