Cynicism is not Inevitable
A sermon about the truth which abides, even in our cynical age.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. (John 18:38)
Does anyone else feel like truth has gone out of style in our public discourse recently? Previously, it seemed that pundits, partisans, and other powerful people were at least interested in a veneer of truth. But over the past few years, the slide toward power-grabbing relativism has been dizzying. Sometimes the betrayal of the truth seems aimed at something big, like undermining our electoral process. And other times the motivation seems downright vindictive. I’m thinking of a story that some of you will remember.
It took place at last summer’s Olympic games when gymnast Simone Biles decided to withdraw from the competition. Biles came to the games as one of the all-time greats having won four gold medals in 2016. She had also been public about her occasional experiences with depression along with the fact that she had been one of the survivors of the sexual abuse perpetuated by the USA Gymnastics team doctor.
When Biles, who is Black, decided to withdraw, saying that she felt uncertain attempting her routines and that she needed to prioritize her wellbeing and safety, many athletes, especially African American athletes, spoke out in support of her. They described their own difficult athletic experiences and the struggle to push themselves beyond the limits of safety. We also heard many Black women speak up, praising Biles for prioritizing her mental and physical health; they acknowledged that if she didn’t, no one else would do it for her.
But then, seemingly from another universe, the pundits began speaking up. Mostly white men, these voices characterized Biles’ decision very differently. One called her a “selfish sociopath” and a “shame to the country.” Another wrote that “Biles seemed to revel in taking care of her ‘mental health,’ whatever that means.” Yet another took to social media to mock Biles’ decision, ending with, “What a joke.”
These cynical responses represent more than a difference in perspective or experience. Instead, they were a refusal to take Simone Biles at her word. Rather than believing the experienced athlete and the chorus of others who corroborated her experience, these pundits chose to obscure the truth for their own cynical agendas.
We live in a world where we don’t simply have different perspectives, but where one group of people is comfortable telling another group that their experiences aren’t true. It can seem as though more and more people are not invested in learning the truth, especially if it messes with their own narratives about reality. The cynicism that drips from Pilate’s words as he responds to Jesus fits our own cultural mood all too well: “What is truth?” But as we see from a passage earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus taught his would-be followers that truth could be known by holding to his teaching.
I am convinced that it is the unity of Jesus’ followers across cultural lines of division which bears witness to the truth of the gospel. The tension between cynicism and truth is not abstract. When Christians are not equally invested in the truth, when we content ourselves with the mistruths, mischaracterizations, and outright lies which support our partisan opinions, we are abdicating our call to represent our Savior, the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. But none of this is inevitable and here is the good news I want to lift up this morning: Cynicism must surrender to the truth in the presence of the Body of Christ.
Cynicism surrenders to the truth in the presence of the Body of Christ. In other words, how we serve and worship together testifies to a truth which cannot be obscured. And in these days of suspicion, when truth seems hard to pin down, this in extraordinary. So, what is it about the Body of Christ which forces cynicism, lies, and deceit to surrender? First, the Body of Christ is built on the truth. Second, the Body of Christ exists for reconciliation. Third, the Body of Christ testifies to freedom.
Cynicism must surrender to truth because the Body of Christ is built on truth.
How do we know the truth? According to Jesus, it’s by holding to his teachings. More literally, it’s by remaining in the word. More than knowledge about Jesus, this is an invitation to abide with Jesus, the one through whom, according to John “all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” No wonder that abiding with Jesus leads to the truth.
But we all know how sin obscures our interest in abiding with Jesus. Rather than running to the truth found in the Son of God, sin orients us toward deceit. We each have a propensity to lie, to believe lies, and to expect to be lied to. Is it any wonder that cynicism has become our vernacular?
So, we need to remember that Jesus established his church is similarly deceitful days. Pilate wasn’t the only one despairing of knowing the truth. And it’s into this cynical world that Jesus comes claiming not only to know truth to have access to the truth but to be the truth. He does not hoard truth. He does not cloak it in mystery as will the Gnostics. Unlike ideological operatives of our day, Jesus doesn’t force anyone to join the right party to access the truth; it is available to Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots. It is available to Republicans, Democrats, progressives, and conservatives. You simply need to abide with Jesus.
This is the incredible claim made by Body of Christ across time and place. It is the claim we make today: truth is available and it is found in Jesus. Turn to him and abide with him! Do not put it off. Do not wait until you have figured everything out. Until you are less busy. Abide with the Truth today.
Cynicism must surrender to truth because the Body of Christ exists for reconciliation.
Members of the Body of Christ are drawn toward one another by the truth of the gospel. Often this is where our churches have left it. where we leave it. The problem is that when we begin articulating the massive scope of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, those who’ve been formed by a reductionist gospel get nervous. We are told to stick to the gospel. And in our own American context, this small gospel has resulted in segregated/complicit church.
