190728 Sermon on Romans 6:1-11 (Trinity 6), July 28, 2019 When Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden, they were created differently than all the other creatures. With light, the seas, the land, the heavenly bodies, the plants, the birds, fish, and animals, with all these things God spoke them into existence. He said, “Let there be…” and there was. But when he gave himself the task of creating Man, he did several things that he didn’t otherwise do. First, he took council within himself, Moses says. I don’t know that we can totally understand what that means, for who has known the mind of the Lord? But I think we can say that it means God thought about the nature and shape that man and woman were to have. Adam was formed from the ground, and God breathed life into his nostrils. Eve was subsequently formed from Adam’s rib. God added flesh, and made her a living being, a suitable companion for Adam. The Bible also says that Adam and Eve were created in God’s image. That means that something of God’s nature was stamped upon these creatures like an image can be stamped upon metal to create a coin. Adam and Eve were by no means gods, but something of God was impressed upon them that other creatures did not have. Theoretically, we should be able to know the great difference that exists between us and animals just by sitting back and observing how we are different. Indeed, that might work splendidly if we still possessed the image of God in all its fullness. But that is no longer the case. Sin has pretty much destroyed the impression God made upon us at the start. When Adam fell all mankind fell. His sin infects us all. We do not voluntarily and joyfully enter into God’s will and do what he has commanded just because it is good and to his glory. The fall into sin introduced a new motivating factor in us human beings that determines our actions. When we are confronted with a set of choices we now do not think about God or his will or his glory. Instead, we ask, “What’s in it for me? Am I going to be benefited by this? Is it going to give me pleasure or happiness?” If we believe that it will, then we will do it. If we don’t believe that it will, then we won’t do it, or if we are forced to do it nonetheless, then we do it with great bitterness. Another word for this is “selfishness.” We will gladly help ourselves, but not others. For example, nobody has to threaten and harass a kid to go to an amusement park. Or nobody has to bribe somebody to eat food that is delicious. We gladly take up these kinds of things because we want to do them. Our will is one with these pursuits that give us pleasure. But what about when a kid is required to do something that helps his or her parents instead of himself? Do you remember how bitter it sometimes was to do chores that your parents forced you to do? Sticks and carrots were required to make you do it. You did these unpleasant things because you knew that you had to do them sooner or later, because possibly worse experiences might be in store for you if you didn’t do them, or perhaps you had some reward in store for you if you carried through with it. If there were no sticks or carrots involved, you just didn’t do unpleasant things. Punishments and rewards are what motivate sinners, because sinners care about themselves.This is the opposite of the way that we were created. It is the opposite of God. God is love. All the commandments of God may be summarized with the word “love.” We are not just to love those who do good to us, for this is nothing other than loving ourselves, in the hopes that the goodness will keep on coming to us. We are also to love our enemies. Enemies are people from whom we do not expect anything good for ourselves. What we expect from them is pain and trouble. If we were to only look out for ourselves when it comes to our enemies, then, at the very least we would carefully avoid them so that they can’t hurt us. If we remain involved with them, then we will suffer like

190721 Guest Sermon (Bruce Boyce) on Luke 5:1-11 (Trinity 5), July 21, 2019

190714 Sermon on Romans 8:18-23 One day everything is going to change. The things that we think of as being unchangeable are going to crash. The sun, the moon, and the stars are going to go wobbly. The seas will rage and foam. The earth itself will become unstable with earthquakes because it will knocked off its foundation. These are all things that have been worshipped by ancient man because they truly are impressive. There is something of the almighty Creator that is reflected in them. Modern man also is going to be surprised with the failure of our more modern gods. Business, finance, government, education, and all the other systems that humanity has built up are all going to collapse on this day when everything changes. Modern man thinks that things are going to go on like they always have been, or that we will even only get better as the years fly by. But one day this will all come to an end.The day that I’m talking about is the day when Jesus comes on the clouds with great power and glory. All people will then be judged. Those who have died will be resurrected. Those who are still living will be transformed in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Those who are the children of God through the sonship that is given to them by their baptism into Christ will be received into eternal glory. Those who remained in their sins through unbelief, will remain in their sins eternally in hell. This is the great climax that we are getting closer to with every day that passes. It doesn’t matter if this is something that people want to happen or don’t want to happen. It is going to happen regardless, because God is going to make it so.There is no other way. Ever since the fall into sin, creation has been groaning under God’s curse of death and decay. Trouble has afflicted both man and woman in every sphere of life—medically, economically, psychologically, sociologically, and so on. But also at that same time, when God cursed the serpent, he promised to send the Messiah who would set Adam and Eve free, once and for all, from sin and its wages of death. This is the story of our existence. There are many other stories that try to compete with this one true story. These other stories try to explain the meaning of life in any number of different ways. But they are all half-truths at best, and therefore are lies. But they are lies that people have loved to believe in, preferring them to the truth. And so this is another way of summing up what is going to happen on that day when everything changes: On that day people won’t be able to believe in these other stories about the meaning of life anymore—these half-truths at best, these lies. Up until that point people could believe or disbelieve because it has not yet come to pass. But when that time comes, “at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow—those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth; and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”This future event doesn’t get talked about all that much, even within the Christian Church, and this is not without reason. It is pretty much the opposite of something that draws everybody together. Some think it is a fairy tale. Some think it is an outdated, religious artifact. Some just don’t want to think about it at all so that they can continue on with their life the way that they have worry-free. Even believers find it a little scary, because even if they are sure of their redemption and salvation in Jesus, the unusualness of the sights and sounds take us out of our comfort zone. For these reasons (and it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some more), the Bible’s teaching about the great and magnificent day of the Lord that is so quickly approaching us is either shunted off to the side or even deliberately ignored altogether. But we should not do that. It is understandable that unbelievers would want to ignore this future event since it won’t go well for them. But believers should not

190707 Sermon on Luke 15:1-10 (Trinity 3), July 7, 2019 In the two parables that we heard in our Gospel reading today we are dealing with things that have been lost. Something being lost means that it can’t, at least as of yet, be found. But not all lost-ness is the same. For example, if someone is on a cruise and their ring falls into the ocean, then there’s nothing that can be done. Even if you hired a scuba diving crew to search the area, that ring will never be recovered. When you lose your keys, that’s a different story. If you look hard enough, you will probably be able to find them. In the first scenario it is impossible to find that which has been lost. In the second scenario there is still hope. In the first case it is stupid to go to the trouble of trying to find it. In the second it is stupid not to try.Let’s apply this to the reason why Jesus tells these parables in the first place. Sinners and tax collectors were drawing near to hear Jesus. When the Pharisees looked at these people they thought that there was no hope. Murderers and sluts and cheats and drug-users and jerks and alcoholics and perverts and despisers of God’s Word and rapists and child abusers and pornography users and meth-heads and people on welfare and homosexuals and transgendered and fools and pimps are all lost and it is a waste of time to say or do anything for them. People like that don’t come to church. Furthermore (and this might even be more to the point), we don’t want people like that in our church. Now it’s a different story if we are dealing with our clean-cut neighbor who goes to work like us, dresses like us, talks like us, raises his kids like us, and so on. That is someone we can imagine being a part of our church. To work with such a one is not a whole bunch of wasted effort. Here it’s just a matter of finding the right bait to lure him in. Maybe he likes softball, and we have a softball league. Maybe he likes soft rock, and we have a praise band. Maybe he is just a social guy and we’re social people, so let’s all be social together.This second kind of prospective member is more desirable than the first kind in many ways. This second kind is the type of person we want in our church because he is like us. He also probably has some money, and so we can use him to help pay the congregation’s expenses. He can fit in and we can feel as though we are successful. He is the type of lost soul where it seems likely that he can manage to found.The Pharisees never would have grumbled at Jesus if he had dined with people who were somewhat respectable. On the contrary, they would have thought it was a good thing. He is expanding the kingdom of God. But Jesus dining with hopeless cases was not right. In their eyes all that Jesus is managing to do is make it seem as though these wretched, sinful people can go on with their wretchedness and sinfulness. According to their way of thinking, Jesus is saying that being perverted or addicted or abusive is fine.But notice what this also implies about the Pharisees. It implies that they have a right to be at table with Jesus. This does not mean that they don’t think that they are sinners. It just means that they aren’t as bad with their sinning as the tax collectors and prostitutes were with their sinning. Or we could speak of this according to their lost-ness. They would classify themselves as lost, but it’s more like they have been misplaced. If they believe in themselves and try hard enough, then they can probably whip themselves into shape. They aren’t lost like a wedding ring in the middle of the ocean. They are worthy and potential converts. Those who are possessed by demons are not.Jesus responds to the grumbling of the Pharisees with three parables. We heard the first two in our Gospel reading this morning. The third is the parable of the prodigal son who is welcomed back by his forgiving father but resented by his older brother. All three of these parables speak of something being lost, and then

190630 Sermon on Luke 14:15-24 (Trinity 20) June 30, 2019 There are a lot of ways to tell the story of history. The history that is taught in most of the schools is based on the story of the rise and fall of political powers. So it tells us how this nation rose to the top and what happened so that it was brought low. Then another nation rose to take its place. But why should this be the only or even the main thing that is talked about with history? Is it only the top nation or the top handful of nations that can be talked about at any given time? What about the people who live in nations that aren’t so powerful? Do those people not exist? Did nothing happen—was there no history—among them? They get ignored.This is why the nation of Israel during Old Testament times is largely ignored. The nation of Israel was never more than a regional power even during its greatest times under Kings David and Solomon. They never had anything close to the power of the other great empires like the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks or Romans. And yet the history of the Israelites is worthy of study. In fact, there is no other history that is more important to study. Why? It is because the most crucial factor of world history is at work among them. The Israelites were blessed with the Word of God. They knew God and his promises through that Word. The crucial factor in world history is not who has the most money or power. No, the crucial factor is whether a certain people at a certain time and place are blessed with the Word of God and believe it.Why is this factor so crucial? It is because it is only through the Word of God that we can know of the meaning of life and its destiny. It teaches us that we are sinners, breakers of God’s Law, and therefore hostile to God. God, according to that same standard of the Law, is also hostile towards us, because the Law is good, and those who break it are evil and destructive. But God’s Word reveals to us that God has a different standard by which he operates, and that this standard is even greater than the standard of his Law. We call this standard the Gospel, which means good news. From eternity God has chosen to redeem and justify all sinners in his own eternally begotten Son who became incarnate in the womb of the virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. God united himself to us creatures in Jesus so that we are now intertwined. Through Jesus our sins are atoned for, and we are bound for a blessed state in our eternal inheritance. Things will be set right in the end when God judges everything and all that is evil will be locked up forever in hell, and that which is right and good and true—including you who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb and thereby have become clean—will be together with God in heaven at the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb. Those who hear this Word of God and believe it, receive it. Those who don’t hear or don’t believe, don’t receive it. That is what makes the Word of God the most crucial factor in world history. Not only is earthly life so affected by it, but it is what affect each person’s life all the way to eternity.Therefore, according to this factor, the Israelites and the Jews were the truly great people—far exceeding all the other nations—because they had the truth of God’s Word. When you read their history, it becomes clear how important God’s Word was to them. God told them to put the Word of God on the insides of their houses and between their eyes. It was to be on the right and the left and everywhere they might look. The most important thing for the Jews was that they should honor God according to the Word that he had spoken to them. That is why they purged the evil from among their midst even if that seems cruel or extreme to our jaded, utilitarian eyes. Folks marvel at the greatness of Rome, or even the greatness of our own American power. But these are nothing compared to the true princes and princesses of the human race—the Israelites, the Jews.B

190623 Sermon on Luke 16:19-31 (Trinity 1), June 23, 2019 The nation of Israel was at the peak of its greatness at the very beginning of its history. God led them out of Egypt, distinct from every other people on the face of the earth. God was with them. No other nation could say that. He led them by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They were baptized in the Red Sea, and fed and watered on their way to Mt. Sinai. When they reached the mountain God took up residence at its summit with magnificent sights and sounds. Fire, smoke, and trembling engulfed the mountain.This is the moment of Israel’s greatness. There was never another time when the nation was in a better spot or more honored. They were below the mountain and the Lord had gathered them together like a hen gathers her chicks. God was theirs and they were God’s. They could look up and see God’s presence, as much as they were able, for God had to shield them from his presence somewhat, for no sinner can see God and live.But here we encounter something astounding. We wouldn’t believe that it could be possible if it wasn’t right there in the Scriptures black on white. Here’s what happened: Moses had gone to the top of the mountain to be with God and to receive from him the covenant—the way God was to be with his people, and the way the people were to be with God. He was gone for forty days and forty nights. While he was at the top of the mountain, the