Truth

The message given on Good Friday in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on April 7, 2023.  The Bible verses used are John 18:33--19:42.

What is truth?

That’s the question Pilate famously asked Jesus.  Jesus, as far as we can tell, did not reply.   

It could be that Jesus believed He’d said all He had to say on the subject.  It could be that Pilate did not give Jesus a chance to reply.   After all, the Bible says, “With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there.”  It could be that, as soon as he asked the question, Pilate turned on his heel and left, not caring what Jesus’ answer might be.

The question, what is truth, is relevant for us today.  In fact, it may be more relevant than ever.  The dictionary says truth is “that which is in accordance with fact or reality”, but these days we don’t use dictionary definitions of words very much.  We’re in a world where, as Humpty Dumpty said to Alice in Wonderland, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”

And so, we live in a world in which “truth” means whatever someone chooses it to mean.  A world in which there is no such thing as objective truth.  A world in which each of us has our own personal truth.  You have your truth, and I have my truth.  And regardless of what “my truth” happens to be, you have no right to tell me it’s wrong, because it’s “my truth”.

Is it any wonder, in a world where truth is subjective, that it’s hard to get people to believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior?  Because Jesus said He is the truth.  He is not a truth.  He is not one of many truths.  He is the truth.  And, as He told Pilate, the reason He was born and came into this world is to testify to the truth.

But Jesus’ truth was not a truth a lot of people wanted to hear.  I mean, they loved Jesus when they had a sick relative or friend they wanted Him to heal.  They loved Him when He fed them.  But Jesus’ truth could not compete with the so-called truths of the world.  

For Pilate, “truth” was just whatever would help him have an easier, peaceful life.  He did not care about Jesus.  If Jesus was the king of the Jews, well, what did that matter to him?  Pilate was not a Jew.  As long as Jesus did not cause Pilate or the Roman Empire any trouble, He could be king of the Jews.  Or not.  Who cared?

Pilate knew there was no reason to have Jesus killed.  He knew there was no reason to punish Jesus in any way.  But when the crowd demanded it, he gave in.  To let Jesus go might lead to a riot.  And not that Pilate cared much about that, either, but if word got back to Rome, Pilate could be in trouble.  He could lose the governorship.  So, he ordered that Jesus be killed.  He did not care about Jesus’ truth.  The only truth he cared about was whatever served his own selfish interests.

For the Jewish leaders, “truth” was what they had been taught.  They had been taught that the Savior would, indeed, be the king of the Jews, but not the kind of king that Jesus was.  The king of the Jews was supposed to re-establish the kingdom of Israel.  The king of the Jews was supposed to make Israel a great and mighty and powerful nation.  And the king of the Jews was supposed to follow all the religious laws to the letter.  This wanderer from Nazareth, this guy who broke the Sabbath law, this guy who re-interpreted the Scriptures in a different way from the way they had learned them, this guy who said the most powerful people should be servants, this guy could not possibly be the king of the Jews.

And so, according to the Jewish leaders, the “truth” was that Jesus was a blasphemer.  His claim to be the divine son of God, to be the king of the Jews, could not possibly be true.  The idea that Jesus might actually be who He claimed to be, that Jesus might actually be the king of the Jews, that maybe their idea of the king of the Jews was not the correct one–that idea never occurred to them.  Their “truth” would not allow for that.  Jesus had to be a false prophet, a false Messiah.  And so, He had to be killed.

For the crowd, the “truth” was just whatever was popular at the time.  A few days earlier, on the first Palm Sunday, there was a crowd that had hailed Jesus as the King and the Savior.  Now, there was a crowd–probably including some of the same people who were in that earlier crowd–who were demanding His death.  In fact, most of the crowd probably did not really care much about Jesus either way.  They were just, literally, “going along with the crowd”.  “Truth” had no real meaning for them.

And for the soldiers?  Well, they were just doing their job.  For them, “truth” was just doing whatever their superiors told them to do.  Take Jesus and some other criminals to the place for crucifixion.  Nail them to the cross.  Divide up their clothes.  Wait around until they died.  Crucifixion was not a terribly uncommon thing back then.  I mean, it did not happen every day, but it was not all that unusual, either.  The soldiers had probably seen it before, maybe lots of times.  They really did not think about whether it was right or wrong.  For them, “truth” was just following orders.

When you think about it, how many of us look at truth in one of those ways?  I mean, we’d never say so.  We’d never admit it, probably not even to ourselves.

But think about those kinds of “truth”.  How many of us just go along with whatever will help us have an easier, peaceful life, the way Pilate did?  How many of us will take a stand for “the truth”, when doing so will get people mad at us and cause us problems?  How many of us will just go along with whatever serves our self-interest, regardless of whether it’s actually true?

And how many of us think of “truth” as whatever we’ve learned, however we’ve learned it, the way the Jewish leaders did?  How many of us have a hard time considering that our long-established opinions and feelings might be wrong?  How many of us have a hard time opening our minds to another point of view, a way of looking at things that may not fit with what we’ve been taught and what we’ve believed?

And how many times are we tempted to just go along with the crowd?  How many times is “truth” just whatever popular opinion is?  How many times do we not even really think for ourselves, how many times do we not care much about the truth either way, but just agree with whatever most people around us are saying?  

And how many of us just go through life doing our jobs?  Doing whatever we’re supposed to do?  Not even thinking about whether it’s right or wrong?  

All those things are tempting to us.  And I suspect at least some of us have given into that temptation at times.  I know I have.  It’s so tempting to let “truth” be whatever we want it to be, whatever makes things easier for us, whatever keeps us out of trouble and lets us be comfortable with our lives.

But the thing is, there is a real answer to Pilate’s question.  What is truth?  Truth is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself said so.  He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  Jesus Christ is the truth.

The truth, the most important truth there could ever be, is that God offered us a chance for salvation and eternal life.  We do not deserve that.  We deserve condemnation, because of our sins.  Jesus said that, too.  But God, in His great love and mercy, offers us a way to avoid that condemnation.  Jesus Christ is that way.  If we acknowledge, if we accept, if we believe the truth, that Jesus is the divine Son of God, that He is the Savior, that He is the Messiah, then we get eternal life.  If we don’t, then we have failed to take advantage of the way God offers us.  And we receive the condemnation that we deserve.

That’s the truth.  It’s not a popular truth, these days.  People think it sounds exclusionary.  People think it sounds arrogant, for Christians to say that faith in Jesus is the only way to eternal life.  But the thing is, “Christians” are not the ones saying it.  Jesus Christ is the one who said it.  We’re just quoting Him.  We quote Him because we believe that what He said is true.  And we believe what He said is true because we believe that Jesus Christ is the truth.

Truth is not whatever we say it is.  There is not “my truth”.  In the final analysis, there is only God’s truth.  And God’s truth came to us in the form of Jesus Christ as the Savior.  

We can believe it, or we can not believe it.  That’s our choice.  But our choice does not determine whether it’s true.  God’s truth remains true, whether we believe it or not.  It is “that which is in accordance with fact and reality.”

What is truth?  Jesus Christ.  May we believe in Him, and have salvation and eternal life.