Wednesday, June 19, 2013

In John 18:38, after Jesus explains to Pilate that his mission was to testify to the truth, the prelate asks what is perhaps the world’s most important question: “What is truth?” One can wonder if it is simply the absence of lies, or perhaps [as Jesus has earlier told us in “I am the way, the truth, and the life”], simply Jesus himself and all He stands or; or [as he promised in Jn 16:13] a description of the Holy Spirit. However, if one broadens one’s perspective, perhaps truth is the most important thing in one’s life at a particular time. For example: if one is being tortured, whether or not the earth is round fades into the distance: one’s truth becomes the importance of stopping the pain. If one has just found the love of his life, the debate between political parties’ claims on the truth are forgotten in the shadow of the larger truth that his future is about to change. My personal truth—that which is overwhelmingly important beyond all else in my life–is that Jesus loves me personally and has been and will be with me always no matter what. Is truth relative, depending on whose truth and under what circumstances? If unchangeable, hw can we determine it? Is it important? What is truth?