people came to Aaron, Moses’s brother, and asked him to make a statue for them, so that they could worship the Lord. They didn’t know what had happened to Moses. How could he survive without food or water for so long on that barren mountain? We’re on our own now, and so we better get busy. Aaron agreed to their request. He told them to give him their gold from their earrings and jewelry. He fashioned it into a calf and the people said, “Here, O Israel, is the god that has led you out of Egypt.” Aaron instituted some worship for God. He declared that the next day would be a feast day. And so they got up early the next day, made offerings of incense and peace offerings, and celebrated the good fortune that had come to them. It was springtime in their eyes. They rose up to eat and drink and play. They had gotten rid of Moses, who was kind of a stickler, and Aaron was proving himself to be a more flexible clergyperson. He let the people call the tune.But these people had no idea how close they were to being wiped out completely by God because of their disobedience. God told Moses what had happened while he was still at the top of the mountain, and said he was going to kill them all, and make his chosen nation from Moses and his descendants instead. But Moses interceded for the people and begged God to be merciful to them and forgive their sins. And so God relented of the disaster he had planned for the Israelites and they were kept alive, but he did punish them severely for their sin. What is so astounding about this situation is that you have such ideal conditions and yet such a disagreeable outcome. Mt. Sinai is a foreshadowing of heaven where God has gathered together those whom he has chosen to live with him and be blessed by him. God’s presence among this people was palpable. All they had to do was look up. Plus they had already received God’s commandments to guide them on their way. God did not make it a secret that the people should not construct and worship statues like the filthy pagan people do. He told them not to make any graven image. There is no way that they could have missed this teaching.And yet they sinned.  How can this be explained? I don’t think it really can be explained. This is the mystery of iniquity, the mystery of sin. It is a great mystery. They knew God. God had rescued them over and over again just in the short while it took them to get to the mountain. They knew that he was serious. They knew his Law. They knew that God surely existed. And then they broke the first and

190616 Sermon for Trinity Sunday The word “Trinity” or “triune” is two words put together into one.  “Tri” means three—as in triangle or tricycle.  “Une” is the other word, which means one—as in the card game Uno.  So “Tri-une” is an adjective that means “three-one-ness.”  The Triune God is the God who is three-one.  The Holy Trinity is another name for the one true God alongside other names like Elohim, Jahweh, the Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Scriptures. It is a word that was invented later by teachers who wanted to describe what the Bible says about God. Some people get unnecessarily upset by the absence of this word and think that it is wrong to use it.  But it is not wrong to make up new words in order to describe what the Bible teaches. For example, another word that does not appear in the Bible is the word “sacrament,” which means “a holy thing.” Christians use the word to describe those things which Jesus instituted for the communication of forgiveness and salvation.  The sacrament of Baptism and the sacrament of the altar are both holy things that communicate God’s grace. The word “sacrament” is a way to speak about both at the same time. We are free to use it or not use it, but we should not say that it is wrong to use the word.The same thing is true with the word “Trinity” or “Triune.” It is not absolutely necessary to use the word. We can use it or not use it. But we are not free to discard the thoughts that are behind the word, because the thoughts behind it are exactly what the Bible teaches. God being three in one and one in three is not an invention by any man. It is who God is. It is the way that he reveals himself to us in his word. Both his oneness, as well as the persons of the Trinity being distinct, is the way that the Bible speaks about God. For his oneness, consider this passage in Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.” This is a truth that is eternal. There are not many gods. There are not three gods. There is only one God. In our Old Testament reading where Isaiah sees the glory of the Lord in the Temple, he did not see many gods or three gods, but only one God.Then, on the other hand, we have so very many passages that speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Think back on the past 5 or 6 weeks worth of Gospel readings that we have had. In these readings from John’s Gospel we’ve heard about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the relationships that exist between them. The Son will send the Holy Spirit, the comforter, when he has ascended into heaven. Jesus says that he will not ask the Father on our behalf, but you yourself will ask the Father, because the Father loves you because you believe that Jesus has been sent by him. Our Gospel reading today, perhaps the best known Bible passage that exists, distinguishes between the Father, who is often called simply God, and the Son who is Jesus: “God loved the world in this way, that he sent his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And then there are all the blessings and benedictions that are scattered throughout St. Paul’s epistles.  We use one of those regularly that goes like this: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”And so we have two things that the Bible says about God. It says that God is one. It says that God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, or that there are three distinct persons. The words “Trinity” or “Triune” is nothing other than shorthand for what the Bible teaches: three/one; one/three.  It is false and blasphemous to say that there are more or other gods besides the One and Only true God. It is also false and blasphemous to deny what the Bible says about that one God—that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct—and yet, though they are distinct, there are not th

