24 November 2025

When Pilate dismisses Jesus with his famous jibe, ‘What is truth?’ he fails to wait for the revelation that the truth to which Jesus testifies is not only the eternal sovereignty of God but to himself as the truth. Earlier on in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says to Thomas, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.’

The truth cannot be ultimately found in words for it resides in the person of Jesus. Words cut and divide. People are quick to argue and defend and create their own truth. This can readily be done with words. Why, we do it ourselves splicing our own experiences, reframing encounters to aggrandise ourselves.

When the truth resides in a person, it cannot be manipulated nor abused in this way. Discerning the truth in Jesus is more than aligning certain words and acquiescing to them. It comes from engaging with a person who through the resurrection is alive in our world today.

St. Paul not only says that ‘in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell’ but that ‘in him all things hold together’. Because the truth resides in Jesus, he is the source of our peace. We must reject the words which divide us and embrace the love which unites us under the sovereignty of God.