This past weekend I gave a talk on John 18 and Pilate's question of truth at a church called All Saints in Seattle. Sometimes we read John's take on Pilate's investigation of Jesus's trial as if Pilate didn't get the whole truth of Jesus's divinity, or, we assume that Pilate was a kind of relativist. It seems to me that Pilate is in fact an interested political leader who did, in the end, understand the truth in part. Pilate didn't understand Jesus's divinity necessarily, but he did understand that there was no case against Jesus. In that sense, Pilate knew enough of the truth to take action. John's question was not whether Pilate knew the truth, but rather, whether or not Pilate would do the truth after his investigation and genuine seeking led him to the conclusion that there was no legal case against Jesus. My point was that in John's Gospel nobody really gets the full picture. Jesus makes clear "I am" statements about his identity ("I am the bread of life" and "I am the way the truth and the life"), and people don't really understand it fully. John's Gospel is very much in line with Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 13.12, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have been fully known." This understanding of truth is rather inconvenient insofar as it would be much easier if Jesus was more black and white, or we could just relativise him away.

Though inconvenient, this conception of truth demands that we seek, ask and knock, precisely because we have a healthy skepticism of our own ability to know. Christian doubt can be consistent with Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment criticisms of human reason, but also hopeful that even amidst the obscurity, the truth does come to us in parts.  

Seeking the truth in the Christian tradition begins and ends in humility. We seek, but the truth ultimately has to be revealed to us. In Luther's words: deus absconditus, deus revelatus. We look to the cross and all we see is a bloody crucified man. God is hidden from us there. And yet, this is precisely where Christians are taught that God is revealed.

Today, there are many stories about Jesus, and many ways in which he is caught up in religious packages that are easy to dismiss. Jesus can be found on Christian broadcasting channels like TBN, but he is also obscured by them. Jesus is a good teacher, but there is more to him than that. Pilate gives us a good example to follow. Jesus is presented to him as a criminal. Pilate doesn't just take the religious leaders' word for it. He inquires himself and although he doesn't understand fully just who Jesus is, his encounter with Christ did lead to the truth in part: "I find no case against this man." The real question John poses is, having gained this truth, would Pilate do the truth? That is the tragedy of John's account of Jesus's trial. Pilate knew enough, but in the end it was going to be his life or Jesus's. The only person in the story willing to pay the ultimate price the truth demanded that day was Jesus.

My talk seemed to be well received, and you can download an mp3 of the 9am gathering by clicking here. The PowerPoint I used is attached below. The image here is my version of an image created by a local Manchester artist named Micah Purnell who made the cards I had handed out before the gathering.

John 18 on Truth PowerPoint