190609 Sermon for Pentecost, May 10, 2019 The book of Joel is about one thing—the Day of the Lord.  The Day of the Lord is the day when God simultaneously judges and vindicates. He judges and punishes sinners. He vindicates and rewards those who are right. The Day of the Lord is when things come to an end and are sorted. The time of harvest is here. The angels are sent out to gather the wheat into the barn, but the weeds are bundled together and thrown into the unquenchable fire. “Time’s up!”This is the tone of the prophecy that the Lord gave to Joel. The Day of the Lord is the stuff of nightmares for every sinner. Joel was given to see the beloved homeland overtaken by hordes of evil enemies sent by none other than God himself. The enemies are so thick that they swarm and move as one mass going over hill and dale. And they are coming for one purpose: to destroy everything. Not one stone will be left upon another.The Day of the Lord, as in the final Day of the Lord, has not yet come, and yet it is always coming. It has not yet come in its final action when the powers of the heaven will be shaken, the sun, moon, and stars will do unusual things, and God will roll up this creation like a scroll.  That day has not yet come, and yet it is always coming. It comes with the end of each one of our lives. That is the day of reckoning. That is when we will be judged or vindicated—our fate is then sealed. The time for repentance is over. The only thing left is to await the Day of Judgment and the fullness of our bodily existence in heaven or in hell.And so we cannot pass off the Day of the Lord as overblown and dramatic and only something that involves other people as though it is about some characters in a work of fiction. That is not true. Each of us will experience stupendous things. The fullness of the Last Day might come while we are still living. No one knows the day nor the hour when the Lord Jesus will return. But even if our lives are cut short before that day, we will still experience it.On the day of Pentecost the disciples were speaking about the Day of the Lord. The first words out of St. Peter’s mouth when he stands up to address the crowd in a more public way were from the book of Joel, and the book of Joel is “the Day of the Lord” from one end to the other of it. The other disciples were no doubt speaking about similar things. That is because they were speaking about the great deeds and promises that are revealed in Jesus Christ. The wages of sin is death. The wrath of God against all unrighteousness whatsoever cannot be overcome except in one way only—only the sacrifice of Jesus, true God and true man, is able to set things right and achieve reconciliation between God and sinners. This is what Jesus did by his perfect life of fulfilling the Law that we have not kept, and dying and being damned with the punishment that we deserve because of our misdeeds. When the Day of the Lord comes—and it comes for every single person—those who have taken refuge in the death and resurrection of Jesus will be welcomed with a perfect love from God and they will be restored to the creatures that God originally created them to be. They will be without sin, filled with love, and ever increasing in love. But those who by their unbelief set aside the work of reconciliation that Jesus has worked between God and sinners will remain unforgiven and unclean.  When things are sorted they will go where they belong, which is in hell. Hell is the place where all of us belong according to what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us we have a righteousness before God that is not from the Law—it is not based on us or what we have done—but upon perfect Jesus. That is a superabundant righteousness that far surpasses our imagination, to say nothing of whatever righteousness we could possibly achieve by good living.And so it is no mere coincidence that St. Peter opens his sermon on Pentecost by an extensive quotation from Joel

190526 Sermon on John 16:23-33 (Easter 6) May 26, 2019 In our Gospel reading Jesus says, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you.”  Immediately we assume that that can’t be true.  What if I asked for this?  What if I asked for that?  There are dozens of things that we don’t think God would give us.  Maybe our interpretation of this verse is mistaken.But there are other statements from Jesus that back it up.  In Matthew 7 and Luke 9 you have those familiar words: “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives and whoever seeks finds and to him who knocks the door shall be opened.”  Jesus doesn’t place any conditions on what you can and cannot ask for.  Ask, seek, knock, and it will be given to you.During Holy Week Jesus cursed a fig tree that did not have any figs on it (because it was not the season for figs) and it withered.  His disciples were astonished at this and Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”  And so when Jesus says, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you,” this is not out of keeping with what he says elsewhere.What, then, can these words mean?  First let’s talk about how these words sound to our reason.  It sounds like what Jesus is giving to us is a wishing well or a blank check or a magic word.  Instead of abracadabra all we need to say is “in Jesus’ name,” and poof our wishes are granted.  