"What Is Truth?"
Sermon Presented May 29, 2011
John 14:15-21
The motto for Rotary International is "Service Above Self", and the object of this organization is to foster ideas of service and high ethical standards as the basis for living life and conducting business. Members are to ask themselves these questions to determine what to say or do: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? However, one person's definition of truth - the first test - can depend on that person's background and perspective. What I consider truth might not be considered truth by another in that organization or even in this congregation. How do we understand truth and support it in our daily lives? If we can't discern the truth, then obedience to Truth is a non-issue!
With Jesus' death imminent, he asks only one thing of his followers: that they make the love he has exhibited the goal of their lives. He assures them that he will send the Holy Spirit as their advocate to help them see truth. Since love is to be the goal of Jesus' followers, and God's Spirit is to help us to understand the truth, how is it that the stance of Christians today is spread all over the map concerning life's priorities and ethical conduct? How is it that truth and love and justice are looked at differently by people who claim to be followers of Jesus?
Let's look at our text: John 14:15-21, and see what Jesus has to say.
Most of us became Christians fairly early in life. Most of us had Christian parents and grandparents, so that when we were baptized or confirmed, we really didn't see a radical change in our values or our conduct. Therefore, my guess is that our understanding of Truth has evolved over time. New understanding is revealed as we face new challenges by living life in community. Jesus said that the Spirit - the other advocate - would help his followers to ascertain truth in a given situation.
When we think of "Spirit", we may think only of warm personal feelings - feelings of comfort, security and connection to God. If you look at sympathy cards, many picture a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, descending to comfort. Many of our hymns convey that same idea of the Holy Spirit bringing comfort and God's presence. Think about the chorus "Sweet, Sweet Spirit". It begins: "There's a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, and I know that it's the Spirit of the Lord; there are sweet expressions on each face, and I know they feel the presence of the Lord." (Hymn No. 291, The Worshiping Church) The sixth verse of "Spirit, Working in Creation" (ibid, No. 293) - a great hymn - reads: "Spirit, breathed on the disciples, giving peace where there was fear: come among us, touch us, send us, making Jesus' presence near." These hymns are both individual and communal in nature and convey peace and connection to God. And there's nothing wrong with this understanding! It's biblical.
However, there's more! In our text, Jesus says that the Spirit - the Advocate - will be as a defense attorney or a private detective. The Spirit will be a force for truth. Jesus was a man of action - the first advocate. His story isn't one of comfort but one of action. The indwelling Spirit of Truth isn't a warm fuzzy, but a force for truth, love, justice, and confidence. (Linda Lee Clader, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 2, p. 493)
We can't see the Spirit, but we can glimpse Jesus. We see him teaching and healing and dying in faithfulness to God. We see him operating in community, with his disciples and those he serves. He is present and active with groups of people - real people who sometimes struggle to get along with one another and other times share their successes, their hopes, their struggles, and their questions. Jesus promises another advocate - one who operates as an active presence in the context of community. (Ibid)
When I consider "Truth", I often think of truth in advertizing or in politics. It's easy to overlook a slight "omission" if that omission doesn't directly affect us. This past week there have been several articles in the Journal Sentinel concerning the drug trials of a product made by Medtronic called Infuse. One Wisconsin physician involved in the trials has pocketed more than $23 million in royalties from Medtronic since 2002. He and the company claim that the royalties were not payment for the trial results that he authored - but the results of his trials omitted the huge increase in sterility in men who received the device. (May 25, 2011, Section A, p. 1, 6, 8) A community whose ire is raised by the taking of Bernie garden gnomes seems to be silent about this revelation. The test: Is it the truth? My guess is that men who are now sterile because of the product will see this as just another example of an individual and company acting in self-interest.
It's easy to condemn individuals and nations who act in self-interest, but if we're honest, we do too! Like many others, I see the need for changes in the Medicare and Social Security programs, but just don't change them so that my benefits or the benefits of my loved ones are affected. Just don't change them so that the poor have even less!
We complain vigorously when an act of legislation affects us personally - financially - but are we willing to take a stand on an issue of truth and justice when it affects others? Are we willing to act outside of our vested interests when our actions are needed to help others? Are we willing to advocate for the less-fortunate as a way to do love? Is this what the Spirit of Truth illuminates?
It's not enough to know Jesus' commandments; he expects us to obey them - to live them - all of the time, not just when it is to our advantage to do so. Jesus says that his followers will keep his commandments - not should or ought to.
The love that Jesus lived wasn't an abstract philosophical concept but a lived reality revealed in his life, relationships, words, and actions. He talked like his followers and lived simply among them. He fed the hungry, touched the lepers, healed the sick, and interacted respectfully with women. Love was exhibited in his life as service and compassion. Jesus didn't see power as domination, but as service toward the well-being of all people. He offered them God's love! (Nancy J. Ramsey, Feasting…, p. 492)
Jesus claims that God's love is both true and the source of life. I recently read of an occurrence in South Africa during apartheid, when laws prevented black South Africans from mixing with whites. Isaiah Buti, a black pastor, asked the white chief justice, whom he considered a friend, to participate in a Good Friday service where the congregation would observe Jesus' practice of washing the disciples' feet. He asked the judge to wash the feet of a congregant who had been a servant in the judge's home and had cared for his children. The judge readily agreed, but asked that no prior notice be given to his participation. (ibid, p. 494)
When the time came to wash Martha Fortuin's feet, the judge came forward and washed and dried them. Before he rose to return to his seat, he took her feet and gently kissed them both. It was a gesture that set healing in motion, because in that simple extra expression of care, he disclosed the truth and life-giving power of God's love. As you may have guessed, when the act became known, the judge's career suffered. (ibid)
Mother Teresa of Calcutta left a record of her lifelong struggle with the darkness that plagued her because she didn't feel the presence of Christ. Some have criticized her because of that darkness, but most of us marvel at her faithfulness in the midst of it. She didn't possess spiritual certainty and yet she steadfastly pursued the mission to which she believed she had been called - to love and serve the poorest of the poor. (Clader, p. 495) She was obedient to the Truth!
Jesus clearly promises his presence and the presence of the Spirit to those who keep his commandments to love and serve one another. The love he commands is not a feeling and not a sense of certainty in our beliefs. The love Jesus commands is about a master washing the feet of his disciples, and a king dying the death of a criminal. (ibid) The love he commands is not self-serving but service to others.
What if we were to understand Jesus' words this way? What if we were to recognize that Christ is truly present among us when we keep his commandments to love and serve one another? (ibid) What if our lives were ordered by those beliefs? My guess is that this would be a much better place in which to live!
05/29/2011
