The truth about Jesus

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free…So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8: 31b - 32, 36)

Pilate famously asks Jesus, during Jesus’ trial before the Roman prefect, “What is truth?” I have mused about Jesus’ truth for a long time. Jesus does answer Pontius Pilate nor does He necessarily define what His truth is for us, in so many words. But for those who follow Him and are willing to sacrifice

to be His disciples, the truth grows in us and through us. Jesus speaks in a very cryptic way, sometimes, and not only in John’s Gospel. Yet, we mere mortals cannot afford to speak quite so symbolically if we are to project Christ’s truth in the world.

So, what is Jesus’ truth? We can and should spend a lifetime learning at Jesus’ feet and praying to more fully comprehend truth as Jesus proclaims it. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God sent to us, out of God’s great love and mercy, to be our Light and hope, and to fulfill the promise that we are not separated from God by our sin and humanity. Jesus’ truth acknowledges our humanness and the need to be lifted, saved, and loved for who we are. We can be slaves to many things in the world, something Jesus touches on in John 8: 31-36. But he calls us to embrace the freedom He offers and promises us. Jesus’ truth calls us out of our places of sin and despair to realize we are not alone, we are children of God, and we are saved by the truth which sets us free: Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, crucified and resurrected for our sake. That is the truth which we know now, as Paul says, only in part. Freedom only truly comes when we are able to begin living our lives as though we are saved, held, and completely loved humans.