Pilate's question

Christ Before Pilate (S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna)

Years ago I read a book called The Laughter of God: At Ease With Prayer by Miriam Pollard. I don't have a copy any more so I can't vouch for the exact accuracy of this quotation, but at one point the author says something like this: "It is not necessary to bludgeon a person with every truth you know." People often use truth (in its literal sense) to wound others. Here's a description of how that works:

“Malicious truth gloats like a conqueror. Loving truth mourns that it must confront and show a brother his error. Malicious truth struts at its power. Loving truth weeps to find that the correction it inspires may for a while cause great pain. Malicious truth cries ‘Checkmate, you are beaten!’ Loving truth whispers, ‘I correct you with the same pain you feel. But when the pain is over, we shall rejoice that honesty and love have been served.’”

-- Calvin Miller

Perhaps we need to ask Pilate's quesiton, "what is truth". Not in a cynical sense but in an open, spacious, inquiring way.