Truth

          Jesus 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.”

           “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.” (John 18:36-37)

          As our last reason for Jesus to come into the world, it was to testify to the truth. Since November 23, we’ve found that He would come for many reasons:

1) to crush the head of the serpent,

2) to act as an intermediary between God and man

3) to judge the earth

4) to do battle

5) to save

6) to avenge

7) to redeem

8) to fulfill Scripture

9) to call sinners

10) because God sent Him

11) to preach the message from God

12) to bring division

13) to act in His Father’s name

14) to bring light

15) to do His Father’s will.

16) to testify to the truth.

          I’ve had a number of people ask me how a good God could allow evil, and I’ve tried to point out to them that God doesn’t have to have one-and-only-one reason for what He does. All of His reasons are consistent with who He is, just as His reasons for sending the Son, and for being sent are.

          For some reason, today’s reason to testify to the truth, beings to mind the question of why Pilate needed that, as opposed to one of the others. Elsewhere, Jesus said that we would know the truth, and the truth would set us free. I’m wondering if that’s what Pilate needed. Freedom. I know he was a powerful and important man, but that meant he had to keep his boss happy. Being a “yes man” was a requirement, even if your boss decided that everyone must worship him. That means that the truth was in short supply in Pilate’s life. So that’s the answer he needed, as his response of “What is truth?” shows.

          Is there a reason that Jesus came that speaks to you especially today? For me, I think testifying to the truth is the special one. Someone revealed a hard truth to me today, and I spent the deal trying to deal with the reality of my situation. I’m not sure I’ve handled it well. It’s probably not over but He used that truth to rescue me from a situation that must now end better than it would had I not been given that hard truth.