Sophomore Retreat – March 15, 2016

Having heard the gospel story of the conversation between Pontius Pilate and Jesus, I have three questions. [Raise your hands if you know the answer]

1. What language did Pilate speak?
   1. Latin
2. What language did Jesus speak?
   • Aramaic

It’s most probable that Pilate did not speak Aramaic; nor did Jesus speak Latin, so

1. What language did they speak when talking to one another?
   • Greek

Common language of the Roman Empire was Greek. It was the language of commerce, and even the Emperor spoke Greek rather than Latin. It was like English is today.

So, this is what the conversation would have sounded like:

Pilate to Jesus: Oύkouv βασιλεύs εἶ oύ; (Are you a king?)

Jesus to Pilate: ∑ύ λέϳειs ότι βασιλεύs είμι; (You say I am a king)

…

[I] testify to the truth: μαpΤupήσw Τἠ άληΘεία

Everyone on the side of truth: πάs ό ώv έk Τἠs άληΘείαs

Listens to me. :άkoύεL μou Τἠs Φwνἠs.

Pilate to Jesus: Τι έσΤιν άλἠΘεια; (What is truth?)

That’s the end of the conversation. Pilate gets no answer. Jesus doesn’t answer questions. Out of 108 questions in the New Testament, Jesus only answers two.

So, we are left with Pilate’s unanswered question: What is the truth? Τι έσΤιν άλἠΘεια?

Some say Pilate was being sarcastic. He was Prefect of Judaea, a minor Roman post, appointed by the Emperor to those who were not aristocrats. For Pilate to have reached that rank (a civilian, not a military position), he would have had to do a lot of flattery and compromise. He had been given the title “Friend of Caesar,” which would have cost him even more integrity. He was not a sincere, authentic person. He had to hide his true personality in the rough and tumble of Roman politics.

Now, he is face to face with truth itself. Jesus would never have told a lie and was the most sincere person who ever lived. It got him killed.

In order to be an authentic, real person, one must be honest, at the very least to oneself. It would make life a lot less stressful. It takes a lot of unnecessary energy to be insincere.

άλἠΘεια in Greek means dependability, sincerity, authenticity, reality – all of which is contained in the somewhat less precise English word, “Truth.”

I’m not a big fan of people going around telling their own or other people’s deepest darkest secrets (that’s what one tells one’s priest, doctor, lawyer, or therapist). But one does have to be authentic.

One thing adolescents are experts at is spotting a phony. It’s a gift teenagers enjoy.

When we present ourselves to others, sincerity is the most important quality of growing up.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” explicitly says one must love oneself first. Otherwise, we present an inauthentic persona to the outside world.

Pontius Pilate had spent a career being insincere. He didn’t know what truth was. But when he met Jesus, he met absolute truth and it scared him.

Later in life he would be promoted as Procurator, or Governor of Spain.

But because he had compromised himself in his conversation with Jesus, he is remembered in history not as the Governor of Spain, but rather as the Prefect of Judea who no longer knew what was real and what was unreal. Τι έσΤιν άλἠΘεια; what is the truth? Pilate should have stayed with Jesus to find out.

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