When Pontius Pilate was faced with the extremely unenviable task
of deciding the fate of Jesus of Nazareth, he found himself poorly equipped for
the task. Here was a man with no
criminal record, presented to him with a riot as his escort, charged according
the laws of a religion that was as alien as it was unsettling to the Roman
order of things. His wife had dreams
warning him to beware of dealing wrongly in this case, the Jewish leaders
framed the necessity of condemning Jesus as a sign of faithfulness to the Roman
emperor, and the one man who should be providing answers seemed to speak in
enigmas. It is therefore to his credit
that he risked his life and career to proclaim Jesus innocent, even after Jesus
admits to having a kingdom of some sort, a dangerous idea to be proclaiming
given his context. In the midst of his
frustration, Pilate asks what I call The Great Question: “Quid est veritas?” or, “What is truth?”
In using technology, we will find that this question is
everywhere. What is truth? Is it true that I should trust Google with my
data? Is it true that I should
constantly update the world with the minutia of my life, thoughts, problems,
victories, et cetera via Facebook? Is it
true that because the news says something happened, it happened? Is it true that seeing is believing? What.
Is. Truth.
I feel sorry for Pilate. He
is often criticized, but I think that that is unfair. Imagine yourself coming from his background,
without the apparatus to understand the Jewish worldview, especially if all
that you saw of it was trying to destroy your culture at every turn. I think of Pilate more along the lines of how
he is depicted in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Given all of this, the question that this
Roman functionary poses can be taken as one of exasperation, of confusion, of
honest query, or even as one of cynicism.
It is tragically ironic, then, that he uttered these words while
staring into the face of the very One who, short hours before, had made the
outrageous claim “Ego sum via et veritas
et vita” that is, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” We as Christians believe that this claim was
as true as it was seemingly outrageous.
Therefore, as we seek to build a framework with which to approach the
question of how to interface faith and technology in a biblical way, we who
value reason and holiness must agree that the answer to The Great Question is
the person, works, teachings, and measure of Jesus of
Nazareth. Thankfully, He gave us ample
examples of each of these, and even bothered to summarize them in the Great
Commandment and the Great Commission, which we will explore hereafter.
For this week, I invite you to reflect on Who Jesus is, on what He has
taught us. What does it
mean that He is the Truth? How can using
Him as the measure of Truth impact how you view the news? How you text? How you blog?
Until next time, peace and purity to you all!
-H
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