“Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ They answered him, ‘If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ The Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.’ This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’ After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber.”

What is Truth?

If you’ve read any of my other outlines, there’s a fair chance that you’ve seen me reference the clinical psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson. He wrote a book that, despite wandering off in other directions at times, borrows largely from Biblical principles, called “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.” While it could be called a “self-help” book, it focuses far more heavily on seeing both the world and yourself as they truly are, as opposed to molding things into your perfect, happy bubble. It challenges the reader to embrace reality, not distort it into something they find more palatable. I bring this up in reference to today’s passage because of the twelve rules, rule eight is, “tell the truth – or at least don’t lie.” The chapter explores the liberation found in telling the truth, and the ultimately Satanic influence of lies. To offer a direct quote,

“If your life Is not what it could be, try telling the truth. If you cling desperately to an ideology, or wallow in nihilism, try telling the truth. If you feel weak and rejected, and desperate, and confused, try telling the truth. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That’s what makes it Paradise. Tell the truth. Or, at least don’t lie.”

While I may push back, or at the very least make some clarifications on the statement, “In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That’s what makes it Paradise,” he’s certainly not far off the mark. To be in Paradise is to be in direct community with the Truth, to worship and glorify God in the Light of His very presence. What Dr. Peterson is saying is a somewhat more ambiguous way of paraphrasing what Jesus said in John 8:31–32,

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”           

While the response of those Jesus was addressing wasn’t exactly ideal (which we’ll discuss later), it doesn’t change the factual nature of His words. There is freedom in the Truth, freedom in Him that cannot be found anywhere else. We live in a world today that struggles with the concept of Truth. It’s disheartening to see that for many, “truth” is thought of as a personal, subjective thing. My truth is mine, your truth is yours, and neither should infringe on the other. Somehow, out of a perverse desire to pursue sin and live in a manner that gratifies the flesh, we’ve taken “perspective” and “opinion” and relabeled them as truth. But Truth is the cornerstone, the rock upon which reality stands. Christ is not movable, not malleable, but is constant and righteous and true. Bearing this in mind, it’s small wonder that the world is on fire in more ways than one. I’ve often heard it said that people know we’re in the end times because of how profoundly wicked the world is, that it’s worse than it’s ever been. Well, we’re certainly in end times, and have been since Jesus ascended into heaven, but as to the world being worse off than its ever been, I’m not so sure. While I certainly don’t believe that the world today is morally superior to the world of the past, I’m not convinced it’s worse, certainly not in a first world nation like the US. People still worship idols, but the worship and the idols themselves look different. People still carry the stain of sin, reveling in rage, lust, and greed, just like they have from the time of the fall. One generation burns their children in sacrifice to a pagan god; ours teaches children that gender is a social construct, that biology is negotiable, and warps young minds and bodies with drugs and surgeries. We play a dangerous game when we try to parse out which era’s sins are darker, when mankind has been in open rebellion against our creator since we first chose sin, and it is only through His mercy and sacrifice that we are reconciled and freed. As we look at today’s passage, we gain perspective as to what it means to openly rebel against God, what it looks like to stand in the middle, trying to carve our own path of righteousness, and what is looks like to stand fully in the Light of God – and through all this, drive toward the answer to the question of Pontius Pilate: what is truth?

1. The One who Rejects Truth

“Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.”

We’ve seen examples of extreme hypocrisy again and again as the religious rulers oppose Jesus with ever increasing force. Their worship is not for God, but for the Law itself, picked over and distorted by their twisted interpretations. They worship the power they’re able to lord over others, they cherish the self-righteous way that they’re able to view themselves. But what we see in the opening of today’s passage, while easy to pass right by, is one of the greatest, and most disgusting examples of just how black and rotten their hypocritical hearts are. The march toward the cross carries on. We’ve gone through Gethsemane, where they arrested Jesus, their Messiah, through bribery and corruption. They have carried out their sham trials before a kangaroo court, with the full intent that He be executed, bringing forth false witnesses, and seeking to slander Him. They have taken the truth that Jesus spoke about His identity, called it blasphemy, and condemned Him to die. It’s now early morning. The rooster, which marked Peter’s third and final denial has crowed and we’re somewhere around sunrise (which to give some specificity, the sunrise in Jerusalem for 3/22/25 was 5:40 am). Lacking the authority to execute Him themselves, the ruling Jews now drag Jesus bound, before their Roman governor to be formally sentenced – but we see that they won’t enter Pontius Pilate’s headquarters. Filled to the brim with hypocrisy and lawlessness, they seek to murder the Son of God, but draw the line at entering the dwelling of a gentile. This is something that is not actually prohibited under the Law, but by the rules that they themselves have heaped onto what God has given them. While there are some potential risks for a Jew in entering a gentile’s home (coming in contact with something that may make you ceremonially unclean), it’s an extreme precaution, and it shows their hardness of hearts in how severely they were willing to distance themselves from the gentiles under their self-imposed “law.” The idea that they have come before Pilate, vying for Jesus to be crucified, while also concerned with maintaining ritual purity so that they can continue to observe the Passover is so painfully ironic that it’s absurd. This is a picture, a perfect example of the spirit of the world, of what a mind set on self, and flesh, and Satanic power looks like. The greatest commandment is that you love the Lord your God with all that your heart, mind, and soul – the religious rulers show us what it looks like to give that same devotion to the pursuit of wickedness. This is what it looks like to not just fail to accept the Truth, but to openly reject it, to aggressively oppose the righteous will of God.

