ADVANCE    August 24, 2004     In The Spirit “YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH”

Kay Young

“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.”^[1]  Jesus spoke these words.  There followed a long dialog between them in which the believers were not convinced to go this one step further into his teachings. 

The trouble begins when we examine the teachings more closely.  It is hard to look at ourselves as sinners when we feel so righteous.  It is hard to look at ourselves as unbelievers when we long to believe with our whole hearts that God is, indeed, our refuge in time of trouble.  So, in a spiritual, non-physical way, we ‘believe.’ The Truth is that this is only a part of the Truth.  God always is there for us.  We can accept that.

The second part of this is: are we always there for God? Physically there for God?  It is this difficulty with the passage that blinds us to further growth as Christians.  Interestingly enough, this passage is followed by Jesus healing the eyes of a blind man with mud made from dirt and Jesus’ spit.  The very One we will not see as bringing the Truth with all its demands, heals with a physical part of himself the physical part of ourselves which keep us from ‘seeing.’^[2]  To bring the Truth closer for us, Jesus touches the man with more than words: he touches him with himself, the living Truth.

We are living in times when the Truth is a difficult concept.  But, even beyond that, the truth as spoken by many during election times and times of war and times of high anxiety, is often tainted with what interested parties wish were the ‘truth’ for themselves.  So it is not THE truth.  It is a WISH, a selfish desire for the statement, or the platform, or the change to be true in order to further worldly lusts. 

Tom Ehrich writes concerning past elections:  “I watch another presidential campaign drown in trivialities.  What don’t they want us to see?  What actual needs, issues and self-interest do they want us too divided to notice?  What values do they want us to put aside?”^[3]  This is a challenge for EVERY candidate and EVERY party, and EVERY voter, to look below the surface words to true meaning..

“Religious wisdom suggests that the more overwhelming the military might, the more dangerous its capacity for self- and public deception.  The loss of religion’s prophetic vocation is terribly dangerous for any society. ….. In an election year, the particular religiosity of a candidate, or even how devout they might be, is less important than how their religious and/or moral commitments and values shape their political vision and their policy commitments.  Understanding the moral compass they bring to their public lives and how their convictions shape their political priorities is the true litmus test.”^[4]  Jim Wallis worries that people around the world think Christian faith stands for certain political commitments, and asks how might we get back to a historic, biblical, and genuinely evangelical faith rescued from its contemporary distortions.

Let us become seekers of Truth.  Let us take the faith that Jesus taught, the faith that lifts up the ‘last,’ the poor, the widow, the outcast, the blind, and carry it with us as a banner, ever mindful of our own human weakness which worries over the self more than ‘the other.’  Let us seek the Truth, and it will keep us free.