“What is truth?” Every week at Bible study we start with the question, “what word or phrase caught your attention in this passage?” For me this week it was this question of Pilate’s that caught my attention, “What is truth?”
The irony in this question, of course, is that Truth is standing right in front of Pilate. As Jesus said earlier in John’s Gospel, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life,” and in the sentence that prompted Pilate’s question, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” By asking this question to Jesus, to Truth personified, Pilate proves that he does not understand truth.
Pilate doesn’t understand because Pilate has a one-sided understanding of truth. Pilate has an intellectual understanding of truth. He sees truth like an elementary-school true/false test, something is either truth or it is not. But Pilate’s understanding is too shallow, because Jesus’ Truth is deeper, grander, and more wonderful than Pilate’s understanding. Jesus’ Truth is not intellectual assent to a series of doctrine; Jesus’ Truth is action. It is the lived experience of being a follower of Christ. We see this played out in the disciples. Thomas needed to see Jesus himself in order to believe after the resurrection, yet it was Thomas in John chapter eleven, who was willing to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, even though he knew it probably meant their death. Peter denied Jesus in the courtyard, and then is welcomed back by the resurrected Jesus who sets him to the task of feeding Jesus’ sheep. Over and over, the disciples misunderstand the work ahead, and yet Jesus continually draws them back into following him, and through following, into relationship with the Truth which Jesus is.
So this week I thought instead of talking about Truth, we would live into it. You might have noticed the sanctuary seems a bit cluttered today. Set up around us are a series of stations. Around the pulpit are some Bibles, you can reflect on this week’s texts or any scripture you’d like. Over here is a space to make cards for people on our prayer list. Following the current trend of coloring prayer, at this table you are invited to decorate your bulletin cover. Here is the board of reformation posts we made on Reformation Sunday. You can reflect on the things that were said or add some of your own. Here’s a series of chairs set around a labyrinth. You can kneel at the altar rail, you can touch the baptismal font, you can stay in your seat and pray. I invite you to interact with these stations in any way you like, and after about ten minutes we will come back together to sing the hymn of the day. Truth is known in following Jesus, may your actions guide your prayers this morning. Amen.
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