When Pilate asked this of Jesus, Jesus in scripture did not answer back. I wondered about this for many years. I often thought Jesus, being God, just ignored a man who did not believe in Him. I always believed that Pilate was just being an arrogant Roman leader. For this reason God had hardened his heart and this was part of God's plan for our salvation through Jesus. It reminded me of Pharaoh, when Moses and God's people fled Egypt. Was Jesus ignoring Pilate because He already knew that Pilate would not believe? Did Jesus not answer Pilate because Pilate's heart was hardened and would refuse to believe? So many things made me wonder why Jesus would not answer Him. If He did it was not recorded in scriptures.
The truth cannot be simply told to an adult and then be expected to be believed. It was evident that Jesus was already not believed among those whom He had already been around in His ministry. That even the miracles that He had performed had no affect on them that witnessed them. He had preached, He had taught using the simplest of language to tell them of God and His love. Yet, there were those who chose not to believe.
In His ministry Jesus said that we must come to Him as little children. (Mark 10:15) What did this mean? What could He have possibly meant by coming to Him as a child? Faith of a child. I had always heard it, but never really thought about it. Children come to believe in things because of a need to believe in something. This need comes from the evidence of their trust in people and things they do not know or understand. The belief that whatever someone tells them, must be true. I think of Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and many others as a child. What was the need to believe? As a child we are taught that we will get presents if we are good. That the Easter Bunny would come and give us candy and eggs if we were faithful enough to go look for them. Rewards you might say was the need. I realized that it was something deeper. It was a need for attention, a need for trust. I knew what Faith was as a child, I had realized that faith as child was something God required of us to come to know Him.
What happened when you were young and your dad asked you to jump into his arms? He caught you. You just did it because he asked you to. You knew that your dad would catch you. Why? Why did you believe? Had he never not caught you before? Had he promised you that he would not catch you? Something, for the first time, your dad asked you to do, you did out of trust. Where did this trust come from? Why would you simply believe him? You did not know doubt. There was no evidence of doubt, there was no reason to believe he would not catch you.
What would have happened if you had reason enough to believe that he would not catch you? You would not have jumped into his arms.
It was a simple belief that let you jump. Your dad would not have let you jump if he had a doubt he could catch you. You knew because he asked you to and you wanted to jump into his arms. Out of love, out of trust and out of the need for him and his attention. You had to trust him. He already loved you even before you knew what love was. He gave to you this devotion before you even knew why or even what it meant. It was out of pure love you jumped into his arms. It was out of pure love that he asked you to jump into his arms. The result was him catching you and you getting that big hug of love. The reward was a building of trust from that day forward that when he asked you to jump, you did. It was security in knowing that you would be caught. That your safety was assured if he did ask you to do something, and you did it, that he would be there for you. What would have happened if you had reason enough to believe that he would not catch you? You would not have jumped into his arms.
Later as you grew up, you learned more of love, you learned of trust. You thought about why your dad might love you. You learned that even in correction your dad loved you. That even when he seemed "out of touch" with you that he still loved you. Through times of patience waiting for an answer, even when you felt you did everything right, that trust was there. The biggest result of that first jump came in many steps. That jump would lead to riding a bike, to driving a car, to helping with homework. It would even culminate into the two of you talking about your relationship with someone you would one day fall in love with. The years of learning and the years of trust you developed became the norm for your relationship. It became simple to trust your dad. To believe what he told you. You simply came to understand that in times of need, you could trust your dad to always be there for you.
I go back to the original question asked of Pilate. What is truth? Could Pilate trust Jesus? Could Pilate understand as a child could? Could Pilate simply be told what the truth was of God and be expected to believe it? Let me put it this way, if Jesus told Pilate to set Him free because He was the Son of God, would Pilate have done it? Pilate was already asking Jesus what the truth of Him was. Pilate, I am sure was an intelligent man. A man of position because of his leadership, because of his devotion to the Roman Empire. A man whom we know was involved with many aspects of the legalities of his job. Pilate was involved also with the aspects of the people around him. Already living in a world where trust was of no use to him or those whom he served.
