We must no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by
people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow
up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ… (Ephesians 4:14-15)
On Coronation Street, the truth is routinely suppressed,
concealed or distorted. That is how you
handle the truth. Children are instantly
sent upstairs if there is any chance someone might tell the truth. The truth is not to be heard and believed, so
much as approached as you might approach a live land mine, or else concealed,
manipulated and eventually used against someone. In the world’s high places these days the
truth is negotiable. What is plainly
true can be flatly denied if necessary.
Lies can be paraded as truth. Poor
old Pilate had lost sight of truth amid all the grubby realities of political
life – What is truth? he plaintively
asked.
But we well know the consequences of claiming in some
circles, or even suggesting, that we have the truth. It is to risk being labelled as arrogant, or
deluded, or at any rate getting above ourselves. Or hypocrisy… it will be rapidly pointed out
that our lives are not always shining tributes to truth, let alone
infallibility. It is a curious
thing: Kiwis actually love, at times,
making dogmatic, ex cathedra
pronouncements, especially about issues in sport or politics, or what’s wrong
with the church. It’s the way blokes
“debate”. But any conflicting opinion,
however intelligent or researched or manifestly true, easily evokes anger and ad hominem responses.
Well we can’t claim infallibility, and would scarcely want
to. In the company of Christ we do not
claim to know what’s right every time – and wisdom has taught us to be careful about
prescribing what other people should do or believe. We make mistakes, and as the monks say, we
fall down and get up again. We have
found Jesus to be, as John’s Gospel teaches, the Way, the Truth and the Life,[1]
but this turns us into disciples – that word in Greek means a learner, one who
seeks to understand – it does not turn us into demagogues or pharisees. Jesus himself taught that we should be
transparent, our Yes should be Yes, and
our No should be No.[2] Part of “no” is “I don’t know”.
To St Paul it is the intention to be truthful that
matters. Negatively it means developing a
sense to discern untruth, deceit, dishonesty.
It also means the willingness to speak truth to power and exploitation
in whatever ways we can, which usually isn’t much – but always with
humility. Paul sees this gift of discernment
as “growing up”. No longer children, he writes, tossed around by winds of politics
or fashion or trendiness, or religion.
We are constantly asking, at least inwardly… is it Christlike, is it accurate
and generous, is it true…? We speak the truth in love, he writes, growing up in every way into Christ. These things are formed, not in argument, but
in silence and stillness.
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