What is truth?

Pilate asks this question of Christ as he stood before him and it echoes the deepest of human longings. We long to know…we long for truth but ultimately we have no idea what it is when we see it. Pilate is the perfect example of this. He represents the most powerful empire the world had ever seen (and likely will ever see). In Pilate’s question we sense cynicism…the cynicism of the modern age millenia before it comes to pass.

There is a great painting by Russian artist Nikolay Ge that captures the scene very well I think (see below). In it Christ, who represents truth, stands obscured in the shadows while Pilate, who represents the pinnacle of human endeavor (Rome) stands in the light…the painting portrays the great irony of humanity questioning God about truth and doubting its existence when it is staring them directly in the face.

The question from Pilate is located in John 18:

“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.”

“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.

Pilate gives Christ no opportunity to respond because he does not care to hear his response. This is typical of the jaded who have already decided there is no such thing as the truth. Christ of course has already responded to the question when he speaks with Thomas in John 14:

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

The truth stands before Pilate and he remains blind to it. We all tend to be blind to the truth. How many times have we seen or heard truth in our lives and simply decided to ignore it or worse still believe a lie instead? There is only one truth by which all other truth is measured and that is Christ. People will always believe what they want to just as Pilate believed what he wanted to…that there was no such thing as truth. When given the opportunity to tabernacle with God in the garden or eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we pick the tree thinking it will teach us more about truth when in fact it simply blinds us to it instead.

Our challenge if we want to know “the truth” in any circumstance is to resist the urge to run to the tree and instead look to Christ. He may very well simply say “I am the truth” and it will have to be enough even when we feel we want to know more or believe otherwise.