Witness of the Truth

By Pastor Chad

I generally don’t respond well to people that like to talk on the phone in the middle of a restaurant. Especially when the phone is on speaker mode and everyone can hear the entire conversation. God made earbuds for a reason. It takes everything within me to not walk up and tell speakerphone-talkers: “Hey, buddy, no one cares and we don’t want to hear your conversation!” As one can quickly tell, I don’t respond very well in these situations. Fortunately, God has always given me the grace to keep my mouth shut. 

Not everyone has the same response I do. Some just ignore the speakerphone-talkers. Others simply roll their eyes and move on. Our response to such improper phone etiquette depends on one’s personality, I suppose. Some handle annoying people better than others. 

In John 18, we can see three different responses to Jesus. It is clear that many are annoyed by Jesus; not because He has done anything wrong, but He does tend to make people uncomfortable. Most respond by simply rejecting Him out right. This, however, usually manifests itself in misrepresentation or skepticism. 

The religious leaders that handed Jesus over to the Romans rejected Jesus by falsely accusing Him of being an insurrectionist. They misrepresented what He said and who He is. Sometimes people falsely accuse Jesus when He makes us feel awkward. Or, we falsely accuse Jesus when He asks us to do something we don’t want to do. This is actually a common practice today. We make Jesus say and do things He never said or did. In doing so, we reshape and remold Him into our image. We make Him the God we want rather than the God we need. We make Him the Savior we desire rather than the Savior that saves. 

Pilate was skeptical of Jesus’ claims. Perhaps he was skeptical because he understood the cost of following Jesus. Perhaps he was skeptical for political expediency. Maybe he was skeptical because he really did not buy Jesus’ claims. Whatever the case may be, Pilate rejected Jesus. 

It is likely that you have found yourself in each one of the categories at some point in your life. In fact, we have all been guilty of misrepresenting or being skeptical of Jesus. In listing these categories, John is not pointing fingers at the biblical characters, he is pointing his finger at us. How do you respond to Jesus? If you are looking for a God to tell you everything you want to hear, you have come to the wrong person. Jesus isn’t in the business of telling us what we want to hear, but He will always tell us what we need to hear. He isn’t in the business of giving us everything we want, but He always provides what we need. .