REFLECTIONS

In Search of Truth

“What is truth?” Pilate asked, his hands flailing in exasperation from his perplexing situation. Before him stood an innocent man. But the Jews demanded the death sentence. In search of truth, Pontius Pilate posed a question that prosecutors would like to ask every defendant. “What is it you have done?”

Jesus answered, “…for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Then Pilate posed his question, “What is truth?” …With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” (John 18:35-38)

What is truth? Truthfulness may identify a person’s character, but truth isn’t a word we commonly use to define a person’s being. Truth is linked with accuracy, being without fault, plumb or properly aligned. But the writings of the important historian of the biblical era, Flavius Josephus, conveyed still another understanding of the word.

He writes of one restless night when Darius, king of Babylon, challenged his bodyguards to identify which of the following is the strongest—wine, kings, women, or truth? The next morning, he gathered them to hear their answers. The first bodyguard believed wine to be the strongest because it could weaken the mightiest kings. The second believed kings to be the strongest because other men bowed to them, and obeyed their commands. But Zerubbabel, the third bodyguard, had a different idea.

He conceded that wine and kings were strong. But women were even more powerful because they gave birth to kings, and kings are ruled by their wives. But as mighty as women are, both women and kings are weaker than truth.

“For although the earth is large, and the heaven high, and the sun swift, yet these move according to the will of God. And since God is true and just, truth must also be the strongest thing. All else is mortal and temporal, but truth is immortal and eternal.”[1]

And so is Jesus. You recall Jesus declaring to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” So, when Pilate threw up his hands that day and asked, “What is truth?” little did he know that he was looking Truth straight in the eyes.

In search of truth? Look no further than Jesus. He is immortal and eternal. He is a connection perfectly aligned with the Father. The Father is true and just. And as Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

[1] Josephus:The Essential Writings, translated and edited by Paul L. Maier. Copyright 1988 by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, p187.

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