Friday, April 06, 2012

Pilate To Jesus: "What Is Truth?"

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Pilate, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the trial, his wife pleading with him to step away from it and have "nothing to do with that man," looked at "that man" and asked, "What is truth?"

While looking at Truth face to face, he did not understand or recognize it. Failure to recognize would happen again a few days later, after the Resurrection, on the road to Emmaus .

And it continues to happen today.

Barna Research has found that, sadly, 72% of those aged 18 to 25 believe, "There is no absolute truth."

It has been said that, "We drift on a tide of uncertainty into a sea of unknowing."

Marilyn Monroe defined it a generation ago when she said, "I believe in everything a little bit."

In today's culture, to suggest that you might be right about your beliefs and that others might be wrong is the greatest social offense a person can commit.

To hold beliefs in absolute truth and to express conviction about those beliefs makes one a bigot, a regressive extremist or simply out of touch. Some thought Jesus was mentally deranged---delusional.

Poet Steve Turner in his parody poem, "Creed" wrote, "I believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will re-adjust. History will alter. I believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth."

When relativism has given each person their own truth, they become like a ship without a rudder or compass, battered about by the stormy sea of thoughts and ideas. This is not truth at all. It creates a culture of confusion. And a broken life.

So what is truth?

Who is Jesus?

To know the Truth, we must know the Man.

Who is He?

In my book, "Building Your Life," I wrote, "His birthday is observed and celebrated around the world. His death day sets the gallows of a cross against every sky line. His Resurrection still inspires sunrise services, gatherings in great cathedrals and churches great and small. But more important than that, He actually gives life and freedom...He is the Son of God."

He is the Truth.

He is the Life.

He is the Way.

"What is truth?" was a common question of the "enlightened" time of His birth and death and resurrection.

It had become somewhat rhetorical to even ask. Pilate could have been mocking the Man on trial. Or despaired that he could not personally discover the truth, or simply ambivalent about it all. Maybe cynical. Certainly he was politically motivated.

One thing is certain, he didn't even wait for an answer. He asked. He walked away, washed his hands and believed he had put the issue of Truth behind him.

But then Sunday came.

Word spread from credible sources---the tomb was empty. The gardener wasn't the gardener after all.

One simply cannot dismiss Jesus, because He is God. And He is not dead.

This weekend remember His death. Celebrate His Resurrection. Embrace Him as Savior. He is the Truth and the Truth will make you free.

Live in the power of the resurrection.