“So Pilate went outside to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ They answered him, ‘If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ The Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.’ This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die”

This again is something that we could breeze right past if we weren’t paying attention. It took some careful, prayerful contemplation to get what the Jews are saying indirectly as they address Pilate here. First, understand that while Pilate was the governor over the region, he didn’t live in Jerusalem. His presence there is entirely related to the Passover and the massive influx of Jews there to observe the feast. His aim and interest are around ensuring that there are no riots, rebellions, or insurrections. The fact that Passover commemorates the final plague against Egypt and the Jews freedom from oppression and slavery, would potentially serve to stoke the attentiveness of those in power over the Jews at that time. We know that this was a prime window for uprisings, because while John simply addresses Barabbas as a robber, letting us know that it was a criminal who the crowd chose to free instead of the spotless Lamb of God, Mark’s gospel elaborates on this, saying in Mark 15:7,

“And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.”

This tells us that there was already at least one attempted insurrection, and we know that it is threats to Rome that Pilate is concerned with. When the Jews arrive with Jesus and Pilate asks what has been brought against Him, they provide this vague response of, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate is often painted as the villain, and while he’s certainly not the hero, this is where we begin to see that he’s more of a neutral figure as opposed to directly opposing Jesus. The insinuation is that if Jesus hadn’t done something sufficiently terrible, they wouldn’t be bringing Him to Pilate. But the Roman Governor shows little interest, instructing them to handle Jewish matters among themselves. The fact that they respond with, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” is extremely telling. Again, they don’t actually reveal a specific charge, but they insinuate. Despite the fact that execution was entirely permissible for certain specific reasons under the Law, the ruling Jews no longer have the authority to carry out such punishment under the control of Rome. By going to Pilate and telling him that they’ve come because it’s not lawful for them to put someone to death conveys firstly, that Jesus has done something worthy of execution, and secondly, that this is the punishment they’re expecting from Pilate. If we look at Luke’s gospel, we see specific accusations given in Luke 23:2,

“And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’”

What’s interesting is that, if we read between the lines in John’s gospel, this is what the ruling Jews are saying there too. My theory, based on the context here, is that the Jews hoped that Pilate, primed to snuff out rebellion, would assume based on their insinuations that Jesus was an insurrectionist, and immediately have him executed. This would have saved them from the tedium of supplying any evidence for specific charges. This misdirection and deception that John shows us is on par with the character we’ve seen from the religious elites throughout his gospel. If we look back at the conversation between Jesus and the ruling Jews from John 8 that I referenced earlier, we can see the tone before, and then the response after His declaration, that “the truth will set you free.” Jesus has faced opposition of varying degrees since very early on in His ministry. John 2 records Jesus cleansing the temple, and things have been strained at the very least between He and the Religious rulers since then. But if we look at John 8, we can see an almost mixed response to what Jesus is saying, up until “the truth will set you free.” On the whole, they test and oppose Him, they scheme and intentionally misconstrue His words, showing themselves again and again as enemies to the Truth. But as Jesus explains that He has been sent from the Father to do the will of the Father, John 8:30 says,

“As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

Now it stands to reason that those who are hearing Jesus speak are not only the ruling Jews, but people in general who are present in the temple. However John 8:31 starts off by saying,

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him…”

Given that John consistently uses “the Jews” to refer to the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin throughout his gospel, this tells us that some of those who were opposing Jesus were temporarily won over – very temporarily. “The truth will set you free,” is wonderful news, it’s the best news, because as Jesus goes on to explain, everyone who practices sin (so, literally everyone but Him), is a slave to sin. Jesus, the manifestation of Truth, offers us freedom. But the Jews who had believed in what He said before take offense at this. Proverbs 16:18–19 tells us,