There is quite a bit of fictional literature that has been written with wishes being granted as the subject of it.  That’s because it is interesting to think about what you might wish for.So what would you wish for?  Money, good looks, power, good health.  These are the more respectable kinds of things that people are allowed to say out loud.  There are other answers too, though.  Maybe there’s someone that you’d like to have put in his or her place.  Maybe there’s someone that you’d like to have removed from the land of the living.  And there’s the liquor store and the porn shop and that person that you would like to have sexually.Nobody has to teach us this way of thinking where we want whatever our desires might be to be fulfilled.  It is already present in the new-born baby.  Babies are very selfish creatures.  They want everything to be just so, and if it isn’t just so, they are going to let you know about it.  Little children continue on this path.  They want to have whatever they want and they will just take what they want out of the hands of whoever happens to be holding it.  It is a lot of work to teach children how to share.  Nobody likes sharing.  It is a curbing of our will, and we want to be able to do whatever we want to do.Would we be happier if we could do whatever we want to do?  The answer is absolutely not.  Children whose wills are not curbed by parents and other authorities turn out to be miserable wretches.  They get hooked on this and that and nobody wants to be around them because they only live for themselves.  They can’t hold down jobs and often end up in prisons.We can also see this great unhappiness with the countless stories of people who have won the lottery.  God save each and every one of you from winning the lottery.  The reason why people play the lottery is because they think that it will make their wishes come true.  They will finally have the power to impose their will that is so often hampered otherwise by a lack of resources.  But the wishing is always better than the getting.  It’s not uncommon at all tha

190519 Sermon on John 16:5-15 (Easter 5) May 19, 2019 Early on the morning of Good Friday the Jewish leaders brought Jesus bound and scuffed up and covered in spit to Pontius Pilate.  Pilate was not happy to see them.  He is thoroughly annoyed.  He had better things to do than make judgments about religious matters.  He had roads to build and people to tax to the glory of the Roman Empire to see to.  But the Jews wanted Jesus dead and that was an authority that they no longer had for themselves.  Only the Roman government could put to death.  And so Pilate had to interview Jesus and pass judgment upon him.Pilate’s first question to Jesus is, “Are you the king of the Jews?”  This, of course, was not a serious question.  He believed he knew the answer before he asked it.  Just looking at the man plainly showed that this was no royal person.  But Pilate had to do his examination, and this is what the Jews claimed Jesus was saying.  Jesus answered that his kingdom was not of this world.  If it were of this world, then he could summon his angels and the earth could be unseated from its foundation.  But things being as they are he was subject to the evil that the Jews wished to impose and was therefore before Pilate.  Pilate sarcastically responds, “So you are a king then?”  Again, Pilate does not ask this question seriously.  He thought he had a foolish delusional man before him.  If he had even for a moment taken Jesus’s claims of divinity and kingship seriously, then he wouldn’t have dreamed of treating Jesus the way that he does with the whipping and mocking and finally the crucifixion.  I think he was smirking when he said, “So you are a king then?”  Jesus answers, “You said it.  I was born and I have come for this purpose—to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”  But Pilate is not impressed.  He rolls his eyes at this religious fervency and mumbles, “What is truth?”Pilate’s attitude is familiar to us.  We live in a time where many more people are like Pilate instead of like Jesus’s Jewish enemies.  The chief priests and scribes hated Jesus with a white hot hatred.  Their blood was boiling and they wanted Jesus dead.  They were hot.  Pilate was cool.  Pilate was “above it all.”  He wasn’t going to get drawn into a debate about truth.  He had pleasanter things to do.  He also was perfectly fine with letting Jesus go: “Live, and let live.”  He believed that religion should be something that draws people together instead of pulling them apart.  He didn’t want his happy little life to be unnecessarily disturbed by getting too serious about religion.So long as a person only cares about what happens in this world and in this life, this cool attitude can work pretty well.  It provides a great deal of peace to those who embrace it.  Why worry about what is true or not true?  Why worry about God and his Word?  Why not instead pursue happiness and living life to its fullest before you kick the bucket?  In order to enjoy the maximum amount of peace it is best that thoughts of what happens after death or how we creatures will be judged by our Creator should never even come to mind.  But if some uncouth fellow rudely makes it so you can’t ignore such things, then immediately dismiss them as fanatics and nutjobs.  Put the same smirk on your face as Pilate had when he asked Jesus, “So, you’re the king of the Jews are you?  Uh huh.”But being a smart aleck is no guarantee of actually being smart.  Believing that you are “above it all” may very well be a mistaken notion.  I’ve yet to meet the person who is “above” being judged by their Creator.  And yet there are so very many people who act as though they were “above it all.”  The example of Pilate shows that “being cool” is no g