John 18:33-38 • The Sound of His Voice

The John Project

I’m an introvert and very comfortable with silence, but I love the sound of my wife’s voice. And I delight in pursuing the treasures to be discovered when she speaks. Whether she’s asking me to pass the salt, telling me about her day, or verbally processing something she’s going through, I find myself wanting to be present and fully engaged with each syllable. We’re all naturally compelled to listen to and invest in the process of understanding what someone says when we have a deep connection with them. So, that should be most true within a relationship to Jesus. But I know that some Christ-followers struggle to hear him and have even subconsciously concluded that they’re just not meant to be included in the conversation. If that’s you, I invite you to consider the message at the heart of John 18:33-38. The high priest and Sanhedrin had fraudulently convicted Jesus of blasphemy, sentenced him to death (Matthew 26:65-66), and sent him with their representatives to secure a crucifixion order from the Roman governor. But Pilate was unwilling to simply rubber-stamp their plan. So, he brought the Lord inside the 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘮, away from his accusers, to interrogate him for himself. He began by parroting a phrase the Jewish leaders must have used in their indictment when he asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” So, the Lord called him out on that, and a frustrated Pilate rephrased the question as, “What have you done?” But since Jesus hadn’t DONE anything illegal, he responded by circling back to the original question, schooled the governor on its absurdity, and then declared, “My kingdom is not from here.” At that point, Pilate thought he’d caught him in an admission of guilt. So, he asked, “Are you a king then?” Jesus acknowledged that he was, but described his kingly mission in terms the Roman procurator would have had a hard time grasping. In Pilate’s experience, Monarchs were focused on only two things: gaining and maintaining power. But Jesus said he’d come into the world to “bear witness to the truth.” The Greek word translated as 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 in that phrase is 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘢 and it’s used twice more in this passage. It refers to an essential reality. According to German theologian, Hermann Cremer, it’s "the manifested, veritable essence of a matter." John had previously used the same word in chapter 14 verse 6 to quote Jesus saying, “I am…the truth.” So, we know the Lord was talking about something he IS, not just something he KNOWS. When he told Pilate that his royal vocation was to be truth’s witness, he was claiming to be its physical manifestation. Then, Jesus built on that revelation and took it a step further when he said, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” It’s an astounding sentence that begins with the same word translated as 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 in the most familiar verse in the New Testament, John 3:16, where Jesus described the wide-open door to eternal life available to those who believe in him. In a similar way, it’s used here to declare that this promise is for ANYONE who is “of the truth,” or has entered into a relationship with him as the 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘢 of God. He said they will not only hear his words, but, more literally, understand what he’s saying. So, it’s unimaginably tragic that just before returning to the Jewish leaders to render a verdict of innocence, Pilate physically turned away from Jesus, rejected his implied invitation, and mumbled a rhetorical question that dismissed 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘢 as unknowable. Let’s be careful not to make the same mistake. 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘢 is knowable in the person of Jesus the Christ, not only in the academic sense, but in the relational sense. And he made it clear he intends to make his voice heard and his message clear to ALL, not just some, of those who come to know him. I encourage you to join me in allowing this wonderful promise to shape how we listen for and respond to the sound of his voice.