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What is Truth?We may ponder Pilate's words as he stared the Truth (which is Christ) in the face, "What is truth?" as either naïve, cynical or just dull. His were the concerns of an administrator, any bureaucrat, in a troublesome backwater of the Empire. In the Roman Imperium, loyalty, not truth was what mattered. We recall that Christians were marked down by their persecutors not for their beliefs, (that was just propaganda to justify their actions to the mob), but rather for their refusal to offer incense, (worship), to the Emperor. Roman pluralism has its similarities in the contemporary post Christian West, only now this relativism is not based on the apotheosis of Tony Blair or Bill Clinton but on the similar idea that nothing matters so long as populism can be stimulated and relied upon to generate power for the establishment. This populism is dressed up as a mandate for "inclusivity," self determination and the like. Its propagandists, the spin doctors, are the preachers of a new establishment cult. These are adept in manipulating a sycophantic Media which has increasingly lost its cutting edge. It is difficult to see how any notion of truth can survive in this climate except that promoted by the new high priests in white vestments, the laboratory scientists. Occasionally, populism may conflict with scientific and commercial interest. For example, if "Jo-Public" says he doesn't very much like the idea of cloning sheep or eating genetically modified food, then U-turns are always possible. Nonetheless, everyone more or less seems to go along with the idea that nobody's ideas can be excluded as erroneous, this side of law breaking at least, and that politicians can be safely left alone. The Church, of course has radically different standards. We live by the truth of GOD … not truth for me, truth for you … the truth of God for all, a Truth which can never change or be relativised. Moreover this Truth into which the Holy Spirit leads is a Person. As Christ says of Himself: - "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." We are called furthermore to live by the truth, the Truth of God in Christ. In all of this Orthodoxy, true belief, is totally uncompromising before the world. John 17 spends much time preparing the early Church for the consequences of this insistence on the objective nature of Christian truth … (read 14-19) For this truth, the martyrs paid dearly and our responsibility to them to adopt their same strategy and quiet determination. Our responsibility to the world is to present saving truth in season and out of season, welcome or not, whether the world welcomes us with rejoicing into its cities or kills us with the rest. The time of the tribulation is always at hand. All this, however, requires from each one of us that we be also "sanctified by the truth." "Sanctified" is a difficult word for many … not just in understanding, but also in acceptance. It means … "set apart for God." To be set apart for God is to put a distance between ourselves and worldly concerns and attitudes. It means having the mind of Christ. For God means that He must be "all in all" for us and uncompromisingly so. Thus orientated we shall embrace, not only the Spirit of Truth, but also the Spirit of holiness. The Truth must be as much manifest by our lives as our lips. We must be living symbols of the Truth we proclaim. This too is only accomplished by the Spirit of God working in and within our active co-operation, our repentance. And so to the Holy Spirit who makes all this both necessary and possible. Truth and holiness by the Spirit is an affirmation that human flourishing comes not from below but from above; not from Man but from God. The "Way, the Truth and the Life" which is Christ is the gift of God to those who believe … note that, believe, not have opinions! Our standing of children of God, crying "Abba, Father", is a work of the Spirit, not of Man. Our whole work is to work with the Holy Spirit so that our lives may be built and extended on this foundation of our baptism and chrismation, the seed growth of the Holy Spirit within us all, leading to salvation. Pentecost is a celebration that the life we live is not our own but a gift from God Himself. In this manner we shall be sanctified by the Truth that will set not only us free, but also countless others who will be attracted by the fragrance of a godly life. Whilst we attend to these matters and present the truths handed down to us faithfully to this generation, we must be detached in a certain way from the response we receive from others. Too many have fallen into the error or letting the world set the Christian agenda because of a certain anxiety that the Church is not filling up as we expect. Thiis is not our concern; faithfulness to the Truth is. We must not like Pilate look the Truth in the face and then act as if it, (He), didn't matter. I can't imagine a worse condemnation of a Christian that he/she did not "speak the truth in love." Fr Gregory |
