“What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
Pilate asks “What is truth” of Jesus and it is unknown just how he asked it. He could have asked wistfully or jestingly as Francis Bacon thinks, “What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer.” (from the essay “Of Truth”) Either way his words dismiss the subject and end the interview. He did not wait for an answer which indicates that he did not expect one, or at least a good one, from Jesus. The irony is that He asked a great question from the only person who has ever existed who could fully answer it! The answer of God to this question of Pilate is found in the following account of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The cross and the empty tomb show us exactly what God’s truth is.
Our search of the scriptures is basically a search for truth. How often do we, like Pilate, not have the patience to wait for the answer? Or do we lack the humility and sincerity to receive the answer once we find it? Are we like those Paul warns about in (2 Tim 3:7)?
2 Timothy 3:7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
Pilate finds Jesus innocent of breaking any Roman laws and thus proclaims Him not guilty before His accusers (Isa 53:9). His statement that Jesus is not guilty is found three times in John (18:38, 19:4,6). Pilate sets himself to release Jesus, but is going to do so here by appealing to the crowd. Jesus probably had some support among the crowd but the chief priests would eventually prevail (Mark 15:11).
Isaiah 53:9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
John 18:38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
John 19:4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”
John 19:6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
Mark 15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.