Just before Holy Week, my kids were recruited to help with the live stations of the cross at our parish. Little did I know that I would also get drafted. I found myself standing in as Pontius Pilate. 

 

I have always had sympathy for Pilate. He gets dragged into a conflict he has little to do with and is strong-armed into doing the dirty work of an envious group. As far as politicians go, he seems to be reasonable. He quickly recognizes Jesus’ innocence and the corrupt intentions of the Jewish leaders.

 Unfortunately, “Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd” allows an innocent man to be tortured and murdered (Mk 15:15).

 

How did Pilate get it so wrong? The answer is fear. Pilate was afraid he would lose favor with Caesar, his career, and status. He was afraid a riot might break out. So instead of doing what was right, he did what was pragmatic.

 

Justifying his failure, Pilate took cover behind his infamous phrase, “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38). An attempt to dodge his obligation to justice on a technicality. In other words, he is saying, truth is complex, there are a lot of opinions, and so we cannot really know what truth is. This is the same claim of modern-day relativism, and it is false. 

 

We absolutely can know truth. The complexity of a subject does not preclude a definitive or knowable reality. Similarly, opinions, no matter how many, do not affect the status of the truth. This is because truth exists and is discovered or revealed but never determined. 

 

For example, through our reason, intellect, and experience we can explore the natural world and discover the reality of God’s creation. God has also revealed certain truths to us such as Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist or that God exists as an eternal exchange of love in the Trinity (Jn 6 & 1Jn 4:8). 

 

These are truths that, no matter our intellectual powers, we could not know unless God had revealed them to us. But because of their source — God — we can know them with certitude. With neither discovered nor revealed truths does our opinion of the truth have any bearing on reality. If I do not believe in gravity or the Trinity, it does not affect their validity because my perception does not determine truth. They exist, and I am simply wrong. 

 

There is a great cultural push to conform God, morality, the nature of man, human sexuality, and even Scriptures to the desires of men. Yet in each of these, there is an immutable reality that is independent of our desires or perception. To set ourselves in opposition to that truth isolates us from others and traps us in a self-made misery. 

 

God and faith are looked at with disdain by relativism because they represent universal truth. In our social circles and families, we feel pressure to affirm lies, immorality, and injustice. Pilate’s scenario may feel uncomfortably familiar. For the sake of keeping the peace or our position, it is very tempting to follow Pilate’s example. However, the will of the crowd cannot define the actions of those who have encountered the truth. To this, the Catechism of the Catholic Church adds that even out of a desire to serve or friendship, we cannot affirm another in a lie or sin otherwise we become “an accomplice in another’s vices or grave sins.” (CCC 2480). 

 

This is because only the truth of God’s saving love, not the lies of the world, can give genuine and lasting happiness. Therefore, true compassion and love never encourage another in a lie or sin. Recognizing the personal cost of proclaiming the truth, St. Paul bolsters Timothy by saying, “do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, … but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2 Tim 1:8). Relying on God, we can overcome our own fears and hesitations and respond to all with love and truth.