Two ways to live

In John 18: 33 – 37 we see two different ways to live being demonstrated and these are symbolised in Cecil Collins' picture Christ Before The Judge. In this picture Pilate is angular, aggressive and threatening while the curves and crosses in the depiction of Jesus are suggestive of love and sacrifice.

Pilate represents the oppressive, aggressive, controlling power of the Roman Empire (perhaps, of any Empire) while Jesus represents the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, service and self-sacrifice. Two opposed kingdoms; a clash of civilisations; two very different ways to live.

When Jesus says that his kingdom does not belong to this world, he means that it does not belong to the aggressive, militaristic world of Pilate. The empire to which Pilate belongs is “based on power,” writes Stephen Verney the former Bishop of Repton. It is “ based on power and can crucify people but does not know how to set them free.” Jesus’ kingdom does not belong to that world. In the kingdom of God, by contrast, powerlessness is the route by which compassion can “transform men and women, so that they are born again into the freedom to love one another.”

In our lives there are also these two ways to live: the way of compassion or the way of domination; the way of self-sacrifice or the way of self; the way of powerlessness or the way of power; the way of serving or the way of grasping. The question before us this morning is whether we are living in the kingdom of Jesus or the empire of Pilate.

The empire of power, aggression and selfishness, with its strength in numbers and weaponry, appears to be the stronger kingdom. It is also backed by science as scientists suggest that our selfish instincts constitute the natural way for human beings to live; part of the survival of the fittest. And yet every empire based on these things has in time been overthrown, including that of Rome, while Christ’s Church continues to this day and continues to grow. So which is really the stronger?

Mike Yaconelli recounts a wonderful story from World War II that demonstrates the power of small unselfish acts of kindness. During the final months of World War II daily bombing raids were being conducted from Britain. The bombers would take off from an airstrip surrounded by smaller fighter planes whose job it was to keep the German fighter planes from attacking the bombers.

One night, as they returned from their raid, a group of planes was attacked by German fighter planes. As the dogfight unfolded, one of bomber crew found themselves flying alone with no protecting plane and a German fighter plane bearing down on them. The bomber crew watched helplessly as tracer bullets began spitting from the German plane. Five bullets slammed into the fuselage of the bomber in the location of the fuel tank. The crew braced themselves for the explosion but it did not come. Fuel was pouring from the holes the bullets had made but there was no explosion. Miraculously they made it safely back to base.

When the plane was examined five bullets were found inside the fuel tank. When these shells were opened each was empty of gunpowder and instead contained a tiny wad of paper on which was written the following note: ‘We are Polish POWs – forced to make bullets in factory. When guards do not look we do not fill with powder. Is not much, but is best we can do. Please tell family we are alive.’

Five tiny bullets out of all the millions made during that war yet they made all the difference to the crew of that bomber. Yaconelli concludes: “The power of goodness is found in the tiny. Since the beginning, God has chosen the tiny over the large – David and Goliath, Gideon and his 300 soldiers, Elijah over the prophets of Baal, one sheep over ninety-nine.” “Spirituality,” he says, “is about doing the tiny work of God, little acts, small responses to God’s presence in our lives.”

Such things don’t seem much, don’t seem as though they can oppose the empire’s of power. But such acts are based on the truth that all need love and acceptance received through the service and self sacrifice of others while the empire’s of power are based on the lie that one person or nation is better or stronger than another. As Jesus said when he was brought before Pilate he had to speak about the truth and it is the truth that endures and which sets people free.

There are two ways to live and this clash of civilisations in every generation and each generation needs to choose for itself which way we will go. What have been our choices? Have we and are we making decisions that solely benefit ourselves or are we giving our lives away in the care and service of others? These are life choices that Jesus makes apparent for us through his life and death. They are pictured for us in his trial and in this painting by Cecil Collins. They are choices that we make daily as we encounter other people. Which way will we choose to live?

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Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey - OLOWO LAIYE MO.