Welcome to Day 42 of our reflections on the Gospel of John.  Thanks so much for listening!  To contact us, visit our website at www.markandkatiemartinez.com

A Reflection on John 18:28-40

“’Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice’ … ‘What is truth?’” (v 37b-38a)

Jesus is calling his lost sheep. He promised that those who are not of this sheepfold would hear His voice, and this is how they are to hear it: the truth. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He has planted the seed of truth in the hearts of all of His followers, past, present, and future. It is a seed that sprouts into a searching, and a searching that makes the lost found.

Oh, what beautiful Truth He is! He is the Word made flesh, the Son come down from Heaven. He is the Love of God incarnate, the Face of God that we can see. This Truth is a shockwave that heralds to all who will hear: “for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)! It is a Truth that changes the dignity of mankind forever, a Truth that has come to “proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

We have been oppressed by falsehood, by temptation and doubt, by sin. But the Truth will set us free, He will set us free, if only we will hear!

Pontius Pilate has closed his ears to the truth. He believes only in what is set before him, and what he sees gives him no confidence in truth. The world is full of evil, of deception, of violence and hatred. Though Truth stands before him, he has closed the eyes and ears of his heart, and He will not hear.

When we see only what sits before us, we will be deceived. The world is so much more than what we can see and hear with our human faculties. We must open the eyes and ears of our hearts, listen in the quiet, and hear Truth calling our names.

What is keeping me from opening my ears to hear Him?

Prayer: Jesus, may I sit today in the quiet and hear Your voice calling my name. You, Lord, are Truth. May your Truth be louder than the falsehood surrounding me. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

Scripture quotations are from The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide.