“TRUTH IN A WHATEVER WORD”

JOHN 18:28-40

28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”

30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”

31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”

32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.

39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Author Michael Duduit is a professor of preaching at Anderson College and he has an interesting take on the conversation that Jesus had with Pilate..  If the conversation took place today it might go something like this:

Pilate summons Jesus and says to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?”
And Jesus says, “Are you asking me or have you been talking to that Caiaphas guy?”

Pilate wants an answer to his question and says, “I’m not a Jew.  What did you do to get them to hate you so much?"
And Jesus say, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to keep me from being arrested.  But if you must know my kingdom is in another world.”
"So then,” Pilate says, “You are a king!"
And Jesus says, "You say that I am a king.  I was born to bear witness to the truth and those who are on the side of truth listen to me.”
And Pilate says: “Whatever.”

Whatever!  You hear that a lot these days.   Someone parks in a handicap spot and when you point to the sign he just laughs and says, “Whatever!”

Your friend tells a bold face lie and when you wonder if it was the right thing to do she just shrugs her shoulders and says, “Whatever!”

That’s what people say when the don’t like the truth because it makes life difficult for them or it gets in the way of what they want to do.  Sometimes people say whatever and sometimes they twist and bend the truth until it’s more to suits their needs.  A psychologist saw that while she was doing some research on how people in different professions look at things differently.   The first person she interviewed was an engineer.  During the interview she asked him, “What does 2 + 2 equal?”  “Well,” the engineer said, “the answer to that question in absolute terms is four.” The psychologist thanked the engineer and then went on to interview a philosopher.  During the interview she asked him the same question. “What does 2 + 2 equal?”  “Well,” the philosopher said, “there are several possibilities. 2+2 equals 4.  But that’s also true for 3 + 1 as well as 2 ½ + 1 ½ .  So, it’s all a matter of choosing the combination that’s right for you.”  The psychologist thanked the philosopher and then went on to interview a lawyer.   “What does 2 + 2 equal?” she asked. The lawyer looked around the room then leaned forward and whispered, “I don’t know. What would you like it to equal?”

People twist and bend the truth all the time. Just look at what happened when Caiaphas and the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate.   Everyone ending up playing games with the truth that day, everyone except Jesus.

Notice that when Pilate asks what the charge is against Jesus Caiaphas doesn’t answer the question.  He just says, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”  In other words, “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one Pilate.”  Caiaphas wanted Jesus dead and he wasn’t about to let the truth stand in the way of seeing him nailed to a cross.  Okay Caiaphas.  Whatever!

Pilate wasn’t really interested in the truth either.  After Pilate questions Jesus he goes out to the crowd and says, “I find no guilt in his man.”  Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent but he also knew that it would be easier if he simply gave Caiaphas what he wanted.  So Pilate after uttering those famous words, “What is truth?” he lets Barabbas go free and condemns Jesus to be crucified.  Okay Pilate.  Whatever! 

People don’t like dealing with the truth these days.  That’s because truth is hard.  It’s demanding.  It makes you take a good hard look at yourself.  Sometimes it even requires you to make some changes in your life.   Maybe that’s why most people today subscribe to the idea that there are no absolute truths.   So nothing is absolutely right or wrong. A study conducted by the Barna Group in 2009 revealed that only 34% of adults in this country believe that moral truth is absolute. With statistics like that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that in another survey not only did 70% of teenagers in this country admit to cheating on an exam but also said they didn’t think that it was wrong to do that.

If there are no absolute truths then nothing is really right or wrong and you can never really be guilty of doing something you shouldn’t have done. No need for confession or penance.   Life is always going to be easy because there’s never going to be any absolute truths to push you to do something that you don’t want to do.