Pentecost 13: "What is Truth?"

Joshua 24.1-2a, 14-18

Psalm 34.15-22

Ephesians 6.10-20

John 6.56-59

In the Gospel of John, Pontius Pilate asks one of the most profound questions in all of the Scriptures, a question that resounds and echoes starkly through the centuries. It the perennial and eternal question of the philosopher: “What is truth?” (John 18.38).  These words were well placed by the writer of the Gospel of John on the lips of the pagan Roman governor.  The question of truth and the quest of philosophy were a great concern among the ancients.  Classical religion was a civic affair, but it did not provide ultimate answers in the way we normally think of religion.  If that was your quest, then you turned to some of the various schools of philosophy which existed throughout the ancient world.  A contributing factor to the growth of Christianity was that it offered religion and philosophy, a spirituality which offered a way of truth and not simply a system for appeasing the gods.  So it is in this context we must understand this question of Pilate.  In one sense, the entire scene is representative of a larger reality: Pilate is the pagan world challenging Christianity about this very question of truth. 

In our modern context Pilate’s question is particularly relevant, because we live in a world which to a large extent has discovered the relativity of truth.  Our global perspective has allowed us to view so much of what we have customarily held as truth to be conditioned by culture and society, by particular view-points and even by ignorance.  The ultimate truth which classical philosophy looked for has become even more distant; and the fact is that the wider your vision, perspective and experience the farther away it gets.  It is easy to arrive at “truth” the more parochial your are, the less experience of the world you have, the fewer people you encounter, and the fewer really challenging experiences you live through. 

Is there then anything to be said for truth, at all?  More specifically, what claim can Christianity make upon the truth, if any?  Well, it seems to me that Christianity today can offer the same synthesis between religion and philosophy which it did in the ancient world: religion which tries to make sense of the human relationship to the divine, and philosophy which asks the questions of truth and the meaning of the good life.  Christianity can engage well with question of truth in our present situation, because it has always placed truth within the context of right action – orthopraxis.  For Jesus the claim to truth was always to be judged by what it produced “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?  In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7.15-18)  For Jesus the truth sets us free (cf. John 8.31), it brings life (cf. John 14.6), it conveys grace (cf. John 1.15).  Paul writing to the Ephesians puts truth the within the context of righteousness, peace, faith, wholeness.  The writer of the first letter of John writes, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth…” (1John 3.18-19).  In the New Testament tradition truth is bound up in orthopraxis.

In a complex, cross-cultural, multi-faith world this is good news indeed.  I do not have to brow-beat my fellow human beings with my version of the truth, much less do I have to convince them to believe  it, or walk around with an air of religious superiority to justify it.  In the words of the prophet Micah, what I have to do is “but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with…God.” (Micah 6.8)  Such an orthopraxis of truth makes appropriate space not only for the extent to which truth is relative, but also for the extent to which truth, from our limited vantage point, is provisional.  God is ultimately unknowable, and even that which we can know about God is always interpreted by and filtered through the various perspectives of culture, society and experience.  In this regard truth is a bit like God.  The more we find out about the world, and the more we go outside ourselves and encounter others, the more convinced we become of the relativity of truth.  Equally, the more we delve into the depths of God my means of prayer, meditation and human encounters, the less we can say with certainty about God, much less speak for God.  Like I said before, the more narrow and shallow our experience the more willing we are to claim a monopoly on truth or absolute knowledge of God.  And – not too surprisingly – the less willing we are to accept the diversity of human nature and experience, the more willing we are to condemn the beliefs of others.

I am not sure what truth is, but I am sure of this:  that I come to know it better and grow into it more fully, not in my claiming to posses it exclusively, but in living with compassion, kindness, tolerance, humility, joy, thanksgiving; and in allowing those to transform me and the world.  I accept that my truth may not be your truth, but kindness is kindness; compassion is compassion, forbearance is forbearance and “by this we will know that we are from the truth.” (1 John 3.19)  I have said this before, and I am sure that undoubtedly I shall say it again, but I am very concerned about the obsession of some Christians with orthodoxy at the expense of orthopraxis.  When that happens we become narrow-minded, self-righteousness, nasty, mean-spirited.  What kind of religion, what kind of truth, disfigures human beings so terribly? 

“What is truth?”  It is elusive, and from our limited perspective always incomplete.  Yet we can grow into truth, not in pursuing certainty by narrowing our vision, but by opening ourselves up  in trust and kindness  We can grow into truth, not by chasing it or convincing others to live our way, but by listening to others and allowing them to transform us into more understanding people.  We can grow into truth by accepting others in non-judgemental compassion.  We can grow into truth simply by doing acts of kindness and growing in forbearance.