(L,M,C)B...
Illustration
(L,M,C)
While this passage ends just before Pilate asks his famous question, "What is truth?" it includes much of what Jesus has to say on the subject. Jesus says that he comes to bear witness to the truth, and that those who are of the truth will hear him. We remember that he said earlier that he is the truth himself, and realize that he is calling on others, including Pilate, to see God's truth revealed in him.
The Greek word for truth is aletheia which means, literally, "not a veil." It implies a discovery that takes away the veils that cover and hide reality. Jose Ortega y Gasset points out that facts can cover up reality. He said that to discover reality we must for a moment lay aside the facts that surge about us and remain alone with our minds. Then, he says, "We imagine a reality on our own risk and account. We compare the facts which the imagined reality would produce with the actual facts which surround us. If they mate happily one with another, we have discovered the reality which the facts covered and kept silent."
It is interesting to me that the expression "the facts of life" usually is taken to mean explicit, clinical facts about sexual actions. The truth of a relationship between persons is more than the particular acts that occur; it is the depth of feeling of love that unites them.
The facts about Jesus are relatively simple to ascertain. The whole story is in the gospels. The truth of Jesus is beyond the facts; it is the reality of his forgiving love and his continuing presence. The fact is that Jesus went to the cross; the truth is that God loved the world so much that all who take that fact seriously with all its implications are granted eternal life.
- Aber
While this passage ends just before Pilate asks his famous question, "What is truth?" it includes much of what Jesus has to say on the subject. Jesus says that he comes to bear witness to the truth, and that those who are of the truth will hear him. We remember that he said earlier that he is the truth himself, and realize that he is calling on others, including Pilate, to see God's truth revealed in him.
The Greek word for truth is aletheia which means, literally, "not a veil." It implies a discovery that takes away the veils that cover and hide reality. Jose Ortega y Gasset points out that facts can cover up reality. He said that to discover reality we must for a moment lay aside the facts that surge about us and remain alone with our minds. Then, he says, "We imagine a reality on our own risk and account. We compare the facts which the imagined reality would produce with the actual facts which surround us. If they mate happily one with another, we have discovered the reality which the facts covered and kept silent."
It is interesting to me that the expression "the facts of life" usually is taken to mean explicit, clinical facts about sexual actions. The truth of a relationship between persons is more than the particular acts that occur; it is the depth of feeling of love that unites them.
The facts about Jesus are relatively simple to ascertain. The whole story is in the gospels. The truth of Jesus is beyond the facts; it is the reality of his forgiving love and his continuing presence. The fact is that Jesus went to the cross; the truth is that God loved the world so much that all who take that fact seriously with all its implications are granted eternal life.
- Aber
