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Giuseppe Guarino
What is
Truth ?
John 18:28-40
"Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was
early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should
be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto
them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and
said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him
up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him
according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful
for us to put any man to death: That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled,
which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Then Pilate entered
into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou
the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself,
or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own
nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou
done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of
this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to
the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto
him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To
this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my
voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault
[at all]. But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the
Passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas
was a robber. "
I preached on this Bible passage many years ago. I was amazed at what the
Holy Spirit revealed to me when studying. For those who don’t know: the
first person to be blessed by the Word of God is the preacher himself, who
is only sharing with the church the blessings he has already received from
reading and meditating the Scriptures.
I was deeply impressed by two kind of attitudes displayed in this crucial
moment of the trial of Jesus: the attitude of the Jewish religious
authorities and that of Pilate. I considered them as clearly belonging to
two categories of people: the religious and the sceptics.
- The religious people.
Consider this incredible statement: “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto
the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into
the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the
Passover.”
These people had in their heart to kill an innocent man. They were lying to
convince the Romans to crucify Jesus, the Messiah, the Prince of peace, but
what was their main concern? Not to be “defiled” by entering the judgment
hall. Do you realize the magnitude of the monstrosity of such an attitude?
A short time before his crucifixion Jesus said plainly to the religious
people of his day: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier
[matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have
done, and not to leave the other undone. [Ye] blind guides, which strain at
a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within they are full of extortion and excess. [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them
may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but
are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matthew
23:23-27.
Legalism is a very common attitude of religious but non-regenerated people,
when appearance – what others see - is all that matters and no true
spiritual conversion has taken place. Though, please, notice a detail in
Jesus’ words: he doesn’t say that appearance is not important, he just
stresses the fact that it is what is inside, into the heart of man, that
makes the difference before God.
Living in a catholic country, I know perfectly what Jesus meant to say. In
fact, Catholicism is the perfect expression of religion made only of
appearance. If you consider the catholic liturgy you will notice how
complicated and sophisticated it is. Most Catholics here make confession of
their sins to the priests, follow the Mass, baptize their children, go to
church for Christmas and Easter, but have never read the Bible or believe
anything of the true Christian doctrine – not even what the catholic church
teaches. For the average Italian Roman Catholic, religion has completely
taken the place of spiritual involvement.
To a certain extent, I believe to degenerate into mere outward religion is a
risk no denomination is immune from. Blind criticism is useless and we must
remember that the Bible is there not to let us condemn others, but to teach
us individually. So the following statement is for us to consider seriously:
“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their
mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far
from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” Isaiah
29:13.
- The skeptics.
Though the Romans spoke Latin and they had practically conquered the whole
known world, Greek was the predominant language and culture in the Roman
Empire. Even some inscriptions of the Emperor were in Greek. This language
was commonly used for international commerce. This is why the New Testament
was written in Greek: being the message of the Gospel a universal message,
it had to be written in a universal language. Greek of the days of our Lord
can be compared to English today.
Like today the spread of the English language causes a natural spread of
English-speaking people’s culture – both British and American – the same
happened with the very developed and sophisticated Greek culture and
philosophy. The influence of the Greek world is called Hellenism. So deep
was such influence, that the reader must not be surprised when I say that
even today the echo of Hellenism is evident in our western society.
Pilate showed a Greek mind when he asked Jesus: “What is truth?”
I believe he was totally convinced that there can be no absolute truth. The
very deep and complicated Greek philosophy could come up with no true answer
except that truth is not absolute, that everyone has his own truth, as good
as anyone else’s. The Romans conquered many lands but never tried to impose
their religion. They were convinced syncretistics. That is why Jews looked
so strange to them, because they were convinced that their religion was not
just another religion but the only religion and their God not just another
god, but the true and living God.
So it must have sounded strange to Pilate that a man brought to him in
chains should speak in such an absolute way of truth.
Today more than ever before, our society is oriented toward a mild
syncretistic attitude. Religions – all religions – are seen as an effort
toward that absolute being, that God, that we all “feel” or think must
exist. Always more people do not accept the possibility of the existence of
the Truth. And when Christians are witnessing saying that they have found
the Truth, they are considered disrespectful toward other religions.
Even to this day, no matter what sceptics may think, we can be sure that
Jesus was a witness of the truth. He even said: “I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6. He
himself was the truth. He himself was the way to God and nobody else. There
are so many religions in this world today, but there just one man who died
on the cross for your sins, who offered himself to God so that we might have
peace with God. There is just one man in history who rose from the dead,
Jesus, thus sealing his witness like no other prophet ever has done.
“What is truth”? Is there a truth? Is there something we can really call
Truth?
Yes, the Bible tells us there is a Truth. A truth as simple as this: Jesus
“was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification.” Romans 4:25. “That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:15.
Religion is not the way. Man’s philosophy is not the way. Jesus is.
As every preaching ends with an invitation, please let me close this written
preaching with an invitation too: believe this Truth, believe Jesus and BE
SAVED.
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