Day 150

2 Samuel 15:23-16:23; John 18:25-19:22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 16:10-11

What Is Truth?

Jesus said to Pilate, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).  These words penetrate Pilate in such a way that he must probe the question, “What is truth?”

Toward the end of his life, the French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, wrote Pensees, published after his death in 1662.  In what has become known as “Pascal’s Wager” (Pensees, 233), he wrote this: “Let us then examine this point, and say, ‘God is, or He is not.’ But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager?”

We live in a day when many no longer believe in absolute truth. Jesus proclaimed: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Knowing all would sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), the Creator of the universe had a plan from the beginning of time, which would restore all people to Himself, through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.  By choosing to believe in His Son, God has removed the fear of death, providing the Way for us to know Him intimately now and for eternity. This is the Truth we can share with all in the world, knowing it is the wager, which one cannot lose.

The Rev. Robin Morical