What is Truth? It sounds like a question raised on today’s college campuses, but in fact was uttered to Jesus himself by Pilate, the Roman official that ordered his crucifixion. In John’s Gospel, we see the account of Jesus questioned by Pilate to investigate why everyone wanted him dead.
John 18:33-38 33 Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about Me?” 35 “I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?” 36 “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. As it is, My kingdom does not have its origin here.” 37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
1. Pilate chose Relativism over Truth.
No doubt Pilate was one of the most cultured men in the world at that time. His career gave him the opportunity to be more exposed to different cultures than any other. Why? Because he was a Roman official attempting to climb the ladder of the Empire. Caesar placed Pilate in Israel to keep them under Rome control while they still did their own thing as a nation. That’s why you see two types of legislation in the gospels: the Sanhedrin and the Roman officials.
The sight of religious practices came and went through Pilate’s eyes, so when Jesus challenged him by looking at this world through the reality of a coming Kingdom he had no concept of understanding Jesus. I speculate that Pilate’s life experience of governing other cultures caused him to deny an overarching story that summed up the fading away of this present world for a coming Kingdom.
Today, we do the same. As world communication shrinks through technology, we see the plethora of culture and diversity in the world. We jump to the conclusion that an overarching story that guides the entire world is presumptuous at best and intolerant bigotry at worst.
2. Pilate Struggled with Morality because of a Lack of Absolute Truth.
A few verses later in John’s account (19:12-16) we see that Pilate believed Jesus to be innocent, but he lacked a framework for moral fiber because he questioned truth. Since he did not know truth, how could he take a side of freeing Jesus or pleasing the malicious crowd, and how could he truly seek justice in the situation? Either could be right, so the motive of self interest and pleasing the majority guided his decision. The majority wanted Jesus crucified and this showed a false sense of allegiance to Rome, so Pilate ordered Jesus’ death.
Today, we do the same. Allowing others to live through their self or community based ideas of truth (which may conflict with others), we promote a false allegiance to ‘tolerance’ and ‘love.’ Without a standard of truth that sees reality based on revelation, all we do is co-exist in an attempt to gain and at times survive. Love is not truly present where people are not held accountable to truth, only co-habitation exists.
3. God used Pilate’s Post Modernism for the Salvation of the World.
John’s Gospel continues to explain Jesus’ death by Pilate’s orders and then the resurrection of Jesus from that death. John lets us know in 20:31 that the life, death, and resurrection are given in his Gospel to show that by believing in Jesus you may have ‘life in his name.’ In later letters of the New Testament, we know that it was through Jesus’ death that the forgiveness of sins is offered to all nations, tongues, and tribes of the world. Jesus’ was forsaken by the Father so that we can be accepted. Jesus’ resurrection proves his death was undeserved because of his sinless life, and he successfully paid the penalty for those who are united to him by faith. God turned the curse of Jesus’ death into the blessing for the entire world.
Today, God does the same. Post-Modernism has brought questioning Absolute Truth and an overarching story for the world to the minds of millions of people. Some may think that it is a curse, but God turns a curse into a blessing as the Gospel answers every question to Post-Modernism. Jesus life, death, and resurrection now have a greater platform to transform people who seek to answer, “What is Truth?”
July 15, 2010
Post Modernism