“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate.- John 18:37-38a
Whenever I watch a movie about Jesus’ passion I always see this passage get misinterpreted. Jesus has been brought to Pilate to be sentenced to execution. Pilate takes the opportunity to interrogate Jesus as to the accusations the Jewish leaders have made. The interrogation ends here. Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king, Jesus replies his kingdom is not of this world, but that doesn’t phase Pilate. “So you are a King, then!” But Jesus wants him to understand he is no ordinary king. His jurisdiction does not overlap with Caesar’s jurisdiction. He testifies to the truth, and everyone on the side of truth listens to him. Then Pilate replies “what is truth?”
Too often this gets interpreted as if Pilate suddenly has some sort of existential crisis. In the course of his interrogation he begins to break down, and wonder about the nature and reality of truth. But Pilate is not earnestly asking Jesus about the truth. Pilate is being sarcastic. “What is truth!?” We might imagine Pilate saying, “There’s only one truth I know about or care about at this moment. And that’s the truth that I have the sword and you don’t. That I’m in robes and you’re in chains. That I have the authority to kill you, my life is in your hands. That’s the only ‘truth’ that matters here!”
How often are we tempted to think similarly? We think might makes right, or the strong do what they can and the weak do what they must. Seeing things through Pilate’s eyes is the world’s default. But Jesus tells us there is Truth with a capital T. “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6) This Truth is more real than might making right. It is more foundational than the stock market. This truth is dependable, and you can live your life by it. It’s the absolute truth of God’s love, God’s power, and God’s victory.
Pilate thought he knew the truth, but little did he know his authority was rags. It was the man in chains who had the authority to make life and dissolve it. It was the man in chains who had authority to make judgment. And he submitted himself to death on the Cross, for our sake. That is the truth to live by.