What is Truth?
John 18:28-38
Jesus Before Pilate
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 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.”
37 “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.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
What is truth? retorted Pilate, who was the judge of Jesus, as a Roman governor. Talking about 'Truth' reminds me of my book club meeting, where we talked about the truth, then, a woman said that where the truth was, which was very interesting to me, and she said there was no truth, because everything changes. What about you? What do you think truth is?
The meaning in a dictionary is the quality of being true and the real facts about a situation, event, or person. Pilate seemed that he had never thought of truth, but the fact that he was not a Jew is true. Conversely, Jesus knew for sure what truth was and even the reason why He was born and came to this world: to testify to the truth.
Jesus' talking about truth, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." is more interesting and meaningful in a way that no one knows of truth because it's not up to us, but it's in God's hand. In this modern and so-called AI period, we are losing our judgment or never thinking of truth, like the woman I said and Pilate, who could have considered themselves as a smart and powerful human, not even knowing that where we are coming from and where we are going to.
Finally, Pilate found no basis for charging Jesus, but he couldn't persist to Jewish asking of killing Him. Though he knew that Jesus didn't do anything wrong, he let Him go dead, as he didn't have mind of doing anything just and righteous, and that might be his way of life. We live accordingly, but we need to think of truth once in a while as a human being, as our ives on earth is not the end. How do I know for sure? Answer is "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
