November 22, 2018
“What is truth?”
In John 18 (this Sunday’s gospel lesson) we read an amazing scene: Jesus on trial before Pilate. As John writes the story we come to realize that Pilate is really the one on trial. And the verdict: Pilate is guilty. In verse 38, Pilate even asks this question….”What is truth?”
What is truth? In John’s gospel, Jesus is truth.
In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way and the Truth and the life.” That is reassuring for people like Pilate…people like us.
There is much confusion these days about what is truth and what is not.
We hear about ‘fake news’, people question obvious data about global warming, we have endured another season of campaign commercials that are rife with lies, … and where has it led us?
It has led us to a point where people do not trust anyone anymore. I’m told that younger generations do not trust people in authority. Perhaps it is because they have been lied to so many times. When an authority figure says they tell the truth ‘when they can’, that tells me, and everyone else, that truth is no longer honored, it is only used when convenient.
That is not what my mother taught me. She taught me that telling the truth is always the best way to go because lies will find you later.
It can take a lot of courage to tell the truth, but telling the truth when it is most difficult is often the time when the truth is most needed.
Jesus proclaims in John’s gospel that he is “the way, the TRUTH, and the life…” The answer to Pilate’s question and to our truth seeking… is Jesus. When we seek to follow Jesus, as his disciples, we will discover that the truth is worth the price we have to pay. There can be no real joy without Jesus…who is the way, theTruth and the life.
Thanks be to God!
Pastor Mike
“What is truth?”
In John 18 (this Sunday’s gospel lesson) we read an amazing scene: Jesus on trial before Pilate. As John writes the story we come to realize that Pilate is really the one on trial. And the verdict: Pilate is guilty. In verse 38, Pilate even asks this question….”What is truth?”
What is truth? In John’s gospel, Jesus is truth.
In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way and the Truth and the life.” That is reassuring for people like Pilate…people like us.
There is much confusion these days about what is truth and what is not.
We hear about ‘fake news’, people question obvious data about global warming, we have endured another season of campaign commercials that are rife with lies, … and where has it led us?
It has led us to a point where people do not trust anyone anymore. I’m told that younger generations do not trust people in authority. Perhaps it is because they have been lied to so many times. When an authority figure says they tell the truth ‘when they can’, that tells me, and everyone else, that truth is no longer honored, it is only used when convenient.
That is not what my mother taught me. She taught me that telling the truth is always the best way to go because lies will find you later.
It can take a lot of courage to tell the truth, but telling the truth when it is most difficult is often the time when the truth is most needed.
Jesus proclaims in John’s gospel that he is “the way, the TRUTH, and the life…” The answer to Pilate’s question and to our truth seeking… is Jesus. When we seek to follow Jesus, as his disciples, we will discover that the truth is worth the price we have to pay. There can be no real joy without Jesus…who is the way, theTruth and the life.
Thanks be to God!
Pastor Mike