Writing from a prison cell in Birmingham in 1963, Dr. King reflected on this dynamic. “In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: ‘Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.’”
If we will listen to the testimonies from brothers and sisters from earlier generations they will remind us of the dangers of reducing the gospel to the proclamation of the truth of the gospel without the corollary demonstration of Jesus’ reconciling and righteous power.
You see, the Body of Christ exists not only because we are drawn to the truth in Jesus, but because of what Jesus has accomplished between us. In John 17:20-21, Jesus prays for us. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” And as the church grew beyond the confines of Jerusalem, the Christians applied Jesus’ prayer for oneness to each line of cultural separation they encountered. They applied the message and mandate of reconciliation that Paul proclaimed in 2 Corinthians to the social hierarchies of their day between Jews and Greeks, rich and poor, women and men, the enslave and the free, representatives of the empire those who’d experienced the worst of the empire.
They became, as Dr. King would say, maladjusted to the sinful assumptions which privileged some at expense of others. Reconciliation became central to identity. It was worth fighting for. It made them distinct from the surrounding culture.
Cynicism thrives in segregated silos. But when we are rooted within the diverse Body of Christ, we have more access to the truth because we can no longer reduce the truth to our own narrow experience. Now the Jew must consider what circumcision means to the Gentile. Philemon is confronted by the impossibility of continuing to enslave Onesimus. Greco-Roman Christians must give up their participation in ritual meals with food sacrificed to idols. The wealthy can no longer ignore the poor as they both come to the Lord’s table together. In reconciled community - one-ness across cultural lines of segregation and hierarchy - the truth of the gospel becomes ever more accessible and live-able.
What choices will you make to participate in reconciliation? In a society built on hierarchies and segregation, reconciliation will not happen to you. We must resist the status quo.
Cynicism must surrender to truth because the Body of Christ testifies to freedom.
Notice how what Jesus says. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And what kind of freedom is this? It is certainly spiritual Abiding in Jesus leads to freedom from sin, death, devil! And this freedom always manifests visibly.
In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus says that the Spirit of the Lord is one him to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. And then he begins healing the sick, restoring the outcast, raising the dead, denouncing the corrupt, and refusing the way of violence. When Jesus proclaims a truth-inspired-freedom, it is a holistic freedom!
This gospel of freedom inspired enslaved people of African descent to plot, plan, and pursue their emancipation despite enormous risk. This gospel of freedom animated the prophetic imagination of saints like Fannie Lou Hamer, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and John Lewis to organize and agitate and mobilize for liberation. This gospel of freedom has breathed Holy Spirit life into countless women and men who've been hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
May I speak to those of you this morning who find yourselves worn out and exhausted? Perhaps you’re asking yourself, how many times must I display the wounds I’ve received at the hands of this racialized society? How many times must I try to convince you that the racism I’ve experienced is real? How many times will my experiences and the experiences of my people be diminished, downplayed, or denied?
Can I invite you to direct your allegiance and affections to Jesus once again? Not as a distraction from injustice; not as an escape from the pain you bear. No, turn your face to Jesus as the one who is truth; as the one who will never lie to you; as the one who has kept the saints who’ve gone before you, and not just kept but who has parted seas and provided mana, who has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the humble, who has brought low the enslaver, the segregator, the disenfranchiser, the mass incarcerator
Hear again the words of that old spiritual: Give me Jesus, give me Jesus. You may have all this world, give me Jesus. You can have this world of cynicism and deception; oppression and injustice. Give me Jesus: give me the truth, give me the Word who was there at the beginning and who will see me through to the end, give me the only one who can guarantee my freedom from evil in all of its manifestation. Give me Jesus.
This is the Jesus to whom we, the Body of Christ are called to testify with our lips and lives. When a world accustomed to Pilate’s despair encounters a community of Jesus’ followers, they ought to be shocked and intrigued. Who are these people who testify to this comprehensive freedom? Who are these women and men who can imagine a world of shalom and salvation? Who are these free people living as though the righteous will of God in heaven is actually present here on earth? Who are these diverse people who don’t seem to belong together and why do they love each other? Who are these people who willingly lay down their power and steward their privilege for their neighbor’s good? Who are these ordinary women and men who lay down their lives for the truth, for freedom?
Cynicism surrenders to the truth in the presence of the Body of Christ. The built-on-truth Body of Christ. The exists-for-reconciliation Body of Christ. The testifying-to-freedom Body of Christ. Sisters and brothers, you are the Body of Christ, and we need you take your place. Do not believe the lie that our cynical status quo is inevitable. In Christ, the truth has come. We have been reconciled. So let us give our lives to proclaiming our Lord’s freedom, to that joyful announcement which cleanses sinful hearts and shatters sinful chains: Those the Son has set free are free indeed!
(Photo credit: Johannes Plenio.)
Did you miss my conversation with April Stallworth about whether white people need space to grieve our changing demographics? You can watch it here. April did not disappoint!