Our frustrating experience last week in doctors’ offices and the hospital concerning Marti’s yet-to-be-diagnosed symptoms was not unlike what we are all facing today in our own fact-finding processes in the complex culture in which we find ourselves. The big question today is the same question Pilate put before Jesus when he questioned Him as to His alleged crimes for which the Jewish leaders wanted Him crucified. Pilate was flummoxed. Jesus did not respond in the same manner in which common criminals responded to interrogation. With some questions, Jesus remained silent. With others He responded in words Pilate had never heard before like, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And, “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” (John 18:37). To which Pilate exclaimed in frustration, “What is truth?” It was not a question to which Pilate was really seeking an answer. It was a cynical question by which he was insisting there was no answer because, he left the room without waiting for one.
What Pilate didn’t know is that Jesus had already answered that question. It was a question to which Jesus had proclaimed Himself as the answer: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). It was an answer not to be memorized or written in a book or filed away or passed on a test, but an answer to be experienced. Jesus Himself is truth. Not even His words, though that is part of it, because His words are true, but Jesus the person is truth. To know Jesus, is to know truth.
Truth is as elusive today as it was then — maybe even more so. From the news, which is biased right and left, to the internet where anything anybody wants to say will be truth to some people. Without a common source, truth is impossible to verify. You have to pick and choose and make an educated guess, and even then, you can never be sure.
That is why it is so important today to cling to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Everything Jesus did and said is utterly reliable, but the personal knowledge of Him in our hearts is the truth on which we base our hope.
Pilate proclaimed facetiously, “What is truth?” as if no one could know it, and left Truth standing in the room waiting to be crucified. The man, Jesus, was about to be slaughtered for the sins of the whole world, Pilate’s included, but he didn’t recognize it. I hope, for his sake, that he finally did at some point realize that the answer to his question had been right in front of him.
Hold onto Jesus. In a world full of lies, He is the truth.
John Fischer The Catch 
Yet once again & please, pretty please answer:
Hi Pastor John:
Hope & pray this finds you & all of your loved ones doing & feeling well. Wanted to ask you how come you can find the time to figure out how to do and post in the Catch a video of you talking a need for money, yet seemly can’t about doing what you once did in reading the Catch?
Sincerely,
Mark
Thank you, Mark, for the “push.” Doing a video now and then is one thing. Deciding how to do it on a permanent basis, what service to use, how to present it and archive it is a little bigger and we simply haven’t made it a big enough priority to work into our schedule. But with your encouragement and reminder, we will step up the timeline.
Pastor John TY 4replying…
A few weeks ago I was reading thru Luke 11 and verse 35 hit me with a puzzle. Thank you for writing about that puzzle. Here’s the context of my empuzzlement. (Yeah, I made that word up.) Ponder verse 35.
Luke11:33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Hi Tim – I’m a little late to your question, but maybe I can help you with another translation of those verses.
Luke 11:33-36 (NLT)
“No one lights a lamp and then hides it or outs it under a basket. Instead, it is put on a lampstand to give light to all who enter the room. Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not really darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight is shining on you.”
Just before He spoke these words, He had already castigated those gathered for not recognizing “that someone greater than Jonah” was with them and still they refused to repent. Included in the crowd gathered were some Pharisees who were so full of their own self-righteousness, they failed to see the Light who was Jesus. They believed the only truth was their skewed version, and they saw life through that viewpoint and loved it because of the power it gave them over those whom they considered less worthy than they. Because of their darkness, they were sinning by leading God’s people into the same pit.
Hope it helps somewhat. Blessings.
Hi: Thanks. Good points.
When I read Scripture I try to ask “What is Jesus saying to me?” So, naturally I get stuck on those kinds of questions. I kind of assume that Jesus is talking to me.
As He surely is!