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

What we see from the ruling Jews is a response of pride, one that guides them toward ruin. Jesus offers them freedom, and they scoff. Some of them were just starting to believe, to appreciate what Jesus had to say, but the idea that they need Him is repellant in their pride. This is how much of the world responds to Jesus today. It’s not particularly uncommon to hear someone concede that Jesus, “said some good things.” But that’s the extent of their commitment, they may confess that Bible holds some good principles to live by, but they leave it as a grayed over and vague impression of things – they view the Light through dark eyes and fail to see what it truly is. If we stop here, we can get an idea of the space that Pilate seems to occupy, but the religious authorities move past well past ambiguity. They stand in certainty on their heritage, “sons of Abraham,” free from birth, but Jesus goes on to explain that they are not sons of Abraham, not doing the work that Abraham did. Rather, they are sons of the Devil, the murderous father of lies. As Jesus further condemns the blind wickedness of those charged and blessed to guide God’s people, and attests to His own station as One with the I Am, the Jews lose their composure entirely and take up stones to stone Him to death. He withdraws from the temple, His hour has not come, and He controls the situation. Even in their commitment to rebellion, the ruling Jews were still used to fulfil the prophetic words of Jesus. He would not be stoned to death in the temple, killed in a fit of rage by those who oppose Him. Rather He knew the lengths their opposition to Truth would carry them to, the way their darkened hearts would plot and scheme, and the way in which His death would fulfil the will of the Father, and offer redemption to the world. If we look to these religious rulers we see an image of complete rejection of the Truth, but we also see that the wickedness of man, and opposition to the will of God is fruitless. Rejecting Truth doesn’t negate Truth – the will of the Lord prevails.

2. The One who Does not Know Truth

“So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’”

The more I’ve read my Bible, the more I find myself fascinated with Pilate. He’s a very strange, and very human figure, unknowingly thrust into the midst of the most pivotal event in the history of the world. He’s strange because he’s most certainly not the good guy, but he’s also not the bad guy – or at least not the primary bad guy. When he learns from the Jews that Jesus has claimed to be the Son of God, he questions Him more pointedly, seeking to release Him. John 19:11 says,

“Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.’”

We can’t walk away from this thinking that Pilate is entirely blameless, but as usual, the clearest perspective comes from Christ. The greatest burden lies on those Jews who were given positions of authority over their people, those who sat upon the seat of Moses, and were charged to teach the Law to the people – they, who should have known Jesus for who He was and rejoiced at His coming, but instead sought to kill Him. By comparison to them, Pilate is just a pagan ruler acting as he sees fit. What’s interesting is that he doesn’t jump at the apparent baiting of the Jews, but rather questions Jesus himself to ascertain what He’s guilty of. His opening question, “Are you the King of the Jews?” strikes right at the heart of his concerns from a Roman perspective. The Jews have brough Jesus for Pilate to execute Him, so he asks Jesus plainly if He’s setting Himself up as a ruler, a revolutionary against Rome. Jesus replies,

“Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

He of course already knows the answer to this, but the question serves to draw Pilate back to the true nature of the situation from any assumptions he may be leaning toward – that lack of specificity of the charge the Jews have brought against Him, and the fact that whatever Pilate thinks Jesus has done, it’s implied, not something that he himself knows. While Pilate’s response of,

“Am I a Jew?”

Seems to drip with cynicism, he does acknowledge that this is not his information, but what he’s been told, and what has been implied. Regardless, it was the chief priests who handed Jesus over, so whether the charges are implicit or directly given, the situation is still serious – Pilate expects an explanation. Last week we looked at how there are times that Jesus speaks the truth, and times He remains silent, but that regardless of what He’s facing, He never lies. Now, as He speaks to the Roman governor, Jesus doesn’t deny His station to appease Pilate – and yet what He offers up is both truthful, and perfectly practical for the situation.

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

There’s not really another way to say it – this is absolutely brilliant. If Pilate is worried about Jesus stirring up trouble, leading a resistance against the powers of Rome, this puts that to bed. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t hold absolute power, it’s not that He doesn’t command extreme authority, but He has come to lead a revolution of the Spirit, not to raise an earthly empire. And as testament to this, Jesus points to the fact that He was arrested without conflict (not counting Peter’s one move with his sword), that no rescue attempts were made – that He and those who follow Him are simply not the kind of threat that Rome seeks to stamp out. His kingdom is not of this world.

“Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’”

Out of everything that Jesus said, Pilate does latch onto one point for clarification – He said, “my kingdom,” so is Jesus saying that He’s a King? In actuality, Jesus is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, He is the Son, of the same essence as the Living God, the Ancient of Days, the Author of life – He’s so much more than any earthly king could ever be, so much more than any human could ever comprehend without the indwelling helper of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the King, but He’s not a king as Pilate could possibly understand. And so, by way of explanation, Jesus offers up a synopsis of His mission that even this pagan gentile could take something from – He has come to bear witness to the truth. Jesus then gives us an allusion back to the Good Shepherd passage, where He says in John 10:3,

“… The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Pilate’s response of “What is truth?” is often read as a cynical, throw away sort of reply. I myself used to read it that way, but as I’ve considered the passage more and more, I don’t think this is entirely accurate. While it may be intended as somewhat cynical, it’s a question that’s not without depth. Again, we have to remember that Pilate is Roman – he’s a governor in an empire that is largely influenced by Hellenist culture, the Greek culture spread far and wide by Alexander the Great when it was his empire that encompassed Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. This is relevant because, while certainly pagan, the Hellenist culture was heavily flavored with the teachings of various philosophers, each with their own interpretation of what “truth” was. The teachings of Plato, and Socrates, the Sophists, the Stoics, the Epicureans – they all had their own teachings as it pertained to truth. While we don’t know if Pilate adhered to the teachings of any one philosopher, there’s no way he wasn’t exposed to the buzzword that was “truth” in his philosophy drenched culture. His question, “what is truth?” may very well be cynical, but it’s not a passing, meaningless question. What’s more, by claiming that His purpose for coming into the world is to bear witness to the truth, Jesus points to His deity in a way that Pilate might actually be able to grasp. To cut through all of the philosophical debates, to testify and bear witness to the truth, would be miraculous, an act of the divine. Regardless, it seems that Pilate knows enough to know that he himself can’t pin down truth. In Pilate, we’re given an image of the middle ground, the space between open rebellion, and adherence to the Truth. He asks questions, he seeks to understand, but only so far as to meet his needs in the situation. He has no true comprehension of who stands before him, that Truth made flesh is who has been brought to him to be crucified. This helps us see that a passive, withholding relationship with Jesus is not enough. The Truth is something that is surrendered to, not held at arm’s length and parsed apart as we select the pieces that suit our needs. Remember, it is this man who stands somewhere in the middle, who will be the one who is ultimately pressured into formally condemning Jesus to the cross. The sin of the ruling Jews is greater, but the sin of Pontius Pilate is not absent.

3. The One who is Truth

“After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber.”

We’ve already addressed the perfect clarity and cutting truth of Jesus’ words with Pilate. He did not lie or mislead, but being the embodiment of Truth, spoke Truth, and Pilate, though he didn’t fully understand, saw enough to know that he had no cause to crucify Jesus. Mark 15:10 even tells us,

“For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.”

Showing that even this Roman governor had enough clarity to see the schemes of the Jews. Mark 15:11 goes on to say,

“But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.”

The crowd… You have to ask the question, how many of those now screaming that Jesus be crucified and that the murderer and insurrectionist Barabbas be released, were crying “Hosanna” and laying palm branches before Jesus as He entered Jerusalem just days prior? The crowd is fickle – the world is fickle. The One who is Truth is constant. We can’t look to God and pick the pieces we find convenient. He is fully righteous, entirely holy, and so our surrender to Him must be complete just as His perfection is complete. Jesus, fully God and fully Man, obedient Son, and yet the One to whom all authority has been given, shows us this. Despite his somewhat neutral position Pilate was, ultimately, in favor of releasing Jesus before quelling under the pressure of the crowd. But Jesus was never helpless, and it was never down to Pilate’s decision. Jesus told Peter after he struck the servant of the high priest with his sword in Matthew 26:53–54,

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

That hasn’t changed – Jesus could make that same appeal just as easily from Pilate’s headquarters as He could have in the garden, but His mission has never been about saving Himself, it is entirely surrendered to the will of God. We got to see the ebb and flow of this, the symmetry between Father and Son in John 12:27–28,

“‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”

The Truth is the manifested will of God – holy, perfect, unerring. We align ourselves with Christ to the redemption of our souls, and a victory into eternity. We remain distant from Him, and seek the parts that best suit us at our peril. We war against Him, cursing God and His righteousness to our destruction. There is only one Truth, only one God, and only one eternity – either spent worshiping in glory, or in the agony of separation. The dividing line is found in your answer to Pilate’s question – “what is truth?”

Pastor Chris’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXsAXLJVOc8