Joh 18:33-38 – Forgive Us When We Abandon Your Truth!
The Romans thought of themselves as great speakers. Romans who sought success studied public speaking with single-minded fervor. They wanted to employ the perfect turn of phrase and lay out iron clad arguments with a flourish. How ironic it is that the most famous Roman words are not the orations of Cicero and Caesar, but these three words of a backwater governor named Pontius Pilate: “What is truth?”
It seems like a stupid question. Truth is what’s true, what’s real. The sun is bright; that’s truth. Truth is just plain objective fact. Our acceptance or rejection or ignorance does not change the truth. It won't go away.
We Christians like to think of ourselves as being on the side of the truth, as Jesus put it. We want to stand up for the truth of God’s Word. The trouble comes when we realize that there's an awful lot of truth in the Book, and it isn't easy to stand up for it. We shake our heads at Pilate’s question, but how often don’t we, without even thinking about it, begin to adopt his philosophy? And when we do, that is when we must pray: Forgive Us When We Abandon Your Truths!
There are times when the things God has to say don’t really seem to fit into our lives, when the truth is inconvenient. Pilate found himself in just such a situation that Friday morning.
He didn't want to be caught up in some religious debate. The Pharisees disagreed with the Sadducees; the Herodians disagreed with the Essenes. Every day could have been taken up with trying to decide between all the different religious opinions.
But Pilate’s job was to govern a rebellious province. More than a few times Pilate’s superiors in Rome had raked him over the coals for allowing matters to get out of hand. The empire wanted order, and any procurator who could not guarantee it would soon be looking for another job.
Then along came Jesus from Nazareth. They called Him King of the Jews. And Pilate had to deal with it. But Pilate's interrogation proved that there was no rebellion on this man’s mind. And Pilate felt free to dismiss him as yet another blathering Jewish prophet.
“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said. “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” But Pontius Pilate had no time to side with anyone’s so called “truth.” Truth was merely a distraction to him. And with that famous question, “What is truth?” Pilate dismissed the whole thing.
Sometimes we find it inconvenient to try to fit God’s truths into our lives. It’s a lot of work just to make a living, or to go to school, or to keep up the house. Do those of you who are further along in years remember how, when all this inventing and technology really began rolling along years ago, the scientists kept telling us how they would make life easier? Does life seem any easier to you? Isn't it a nonstop struggle to keep our heads above water?
And there are times when the eternal truth just seems useless to us. How can we have daily family devotions when everyone in the family seems to be going in 20 different directions every minute of the day. How difficult it is to find time for reading your Bible when you have to rush. Prayer is a fine idea; but when do we have time?
And then come those times when God’s truths seem to get in the way. God's Commandments are often like that, aren’t they? Forbidding the things we feel we need to do or want to do, and commanding the things we feel we don’t have time to attend to or just don’t want to get involved in? Even the Gospel seems to intrude into the needs of the moment. Salvation in Christ, heaven itself, can seem like a pie-in-the-sky proposition when the bills are piling up or the homework is piling up or you’re out of work and can’t find a job.
That's when we talk like Pilate, “What is truth?” Nice, but not useful. After a while, even coming to church seems like a waste of our time because it doesn’t seem to accomplish anything that we need to have happen in our earthly lives. Truth? What is truth?
But this is tunnel vision. When our focus narrows to earthly things alone, we cannot see the rest of eternity. Pilate couldn’t see past the business of being governor. He could not fit the eternal truth into his life. Neither can we by nature. That's why we Christians need to learn to pray, “Father, fit our lives to your eternal truths.”
Certainly, there are many things to do, and it is important that we perform our duties in this world, but let us widen our view. We and all this will only be here for a short time. All eternity lies before us, and our Creator and Savior wants us to focus our attention on that fact.
Pilate had no idea of the eternal significance of that day with Jesus. He was absorbed in what was important for him at that time. There, in his courtroom, was played out the drama of the ages, the battle between the seething hatred of the devil and the passionate, saving love of God. And no less than the Son of God, the promised Savior of the world, was inviting this man to come in on the side of God’s truth, to rise above the pettiness and the commonplace affairs of the world and see the salvation of the Lord. The divine hand was there, reaching out to him, straining to him, but Pilate went on with his everyday affairs.
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Mt 16:26). That's what Pilate should have remembered, and that's what we should remember. Great success in this world might be within our grasp, but what good will it all have been? Your funeral might be fancier. Your survivors might be able to use your fortune for a little while. But what good is it if you have such things instead of eternal life in heaven?
The rich fool of the parable was really focused on his business affairs. After a bumper crop, he had to make plans on where to put all the grain. He wanted to tear down his old barns and build bigger ones. He’d be set for life. Do you remember what God said to him? “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luk 12:20).
The truth is that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Joh 3:16. Jesus died to redeem us from sin and from what St. Peter called “the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” (1Pe 1:18). We have been given the truth that our journey through this world is just that, a journey, and our true destination is the one that Jesus Christ gave his life to win for us.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2Co 5:17). Our life itself is now “hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). We are now caught up in something greater than this life, we have been saved from our sins by the life, death, and resurrection of God’s only Son. This is an eternal truth, and we pray that the Lord will fit our lives around it.
Our treasures are not stored up here on earth but in heaven. It's true that we live in the world, but we are no longer a part of it. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do — it is for the glory of God and his truth. We are living sacrifices to him, doing all we can to spread the Good News of salvation in Christ.
In the light of that saving truth, we pray for God to make His truths the foundation of our lives. We pray that we would never allow into our minds the foolish notion that the truths of God’s commandments don’t apply to us. We pray that we never think that the truths of his saving gospel are unimportant. We pray that we might value God’s truth as our greatest treasure. We pray that we do all we can to make it the greatest treasure of others as well.
“What is truth?” Pilate asked, but he didn’t stay around for an answer. He got on with what he thought to be the “more important” work of the day.
Lord God, heavenly Father, forgive us when we fall into Pilate’s error. Let us fervently seek out your truths in your Holy Word, and let us subordinate everything in our lives to your eternal truth. As your dear Son prayed for us, so now we pray for ourselves: “Sanctify us through the truth; your Word is truth. Amen.”