What is truth

I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. (1 John 2:21) 

I am the way, the truth, and the life.  (Jesus- John 14:6) 

37Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" 

Thoughts: What is truth?  Pilate obviously did not know though the truest man in the universe was before him.  The judge was not sure that there was such a thing as truth, and when that is the case, the giving into popular opinion becomes more important than doing what is just and right.  If there is no real truth, justice becomes only popular opinion.
     Tim Keller, in a recent sermon, had an interesting thought (that I paraphrase).  He pointed out that we may not like a God who disagrees with us or is truth.  So we start saying, "I don't like this about what God did."  Or, "I don't like a God who gets angry with people, I only want a god who is positive and always says yes."  Keller says we tend to think the same thing of human beings- we want them to be "yes men" or "yes women."  When we get married we are surprised that sometimes people we love rebuke us or go against our will.  But that is what it means to be human.  It is the same with God.  God has not only the right but ought to say no to us.  "The Stepford Wives" had a chip put in them so they always said "yes" and were only agreeable to do whatever the men said.  But in the end, these were just robots.  It is hard to love an appliance.  Love demands that we be free to say "no."
    Truth is not whatever we want to make it to be.  Truth is reality- and God is the deepest reality as the Creator of all- and Creator of all that truly is- the truth.  Those who say that all religions are true in all parts are really saying there are no true religions.  Those who say that we are better off without religion are saying the ultimate truths (and therefore really all truths) do not matter.  The Romans were willing to incorporate all religions into there pantheon of gods.  But the Christians (and the Jews) would have none of it, and were willing to die (like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in Daniel) that serve the false gods.  The truth enables us to quit living in a selfish illusion world and start living in the world of reality where there is falsehood and truth- fake emotion and true love.
      There are many politicians who say whatever their voters wish to hear is the truth.  But there are rare jewels who will say and stick with their convictions.  They may not be elected down here- but they will be awarded in the next life.  In the meantime, we are called to speak the truth in love.     

Prayer: Lord, give me grace when others disagree with me.  Give me grace to conform to your will even if it is hard for me.  

4/10/14- Pilate and Jesus

28Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

30“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”

31Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

34“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

35“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

36Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

37“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

38“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. 39But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

40They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.  (John 18:33-40)

Thoughts: It is clear the only motive for bringing Jesus to Pilate was so that he would be condemned and executed.  Pilate had been on thin ice with the Jewish leaders before and was in trouble in the way he ruled over the people.  He had been shown as insensitive by bringing Roman banners needlessly into Jerusalem and stirring up riots.  He had people killed to show he was in control.  For Pilate, truth and righteousness were not primary values of life as much as power and control.  The movie, "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" is a reminder that truth and care should overule keeping power and remaining in office.
    The apostle John portrays Pilate as a reluctant judge of Jesus.  He tried to release Jesus.  However he did not.  In the end, Pilate was pushed by his ambivalence of truth and the evil of those who felt so strongly that Jesus must die.  Pilate would not give up his job for a stranger, for justice, or for truth.  Truth and justice can be twisted and spun.  In our day, propaganda machines speak lies with gusto- loudly and often in hopes of drowning out truth.  There seems to be a philosophy that the one who shouts loudest and longest wins the debate.  So the shouts "crucify him!" drowned out all opposition and won the day.  But in the long run, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and wins in the end.
       Pilate amazingly asked, "What is truth" when Jesus- the living truth- stood right before him.   In our Postmodern age, we believe that "what is true for you may not be true for me."  Such thinking means that any behavior could do, and any way of thought is as good as anything else.  Such thinking leads to emptiness and puposelessness. The danger of such thinking is that if there is not truth- and behavior does not really matter- then the good people- like Jesus- get crucified.  Jesus is a living testimony- a real living testimony (after the resurrection) that there is truth to believe in- and that our beliefs and behavior matter. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to recognize you- and your truth.  Help me to stand for you and your truth as well.