John 18:37-38
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
It was a ridiculous notion, really. This poor Jew from a small town with no wealth and no apparent power was accused of…being a king? From Pilate’s perspective, it was laughable. Spurgeon noted, “The question could scarcely have been more sarcastic. Pilate, in his heart, despised the Jews as such, but here was poor Jew, persecuted by his own people, helpless and friendless; it sounded like mockery to talk of a kingdom in connection with him.” Still, the religious leaders were deadly serious, and Pilate didn’t need Rome hearing of any additional trouble in Judea…so he indulged their charges.
Jesus answered…
Why did Jesus come into the world? Perhaps you might say, “To offer himself as a sacrifice so that sinners could be reconciled to God.” Someone else might say, “To make propitiation for our sin.” Still another might answer, “To demonstrate the love of God for lost people by dying on the cross for them.” They are all beautiful answers…and each one is of course, factual…but Jesus gave a much more all-encompassing answer:
“…to bear witness to the truth.”
Truth is an elusive and controversial topic in our days. The world seems to be going crazy, and indeed it is…but what is the definition of crazy? Put simply, it means to be out of touch with reality. And what is reality? Reality is that which is true. Ahhhh…so what is true? Or, as Pilate said, “What is truth?” The ultimate answer to the ultimate question was standing right in front of him and instead of sincerely inquiring…he mocked him. For Pilate, soldiers and armies were truth, Rome was truth, Caesar was truth, and political power was truth. Truth was relative for the Roman ruler, and the same could be said for most people today. You have your truth, and I have my truth, but what happens when there are contradictory truth claims? They can’t both be right.
I’m sure you have seen the COEXIST bumper stickers. From a Christian perspective, I can actually support the concept in terms of trying to live at peace with the people around you (Romans 12:18) …but that is not the point. The main point behind the message is that all the religions represented are equally valid. Equally true. Buddhism is true for the Buddhist and Christianity is true for the Christian. How convenient. A world of relative truth is just a pitiful attempt at living in a world where you can do whatever you want to. No rules and therefore no consequences. But that is a denial of reality. Jesus came to testify to the truth…He IS the truth…and He will apply the truth to every single human that will ever walk the face of the earth. Have you embraced The Truth, yet?
