John 18:37-38:“’For this purpose I [Jesus] was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’”
As the Prophet and the politician come face to face, Jesus appeals to the truth as He is on trial facing execution by crucifixion. Pilate the politician does not care much about right and wrong and is far more pragmatic, simply wanting to keep his maniacal king happy by keeping the peace and collecting the taxes. Flippantly, Pilate dismisses one of the most important issues everyone must face.
Simply put, truth is like gravity. Truth exists whether we believe in it or not. Truth is an objective moral standard over everyone despite their culture, lifestyle choice, or belief system. In our day, it is faddish and trendy to be pithy with the truth like Pilate. The result is a culture of complete and total hypocrisy.
Pick any trending moral outrage issue that is trending on social media and you will quickly see something odd. The same people who deny that there is any truth and objective moral standard that transcends cultures, nations, and times also feel free to become morally outraged and appeal to that same standard when they feel it is violated. This is the insanity of our culture and social media only amplifies this fact.
The reason is simple, as sinful rebels we operate like most criminals. We deny that the law applies to us, but if someone punches us in the mouth and steals our stuff we forget everything our philosophy professor said about relativism and equally valid perspectives on reality that deny anyone the right to judge another person and call the cops. We deny truth when it does not benefit us. We appeal to truth when it does benefit us. This is the truth about liars.
Not only is the truth a standard over us, it is a Person who wisely and perfectly brings true justice. His name is Jesus Christ and He said just a few chapters earlier in John 14:6, “I am…the truth”. How ironic is it that Pilate asks “what is truth” while he is looking at Truth face to face?
Is there any truth in your life that you are suppressing as Pilate did?