Pilate’s snarky reply reminds me of conversations I engaged with on campuses over the years. My truth is not your truth, as someone once told me. Pilate’s personal philosophy squirts out as he interrogates Jesus.

The longer the back and forth between Pilate and the chief priests and Jesus went on, the less sure of himself Pilate became. His mind grew unsettled.

Pilate said to Jesus, Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or crucify you? Jesus answered, You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

At that point, Pilate’s unease blossomed into both belief in the innocence of Jesus, and resignation to the will of the mob. This man stood before him unlike any he ever met.

Pilate asked what is truth? to the one who claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life.

Which makes me wonder—what did Pilate think about truth three days later when Jesus backed up his words with a resurrection?

John18 & 19 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Mika Baumeister