Here is Pilate, in conversation with... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Pilate said to Him, What is truth?
John 18:38

Here is Pilate, in conversation with Jesus Christ: he speaks a great word calmly - perhaps more or less calmly. The question "What is truth?" has been on the agenda since the beginning of human history. Many seem to be no longer interested in it. Not only do people lie their heads off, but lies can also be printed with confidence - and somehow we have become accustomed to this fact.

Truth is reinvented in this way, and an absolute standard is not necessarily desired. Of course, this causes some shifts - in interpersonal relationships as well. What one person finds good, others find bad, and vice versa. It is difficult to say what is actually right. Truth is decided more and more on the basis of personal feelings.

Of course, we don't want to overdo it. What would happen if a judge suddenly judged according to his personal feelings? What would we say if a sex offender were set free because the judge showed understanding for such offences? Who intervenes when law is no longer law because truth has become relative?

We realise that law and truth must remain. Without a standard of values it does not work. And not everyone can adjust this standard at will. Otherwise, the constitutional system would turn upside down in the blink of an eye.

But who has the authority to create a standard to which everything can be aligned? Who has the right to define what is true? In any case, this would have to be a superior authority: impartial, just, and not susceptible to blackmail. This authority is a person. And it is this person that Pilate is speaking to here. He could say of Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God - whether we want to admit it or not.

Today's reading: Numbers 23:1-12 · Matthew 13:36-43