An "A" Is Stll An "A"

“Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’” John 18:37-38

During the decade of the ‘60s one trend was all the philosophizing about truth. Is there such thing as absolutes? Is truth relative? Can your truth be different than my truth on the same subject and still be valid?Logos, in Greek philosophy, is not a personal being, but a sort of ‘controlling principle’, issuing forth from God to direct the circumstances of your life. This is one of the misconceptions John was addressing in the first chapter of his gospel.

John declared the “Logos” was none other than Jesus Christ. So I suppose, if this universal principle is the same for everyone, but it guides each life down a different path, then that would make it possible to believe that your truth is as good and valid as my truth. No wonder Pilate was confused! What is truth? When he asked this question of Jesus, it was not in frustration or despair, as though wondering if truth could be found; truth that would finally put his restless and weary heart to rest. He was saying it in sarcasm! ‘You say banana, I say baa-naa-naa’. It was the attitude that might have been expressed by saying, “Truth! You’ve got your truth, and I’ve got mine! What does that have to do with anything?”Pilate stood in the presence of Truth, and asked, “What is truth?” And he received no answer, because he wasn’t really looking.

Annas, the High Priest emeritus, in his arrogance, wanted Jesus to defend His teachings. But he wasn’t looking for truth. Pilate stood staring Truth in the face, and asked, “what is truth?” But he didn’t want to know. Herod wanted Him to do a miracle for his entertainment. But he didn’t want to know the truth. The thief on the cross reviled and chided Jesus, challenging Him, if He was the Messiah, to save them both. But he didn’t want to know the truth. The angry crowd standing below the cross mocked and said, “He saved others, He cannot save Himself”. But they didn’t want to know the truth.

You see, truth calls for commitment. To know the truth about any given matter, requires a decision of some sort from the recipient of truth. And only in obeying truth can one walk in truth. “Thy word is a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my pathway.” One must see where he is (feet) to know where he is going (pathway). For instance, once one is confronted with the salvation truth of Acts 2:38 and that person fails to be obedient to that truth then the walk of truth is endangered. To obey is better than sacrifice!

The story is told of a man who came to visit his old friend, a music teacher. As the man came in, he said, “What’s the good news today?” The old teacher was silent as he stood up and walked across the room. He picked up a small hammer and struck a tuning fork. As the note sounded throughout the room, he said, “That is ‘A.’ It is ‘A’ today; it was ‘A’ 5,000 years ago, and it will be ‘A’ 10,000 years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key, the tenor across the hall flats on his high notes, and the piano downstairs is out of tune.” He struck the note again and said, “That is ‘A,’ my friend, and that’s the good news for today!”

In a day when we are surrounded and bombarded constantly by a jumbled, cacophony of useless and meaningless noise, let the one true sound go forth; the sound of Truth Himself, Jesus Christ, The Almighty God, bearing witness to the truth, and declaring, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice”

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