10-16-2017

Good Morning All,

                     John 18: 38a; “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

    Scriptures are filled with many characters that appear and disappear quickly.  They have but a small part in the story of Jesus.  Pilate is one of those characters.  Pilate is a fascinating because he really slices to the heart of the matter.  This question really is the heart of the matter.

    I have always felt that Pilate was probably on older fellow who was on the downward arch of his career.  I always thought that Pilate was something of a political man who came up short.  Any politician wanted to be in Rome and if not in Rome then as close to Rome as possible.  A place like Palestine, a hotbed or insurgency, and far from Rome was not a plum job.  It would be alright to start there and move toward Rome but Pilate was headed the other way.

    I would guess that somehow, one of Pilate’s competitors had edged him out.  Perhaps strategic lies had been told about Pilate and by the time Pilate had figured out what had happened, it was too late for any damage control.  A convenient truth, a possible lie, a contrived situation and Pilate was on the way out.  His superiors would have told Pilate that they had “the truth” of the events and that his version just wasn’t it.

    So Pilate, sitting in the hell hole of Jerusalem, hears another itinerant preacher who tells him that “everyone who is of the truth listens to me.”  When Pilate asks his question, I can hear the exasperation in his voice.  I can hear the pain.  “What is truth?” 

    We have all had days or times in our lives when that question is raised.  ‘God I went to church every Sunday and put money in the plate, why did my spouse have an affair, why did my daughter move in with her boyfriend, why did my son stop coming to church, why did I get cancer?  What is truth?

    We may very well ask this question and we may never get an answer.  For while the Bible reveals all we know about God, it does not reveal every truth about God.  The Bible only reveals God’s plan of salvation for us.  God reveals to us what we need to know, perhaps not what we want to know.  What we need to know is that through Christ’s death we have salvation and eternal life with Christ.  That is our hope. 

    We may face trials and struggles, the world is still broken by sin, but it does not and will not defeat us.  Our victory is assured because of God’s grace and favor.  We have the victory and we have it today.  We live in God’s favor and we await the final perfection of that favor.  We wait for eternal life with the certainty that God’s love will prevail.

Father of all truth, in you do we find our salvation and our hope.  In you we know all truth; that your love for us is without bounds.  Guard us with your Spirit.  Be with those who are lost and do not know the truth.  Defend them with your mercy and bring them home to you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret