Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
How we live our lives, how we relate and respond to the world and to the people around us in the world, ultimately comes down to what we know to be true, both about ourselves and about others. Of course, saying that “what we know to be true” matters assumes that we can know truth, and, on an even more‑fundamental level, saying that “we can know truth” assumes that there even is such a thing as truth. The study of knowledge and truth, what philosophers call “epistemology”, deals with such fundamental questions as how true knowledge is acquired and what true knowledge is. Several years ago I had the privilege of introducing some Concordia University Texas students to epistemology, and even the secular textbook made reference to Pontius Pilate’s question “What is truth?”, which question we heard in the fourth part of the Passion reading as compiled from the four divinely‑inspired Gospel accounts. Tonight I direct our attention specifically to the following excerpt from that reading, parts of two verses of St. John’s account.
Jesus answered … “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?”
In expounding these verses in 1529, The Rev. Dr. Luther said that a long sermon would be needed to indicate everything “truth” comprehends; I do not intend a “long sermon”, but I do intend at least to attempt an answer as we use as our theme Pilate’s question, “What is truth?”
The leaders of the Jews went to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, to have Jesus executed. The leaders of the Jews stood outside the Praetorium (the governor’s palace or judgment hall), so that they would not be defiled and could eat the Passover. Standing there the leaders of the Jews essentially accused Jesus of being a King of the Jews Who was rebelling against Rome. At the time of the exchange we have before us, Pilate had called Jesus inside the Praetorium, to question Him about Jesus’s being a king. As we heard, Jesus explains that His royal office is that of bearing witness to the truth, and, in effect calling Pilate to repent and believe, Jesus says that everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice. Then, Pilate asks his infamous question, “What is truth?”
I never know what tone of voice to use in reading that question, since in the history of Biblical interpretation there has been a variety of opinions about what Pilate was thinking when he asked it. Early Church Fathers took Pilate as being serious, not waiting for an answer because he wanted to set Jesus free. For his part, The Rev. Dr. Luther said he did not know whether Pilate was serious or mocking, but Luther nevertheless took it as mocking, calling it “a heathen jest spoken with a shameless conscience”. Luther scholars say his understanding of Pilate as being sarcastic was a “novelty in the tradition”, though other Bible scholars say Francis Bacon, a later pioneer of the scientific method, is responsible for the idea of a “jesting Pilate”. Regardless of who started the idea, we probably do best to say with Luther that we do not know whether Pilate was serious or mocking. And, far more relevant to us tonight is how society and we answer the question, “What is truth?”
My philosophy students with the secular textbook learned some interesting things about epistemology. They learned options for acquiring true knowledge (such as reason, senses, a knowing mind, and science), and they learned what true knowledge was, at least according to the correspondence theory, the coherence theory, and the pragmatic theory. Those latter two, the coherence and pragmatic theories, make truth relative, which allows for toleration, defined as acknowledging that the claims of another may be as valid as the claims one accepts for him or herself. Is there not at least one other option for acquiring true knowledge? Is there not at least one other theory that defines true knowledge differently? The secular textbook ridiculed but never really fairly discussed religion and its methods related to knowledge and truth, and I suppose that is what we would expect from a secular philosophy textbook or from society at large, but what about from us in the church? When it comes down to it, how do we think true knowledge is acquired? How do we define true knowledge? Do we even think there is such a thing as “truth”? In short, how do we answer Pilate’s question, “What is truth?”
Hopefully at least most of us in the church hold there is absolute truth revealed to us by Holy Scripture, though perhaps too often even those of us in the church may be sufficiently influenced by the false notions of truth pervasive in society to think that true knowledge is acquired by some combination of reason and senses placed over and above what Holy Scripture reveals. Even if we hold Holy Scripture as the greatest authority for ourselves, we may not have any problem with what other people think for themselves, as if what they think has no impact on them eternally. I mentioned earlier that, when Jesus says that everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice, Jesus calls Pilate to repent and believe. Likewise Jesus calls you and me to repent and believe—Jesus calls us to repent of our false notions of the truth that are in some cases pervasive even among us in the church, Jesus calls us to repent of all of our sin, and Jesus calls us to believe that God forgives our sin for Jesus’s sake.
Carved in stone on the front of the iconic Main Building and Tower at The University of Texas at Austin are the words: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” That an institution that in so many disciplines teaches relative truth can still allow such a statement about absolute truth is ironic, to be sure, especially when the statement is from the Bible, earlier in St. John’s Gospel account, in fact. There the truth that Jesus says “You will know” comes from abiding in His Word and being His disciples. Then, later in St. John’s account, Jesus goes so far as to identify Himself as the Truth. Pilate did not ask “Who is the Truth?” but he should have! For, we cannot separate God’s true revelation from the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true Word of God in human flesh, born and come into the world to bear witness to the truth. And, that truth is not “any and every truth” but the specific truth that relates to our salvation. The specific truth that led Him to the cross and brought Him from the tomb that God might forgive the sins of the whole world. When we listen to His voice—not only hear it, but also understand it and respond to it in faith—then we are of the truth. In other words, when we repent and believe, then God forgives our sins—our sins of thinking, speaking, and acting falsely about the truth, or whatever our sins might be—God forgives all of our sins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
God forgives all our sins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ in specific ways, and, here again, we let God’s Word be the ultimate authority. Reason and our senses tell us the water of the baptismal font is just plain water. Reason and our senses tell us absolution from the pastor is just words. Reason and our senses tell us bread and wine from the altar are just bread and wine. God’s Word tells us—and faith believes—much more. Water with the Word is “a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy [Spirit]”. By words spoken by the pastor “our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.” Bread and wine are Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for you and for me for the forgiveness of our sins. Especially when it comes to the sacraments, the truth of God’s Word trumps reason and senses.
The truth of God’s Word trumps reason and our senses when it comes to our lives, too. In St. John’s account, Jesus says everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice. St. John himself later writes that we will know we are of the truth when we love in deed and truth. When you and I honestly consider our lives, we know that we do not love in deed and truth as we should. Even the secular philosophy textbook in discussing truth notes that we may “think of ourselves as capable, kind, and good people” but “Then later events reveal to us that we are actually incompetent, mean, and selfish.” The book does not reconcile the two, but we Christians know that we remain sinful even as we are forgiven by God. Hopefully this Lenten season we are well aware of our own sin, but even during Lent we do not lose sight of God’s forgiveness in Christ Jesus as we live with daily contrition and faith. When reason and our senses suggest we are sinful and not forgiven, we again let God’s Word trump them and know by faith that we are sinful but also forgiven.
“What is truth?” Secular textbooks and other writings on epistemology and philosophy may offer much by way of making us think, helping us understand more about ourselves and others. Yet, seldom if ever will they point us to Him Who is the Truth, Jesus Christ. Where we might not be able to say what Pilate was thinking or meaning with his question, “What is truth?”, we let the words of our Lord indict of us sin and call us to repent and believe. Ultimately, we, with hymnwriter George W. Doane, confess and pray to Jesus the words of our Office Hymn:
You are the truth; your Word alone / True wisdom can impart;
You only can inform the mind / And purify the heart.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +