Truth is a Person

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“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 18:33-38

In the penultimate commandment of the Ten Words, Israel is told that they should not bear false witness against their neighbours. God is a God of truth, and his people should be people of truth.

Everyone agrees - in theory. Truth is a good thing. We want to know the truth. We like to think of ourselves as searchers for truth. But we all live under the power of the first lie: did God really say? (Genesis 3:1). The problem seems particularly acute in this age of truth decay. How can we become truthful people?

In John 18, Jesus stands before Pilate in one of the most striking scenes in Scripture. The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to the Roman governor because only Rome can authorize what they want - his execution. Pilate questions Jesus about their central charge: “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answer seems to be something like 'yes and no'. Yes, a king, but not in the way they think - a kingship of coercive power, violence and compromise. His kingdom is “not of this world” and he is a king that rules through speaking truth: “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Pilate’s reply—“What is truth?”—is the final time the word truth appears in John’s gospel, which is full of talk about the truth and how the truth comes to us. From the opening chapter (“the Word… full of grace and truth”) to Jesus’ promise that “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free,”... the truth is not an idea or ideal. Jesus is the truth.

When Pilate asks his question, it not clear whether it is cynical or genuinely searching. Perhaps he views truth as whatever is politically expedient. Perhaps he feels trapped between competing claims—Jesus’ truth, the leaders’ truth, Rome’s truth. His ambiguity mirrors the questions of our own age, in which truth can seem contested, subjective, or unreachable.

The tragedy is not that Pilate cannot discover the truth, but that the Truth is standing in front of him and he cannot recognise it. Joy Davidman said, "Pilate chooses to doubt reality rather than accept his own sin".

The irony is - the truth is! - that Jesus is not the one on trial. Pilate is on trial. Will he listen to the voice of the one who is Truth? And we all stand behind Pilate - we are on trial! Will we prove ourselves to be on the side of truth? Will we listen to voice of Jesus?

The command not to steal is rooted in the positive vision of God’s goodness and provision. It’s (usually) easy enough not to steal, but the real call is to a life of generosity rooted in a trust in God’s generosity.

God’s Spirit is given to us to transform us from. We are sometimes people who look good on the outside, but are trapped by our desire to take what seems good in our own eyes.

The Spirit can make us into people that truly reflect the image of God. We can reflect His abundance and generosity. We can become more and more like Jesus.

This is my prayer for you:

Soften our hearts by your Holy Spirit.

Expose where we would hold onto lies, that we can achieve security through seeking financial control; hoarding and accumulating.
Help us have the freedom to accept your beautiful invitation, so generously and freely offered, to life - true life.
Make us people who are not devoured by our desires, to do what seems right in our own eyes, but people who devour your word.
Put us in community with one another so that the enemy, who prowls around like a hungry lion, won’t pick us off and devour us.
Thank you that you have promised that you will never leave or forsake us.
That you are preparing us, your Church, to be ready for your return.
That you promise not even the gates of hell will prevail against your Church.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

- John 8:2-5

Sex: our culture seems obsessed and confused by it all at once. If Christians are often accused of being hung up on sex, maybe it’s because the stories and words of Scripture expose our pain and our longing for a better way.

On Sunday, we looked at the seventh commandment: do not commit adultery. When the Bible talks about faithfulness, it paints a picture of deep, faithful love. Marriage, in the Bible, mirrors God’s relationship with His people: a bond of promise - a covenant. When we’re faithful to our spouses, we’re reflecting God’s own steadfast love. And when that faithfulness breaks down it points to a deeper unfaithfulness towards God. So when it comes to adultery, God seems to take it personally.

Jesus takes the conversation deeper still. "But i tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). He doesn’t just tighten the moral rules, but calls for a recognition of our brokenness and radical action for transformation.

That’s why the story of the woman caught in adultery resonates so powerfully. The crowd was ready to stone her. In such an act of collective punishment, no-one could be identified as guilty for her death. Jesus turns this round, and asks if any single one of them would dare to step forward and claim the kind of moral integrity that could qualify them to execute justice. All of them turn around and walk away.

The irony is, of course, that Jesus is qualified to execute judgement. But he doesn't condemn her. Instead, he releases her and invites her into life. Such mercy doesn’t excuse sin, and it does something far more than punish it. It breaks sin's power and releases the offender from death.

This is for us too. None of us can stand without need of grace — and that grace is always ready to meet us. Jesus still stoops low, still writes in the dust, and still offers new beginnings.