Jesus answered, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37).

And Pilate responds, “What is truth?”  

If only Pilate had stayed in the conversation, had kept listening!  

What is truth? Is the truth like an equation or statement we can chisel into granite?  Does truth work more like a sword or more like light, like wind, like water?  Is the truth something we can jot neatly into a notebook and then use to our own advantage, to further our own agendas?  Does the truth reside only in certain people—the highly educated, the well-born, the successful, the powerful?  Are we the ones to paint truth’s portrait or compose the music to which truth dances—or do we get painted into truth’s picture, do we get invited to learn to dance in and with the music truth composes?  

The truth is that the kingdom Jesus spoke of before Pilate is not like any kingdom we have any experience of.  It operates like seed scattered in a field, not like a conquering army.  It works like yeast pounded into dough, not like “the authorities” pounding down the people.  It’s like the invitation to the wedding of a royal son which is scornfully dismissed by those who see themselves as too busy and too important, but welcomed by those who know they have no “right” to be at such an event yet are gratefully thrilled to be welcomed in. This kingdom is like wheat growing, growing, growing in a weed-strewn field.  This kingdom is like treasure hidden in a field, not like the treasure piled up in a well-guarded palace.  It is like the one true pearl that is right there in the marketplace, for those who have eyes to see and hearts willing to sell everything in order to gain the only thing worth having.

What is the truth about your Real ID?  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.  Pursuing our Real ID as the goal of life won’t get us all that far.  Thinking that truth is something we can possess, manage and put to our use will lead us into some dark places; asking the truth to fill us and work through us will allow us to better know the One who is the truth, to become a truth-full community of his followers.   

Listening to voices that sing of power, control and comfort will lead us astray. But listening to him, taking up our cross and following him, will get us everywhere we ever need to be.  We only find ourselves in following him.

The goal is not you.  The goal is Jesus. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.  Are we listening—and then putting into practice what we hear?

What if ‘truth’ is not so much about knowing things in our heads but living a particular kind of life—a truth-sourced, truth-shaped, truth-conformed life?  Ask the Spirit to help you identify, to listen to, one aspect of God’s truth in Christ.  What will it look like—how will it change your behavior—to listen, and practice, the truth