Skip to main content

"What is Truth?"


            What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. (John 18:38)
            From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” (John 19:12)
            “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.
            They all answered, “Crucify him!”
            “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
            But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
            When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
           All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:22-25)
 

            Pilate is often portrayed as a villain in our Easter stories, and not without cause. He condemned Jesus to be crucified knowing that Jesus had done nothing to deserve it. Stop for a moment to consider things from his perspective. Jewish officials lead a mob of unknown size to Pilate to demand this crucifixion. Israel was crowded for the Passover, and known to be a troublesome nation. If word reached Rome that Pilate could not control these people, he would be banished to some miserable outpost, unemployed altogether or possibly killed. If the Jews reported that he had allowed someone claiming to be their king (AKA a rebel) to live, Pilate wouldn't be allowed to live. Truth was what Rome wanted to hear, even if that truth had nothing to do with reality. Truth was all about political power. Should Pilate of stood up to the mob? Yes. Should he have stood up for what he knew to be true? Yes. Should he have accepted the consequences of acting with honor? Yes. Should he have had his soldiers deal with the crowd seeking the death of Jesus? Yes.
           But... I have worked in places where one's job could depend on giving the "right" answer to questions that should not have been asked. I've worked in a place where we were told to lie to our customers and where "not entirely unethical" meant that it was OK. I have worked in a place where achieving statistics mattered more than doing good and appearance was more important than reality. You probably have, too. We live in a society that says you can believe whatever you want, as long as we either publically submit to (AKA agree with) said society or keep our mouths shut. We live in a society that says truth is whatever it says it is and the price for disagreeing could be the business we spent years building, our jobs, our freedom, our lives, for fortunes or our sacred honor. How much better than Pilate do we do?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the Calendar
Good Friday

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more