The culture was evident in his everyday position of his governorship. He allowed the Jewish Laws to be involved in the criminal aspects of the Roman Empire. Although Roman law was absolute, there was the issue of the day that political reasoning was just as important in the running of a society that the Romans had conquered. Pilate and the Roman Empire needed the influence of the leaders of those societies to make it more practical to govern. The Jews in this case were no different. It was not that they allowed the Romans to be there, it was out of necessity that they became involved with Roman politics. Corruption is a partnership. All of these things contributed to Pilate and his meeting with Jesus that day. Influence, politics, corruption. All things that an adult mind, and not a child's mind, would be privy to and able to understand.
　
Pilate would not believe. Pilate was already hardened by the life he lived. He was already influenced by what was around him. I do, however, want to believe that Pilate was curious of Jesus. That these people came to him to have someone executed for reasons he did not understand or believe in. The Jewish people had their own Laws. The Romans viewed them as religious laws. Why then would they be bringing a man to be judged by Pilate to be executed for a set of laws that he (Pilate) neither believed nor was subject to? These accusations were of an internal religious and/or political nature and did not conflict with Roman Law. After questioning Jesus, Pilate could find no evidence against Jesus that conflicted against the Roman laws. (John 18:38) This is evidence of Pilate's logic in the arrest, trial and execution of Jesus as a political and/or religious motive. This is the reason Pilate stated that he could not charge Jesus with any crime. And why they began to shout for Jesus to be executed, that he gave in to them and their demands. Therefore, for a man to stand before him claiming to be who He was, was surely evidence of something he did not want to be involved with politically. Pilate also was not a Jew, was not religious and was not willing to take part in this accusation. This would further enhance the civil unrest already growing under his role as Governor.
Pilate could not believe. He could not believe because he was unwilling to take that first step of faith. The fact that God already knew what action Pilate would take is of no consequence. Pharaoh's act of pursuit of God's people out of bondage led to his army's destruction which in turn allowed God's people to witness the miracle of God allowing them to escape that bondage. Pilate's act of allowing Jesus to be crucified because of his unbelief allowed God's people once again to be saved from bondage. This time the bondage was sin. The miracle was our salvation.
To show belief, you must be willing to do something in order to prove what you believe to be the truth. What evidence did Pilate have that Jesus was who He said He was? What evidence could Jesus give? Was Pilate willing to research this and find out? Was Pilate willing to go and ask of those people who believed? Was Pilate ready to go and seek evidence? Was Pilate ready to jump into Jesus arms? Where was Pilates faith? Pilate could not and would not believe because he was unwilling to seek the truth. Can you believe in something without evidence; yes. Can you have faith in something you do not trust; no. How could you, or how would you jump into your dad's arms if you did not believe he would catch you to begin with? Where then is faith? Faith is evidence, faith is proof of something. (Hebrews 11:1) True or False faith will prove it. Belief alone enables faith to happen. (Mark 9:23) Belief alone causes many to do things they otherwise would not have done. Like jumping into your father's arms without ever having done it before.
Why then would a child jump into a father's arms just because the father asked them to? The need for the truth. If you are unwilling to believe, then you will never know the truth. Once that truth is revealed, then your relationship becomes one of faith and trust. Faith is evidence of things you do not yet know. (Hebrews 11:1) This leads to the truth in whatever it is you first believed in to begin with. Without belief nothing is possible. This is why salvation is possible, because of belief. Faith leads you to the truth. Without first believing, then nothing else you do will be possible. (Mark 9:23) Believe and you will be saved. (John 3:16)
What is truth? Believe in Jesus as who He said He was. Seek Him out and have Faith enough to trust Him and the truth will be revealed to you. Belief is a choice. Belief requires no proof. Belief may save you, but until you believe, faith is impossible. Without Faith, then the truth will be an unknown. The truth in who God is comes from you, your belief. Your faith will reveal that truth. Seek the truth and you will find it. (John 8:31-32)
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