What is Truth
With arrogance, condescension, and sarcasm, Pontius Pilate looked truth in the eye and retorted “what is truth?” The events that proceed from that encounter precipitated the crucifixion of Christ and ultimately Pilate’s own death by suicide.
The question “what is truth” is in no way rhetorical. It is the theme of both Testaments of the Bible and its revelation is the reason Jesus was born and came into the world (John 18:37).
It is the responsibility and calling of all followers of Jesus Christ to answer the question for themselves. That answer is the key to unlocking the door to abundant living.
Obviously, the Scriptures encompass all truth the discussion of which can attain ethereal proportions ‒ “He is before all things and in Him, all things are held together.”However, Jesus elevated one singular truth in the hierarchy of truth to an existential category by associating it with freedom‒ “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
What is that germinal truth that heals the broken-hearted and changes captivity into liberty? That truth that enabled Abraham to raise a dagger over his son Isaac and Jesus to sleep in the stern of a boat through a raging storm as his disciples were gripped with panic?I believe the answer is so simple that it can be easily overlooked. It can’t be discovered by understanding or reason. It’s easier for a child to move in it than for a philosopher espousing “science falsely so called.”
I believe that truth is this — He is willing and able to not only take care of us but to promote and advance us. If I were to guess, and I am, most of the angst, catastrophizing, and hand-wringing emotional seizing in our lives are caused by irrational, or is it irrational, uncontrollable, petrifying, and paralyzing fear. Fear that feeds itself until it becomes panic. Panic that locks the soul in a death-grip; a grip likethat of Eleazar’s hands around his sword after he had singlehandedly killed a philistine troop.
What if we were able to comprehend the simple truth that He is not only taking care of us but propellingus along on the winds of His favor. Not the concept, but the truth. The same way a child knows his parent or parents are nearby and alert.
One Sunday, many years ago, I was accosted by someone who I believed was stronger and meaner than I was. He was a few years older than I and was very menacing. He instructed me to be at a designated place where I would be administered a beating — probably a deserved one. I had 5 hours to think about what awaited me.
During those 5 hours, I was in the presence of my WWII US Marine father, recently home from fighting in the Pacific. So badly, I wanted to say: “Dad, something has come up and I need you to be there.” Not to prevent the fight but to limit the extent of the damage. So badly did I want to say that because then, I knew I would be taken care of even in a disastrous conflict.
I didn’t. I showed up and was humiliated. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about that day. In the words of Kenney Chesney “I wish I would have stood up to that bully, but I didn’t.”
So intrinsic was trust in His father that the only time Jesus despaired was when He thought he had been forsaken by Him.What we trust in essentially becomes our life. It could be wealth, position, physical stature or beauty, or the acceptance and admiration of others. Or, dependence on someone else. Whatever, it becomes our life.
Is it any wonder that the bedrock platform of AA is dependency on a Higher Power? For us, that Higher Power has a name. A name above all names. We have to keep in mind that this truth must become part of the “warp and woof” of our being. The mind is the work of the brain and the brain is a marvelous but carnal organ. We have to renew our minds daily in the truth. I have over 2,000 hours in the A-320, but today, I couldn’t tell you how to adjust the seat.
We must duel with doubt while staying focused on the truth until, like Christ, it becomes our nature. Even John the Baptist, who from prison, sent his disciples to ask Jesus‒“Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?
The question for us remains, “what is truth?”
“When Christ our life returns, we will be like Him.”
Kent Weathersby
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