Last week as we commemorated Good Friday and focused attention on the Passion of Jesus before His Resurrection on Easter Sunday, we heard a pivotal verbal exchange: "Jesus said to Pilate, 'For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.' Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?'" (Jn 18:37-38)
With the proliferation of ideas, images and information, never has there been an age where Pilate's question is more relevant. The din of this world offers a plethora of enticing, conflicting and bizarre ideologies. Moral relativism, the belief that multiple and contradicting "truths" can exist and all be right, may tempt us to a kind of vapid political correctness. Yet everything we observe in the universe conveys an inviolable aspect of existence, a principle demonstrating that there is a governed cosmic reality, and we are part of it. The principle of gravity affects us all, whether we choose to believe in it or not. It is entirely logical to deduce that if there is an incontrovertible certainty for observable reality, there must be one for the part we cannot observe.
Jesus told His disciples, "I am the way, the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6). And, "if you abide in my word ... you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:31-32). He did not present His truth to us as one option among many "life choices." Christ's immutable truth – which satiates our unique, innermost needs now in part, and completely to perfection in eternity – presents a choice: light or darkness, love or hate, embrace God or reject God, heaven or hell. Both realms are reality: we must choose one or the other.
Jesus taught us how to choose a perfectly fulfilled, eternal life with God. Furthermore, He promised there is a way to live now that makes our temporal lives truly free. It was the freedom of the desert hermits and the saints. The testimony of Scripture and the witness of the saints tell us that the truth-filled life is the optimal one, and the risk of a non-truth-filled life is that we might ultimately reject God and heaven.
Like all great things, there is a price. We must "abide" in Jesus' word by striving to obey His teachings, authentically. Rationalizing actions which conflict with these cannot get us there. Sin blinds us spiritually and we lose the way, and over time we may come to disdain the truth. We need God's grace and mercy every day to root out sin, but we must also cooperate with His grace. Ironically, over time, we discover that the "price" of adhering to the truth seems less costly. Like the man in Scripture who found the pearl of great price, he sold everything to acquire it. To sell all he owned for a pearl seems to us a large price to pay, but to him it was as nothing.
To find the freedom that truth offers, we must set out on the right path. Like Pilate, we will find Jesus in front of us, waiting for our decision. Worn down by fatigue, the crowd, or other pressures, we may be tempted to be like Pilate. We may struggle with whether to let Jesus live or die in our own lives. Not allowing Jesus to answer his question, Pilate relented to popular pressure and his own lack of resolve and sent Jesus to death, killing Truth incarnate.
If we are honest with ourselves, have we not at times acted like Pilate? It is not easy to embrace truth and all its implications, and there will be difficult moments. In fact, it is those defining moments which ultimately form our "life choice." Only with the aid of the sacraments and daily prayer – especially for humility, mercy and understanding – do we find renewed healing and strength to be faithful, avoid the sin of Pilate, and allow Truth to live in our own lives.
Fred Berretta is a member of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte.