The gospel writer John narrates Jesus’ encounter with Pilate (John 18:33-38):
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.
Though history has vilified Pilate for sentencing Jesus to death, it’s not hard to understand his scoffing here at the idea that Truth could be a clear choice. Consider the “realities” that face the Roman governor:
1) Many of the Jewish leaders have friends in high-ranking places within the Jerusalem aristocracy. They don’t ask for Roman aid lightly and without any political clout.
2) Pilate doesn’t find Jesus guilty of any capital crime. But his job isn’t to safeguard individual liberties. Rather it is to insure the Pax Romana – the “peace” of Roman law that simultaneously brooks no rebellion while maintaining the briskness of business.
3) How does Pilate even know that the Jewish High Council is wrong about Jesus being “dangerous”? Pilate himself is ill at ease in Jesus’ presence. In John 19:10 he will even exclaim with incredulity, “Don’t you know that I have the power to set you free or to crucify you?” What kind of a man doesn’t fear crucifixion?
Is it any surprise that Pilate chooses the path “the facts of his life” dictates. He can’t afford pursuing “truth” without undermining the ground on which he has built his world.
What brought this scene to mind for me was our nation’s recent “search for the truth” in the Judge Kavanaugh case. The issue captivated our attention with all the important questions it raised. Is this yet another case of male abuse? Are the women credible accusers? Are we accountable for the mistakes of our youth relevant to our work as adults? Has the political environment of outrage against verified misconduct made it too easy to indict someone without cause? Is a person who feels falsely charged entitled to a belligerent self-defense? (Note: not a tactic Jesus used).
But considering that the Senate voted almost entirely along party lines, I wonder whether the senators’ attitude toward “truth” somewhat aligned with Pilate’s. Were our senators actually searching for Truth or merely seeking facts to bolster their respective party lines?
It’s easy to be cynical like Pilate and wonder what “truth” has to do with anything that happens in government. Yet, we have to admit that even in ordinary life, Truth is often elusive. Whether in a courtroom trial or simply two people remembering the past differently, much of the time, the truth we seek can’t be reduced to reliable, verifiable facts. Does this mean we should give it up as a lost cause? Isn’t this what ultimately leads people to say: there are no absolutes? Isn’t this what also leads people to conclude there is no God, because the Deity’s existence can’t be proved true?
Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men,” declares passionately, “You can’t handle the truth!” Truth is difficult for us to face, but that is because, much like relating to God, confronting Truth (with that capital T) requires openness to seeing beyond the worldview we’ve constructed to make sense of the “facts” of our lives. Too often we try to equate that perspective with truth and end up wielding it like a weapon to prove our ways or thinking superior to others’. When we build our world on premises that support the way we want the world to function and “make” them our truth, we end up so protective of our own fancies that we can lose our touchstone with reality. (Consider the Church’s uneasy relationship with scientists like Galileo and Darwin.)
On the other hand, if we open ourselves to perceive the Truth that exists apart from each of us, we learn to see the world with wider eyes. Because of our fear of the unknown, we collect “facts” we think will enable us to predict and control the circumstances of our lives. Truth reminds us that such attempts to mastermind our destiny are not only foolish, but not even self-serving. Real Truth has the power not merely to vanquish our dark fears with light but also to transform and ultimately reconcile us to God and each other. Inviting Truth to function in this way takes courage because Truth can always trump our long held “facts of life.” Most of all, however, it takes faith – and not necessarily even understanding – that Truth will always render the best outcome, not matter what it may cost us.
As Jesus went on to demonstrate, what the “facts” foretell as losing, Truth proves victorious in ways we can’t even imagine.
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