Pilate and Indifference to Truth

a.  Pilate will stand forever as the model of a coward – someone who clearly knew that what he was being pressured to do was wrong but who did it anyway because he was afraid of what would happen if he didn’t.

b.  So the question is, what made Pilate such a coward?

Pilate did what all cowards did – he pretended that he didn’t know what truth was

c.   When Jesus said “All who listen to the truth hear my voice,” all Pilate could say was, “Truth? What is that?”

d.  The path to cowardice, and the cruel injustice that results from it, always takes the form of agnosticism, of not knowing or caring about the truth.

Does that sound familiar? We’ve also stopped caring about the truth, or at least we’ve stopped prioritizing it over comfort.

e.  CS Lewis once wrote that we are building a race of cowards, of “men without chests” as he put it

                                         i.    These are people who aren’t willing to pursue the ultimate truth of the universe, of God, of human nature, of morality

f.    People who are just interested in getting by, in being practical, in getting a job and keeping it

                                         i.    That was Pilate. And Pilate was the one who gave the order to scourge and crucify the Son of God and the Savior of the World

                                       ii.    Unless you are willing to pursue the truth, you will be a coward, and you will hurt the innocent you are obliged to protect.

God has put each of us in authority – and we can’t wash our hands of our obligation to use that authority to promote what is right, and not what’s easiest or most popular

So will you follow the example of Pilate or the example of Christ?