April 01, 2026 | Be Connected
What is Truth?
Scripture: John 18:28-40(NIV)
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 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.”
37 “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.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
Devotional
What is Truth? Pilate asked a particularly good question; the answer to which every judge and jury want to know.
Truth and truthfulness are important to God. He enshrined the duty to be truthful in the Ninth Commandment in Exodus 20:16: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” This commandment was echoed throughout the Old Testament:
Proverbs 14:25: A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is deceitful.
Zechariah 8:16-17: These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely.
We have heard that there are two sides to every story, two “truths” if you will. In court, however, there are actually four “truths.” There is the prosecution’s truth, the defendant’s truth, and somewhere out there is the “what really happened” truth. In Court, those three truths do not matter. Only the fourth truth matters: it is what the judge says it is. Often the judge gets it right, sometimes not.
In the trial of Jesus, the religious leaders presented their “truth” to Pilate that Jesus had claimed to be the King of the Jews. However, they hypocritically ignored their own law and commandments by bringing false witnesses against Jesus. (Matthew 26:60).
Pilate as judge had the Truth standing right in front of him. Even though Pilate heard Jesus, Pilate did not fully accept or understand what Jesus told him. Yet there was still something about this Jewish carpenter’s son that compelled Pilate; he found no basis for the charges against Jesus. But under pressure, Pilate’s “fourth truth” seems to have gotten it wrong as he allowed a man he knew to be innocent to be condemned to death. Here is where the greatest irony was played out; Pilate’s verdict was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross, and through His death and resurrection God pronounced His greater verdict of “Not Guilty” for all humanity.
During this Holy Week, reflect on the one truth that matters: Jesus submitted to an injustice for Himself to save all of us.
