Pentecost Sunday, Cycle C
"What is Truth?"
May 30, 2004
The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel
Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lessons: Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:14-17; St. John 14:8-17
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever: This is the Spirit of Truth…
And Pilate asked, "What is truth?"
Our lessons for this Pentecost Sunday, and indeed, the lessons these last few Sundays that have led us up to this festival day, have said much about the coming of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus, in the Gospel of John, and Luke in the Book of Acts, tell us so much about the Spirit that our heads can spin like the heads surely spun, of those who experienced the coming of the Spirit that first Pentecost. And then, in the midst of all that Pentecost was and is--in the midst of the varied languages, in the midst of the tongues as of fire; in the midst of the rush of the mighty wind and the power and the awe-some-ness of that experience; in the midst of all that-- today, Jesus speaks again, and one of the things he says, might just trouble some of us, as he says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever--this is the Spirit of truth…"
And that makes us stop, and think; the Spirit, this Spirit, the Spirit who came, and who comes--this Spirit whom we celebrate today, Jesus says, is the Spirit of truth. And we might well be asking, with Pontius Pilate--the question he asked as Jesus was being tried on Good Friday, "Truth? What is truth?"
That, we've been told, is the hue and cry of what is called, "post-modernism"--the belief and attitude that claims there is no truth, ultimately. At least, there is no objective, authoritative truth, that stands alone, forever, against all falsehood, all deception, all confusion, all challengers. In our society, in our world, in our churches, there is a feeling, a belief, that we can no longer talk about, or grasp "truth", because there is no such thing as "truth". At least, no such thing as truth, which all can agree on as true. The common retort today, is, "Well, that may be true for you, but not for me!" And with that comment, people dismiss truth--people relativize truth, as being something dependent upon the individual, as something personal, as something that each of us has to decide, for ourselves. Bring up the question of "truth", today, and many will respond, "Truth? What is truth? Only I can decide what is true, for me--and only you can decide what is true for you--so don't try to impose your truth, on me."
This, uncertainty about truth, however, didn't begin with us--nor did it begin in recent years. In fact, it got its start, many scholars believe, with rationalism, and the growth of the Enlightenment. It's most clearly reflected, in the famous fable of the three rings of Gotthold Lessing, who lived in the 1700's, who promoted the Enlightenment and rationalism, giving a decidedly liberal and humanistic shape to Christianity. In his fable, Lessing raised the question whether Christianity is really the true religion, whether Christianity and Christ-- reveal God's truth in a way that other religions and philosophies don't. The fable asserts that in ancient times it was the custom for the father to give his favorite son a ring for his inheritance. The ring possessed a kind of magic power to make the one who owned it loved by God and humanity. A certain father had three sons, whom he loved equally. In order not to hurt any one of them, he had two perfect imitations of the true ring made. Before the father died, he gave each son his blessing, along with one of the rings. Each of the three sons thought he had the true ring, and considered the others false. The three sons went to the wise judge, Nathan, who was in fact, the embodiment--the voice of the writer, Gotthold Lessing, himself, and of the new philosophy of the Enlightenment. So, Nathan the wise explained to the sons, since there is no way to tell which is the true ring, all three may be false--so this was his counsel: "Let each think his own ring is without doubt the real ring, and trust that, in the long run, in a thousand thousand years, the true ring will establish itself by the 'proof of the spirit and power". Meanwhile, each son should show forth, "gentleness, a heart-felt tolerance, good works and deep submission to God's will." (Taken from No Other Gospel, by Carl Braaten.)
My guess is that there are some of us here, this morning, who are thinking, "You know, there's something about that parable that I agree with...because, well, it just doesn't seem right for Christians to claim that we have the truth, and no one else does. How do we know, for sure, that the ring we have, is the true ring--and that the others are false?" We shouldn't be surprised that, even we Christians have trouble accepting truth, as something objective, unassailable, unchanging--because we are children of the Enlightenment, and of rationalism! We have been taught, and many are still teaching that there is no such thing as "Truth"--and that no one understanding of "Truth" is better than, or more valid than any other understanding of "Truth"--because, isn't "Truth", subjective? Isn't truth determined by what we believe to be true? Which brings us back, once again, to Pilate's question, "What is truth?"
If truth is a worldview, a concept, an understanding created, developed, and promulgated by different persons and groups of persons, then indeed, truth is subjective, and depends, for it's veracity, upon those who will believe it, espouse it and trust in it. If truth is something that depends upon us, then who is to say that our truth is more true than anyone else's truth? That's the difficulty with "Truth"--as a human construct. But truth, as Jesus reveals it; Truth, as God manifests it, in and through Jesus Christ; Truth, as it is given, bestowed, taught, by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth--that--ought never be open to discussion! Because, when we begin to discuss, to question, to doubt, Spirit revealed Truth--then--well, then we get ourselves into an awful messs!
Last week, at our synod assembly, for example, we heard repeatedly how offerings to the Rocky Mountain Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are down. However, our Assistant to the Bishop, Pastor Dan Bollman said, you can't say this is due to the discussion of homosexuality, because the downward trend in giving to the larger church has been happening since the late '60's and early 70's. Which is a fact. The question then is, why has this downward trend been happening, since the '60's and 70's? Could it be--because the mainline denominations have departed from God's Truth? Could it be because the mainline denominations have been steadily moving away from, the Spirit of Truth, and discussing, devising, and adopting, our own versions of truth? And not just with regard to sexuality-- it didn't start with revising Scriptural teaching about homosexuality--it started with a loss of clarity, confidence and zeal for the Gospel! Robert Benne, one of our professors at Roanake College in Virginia, writes that it started when we "adopted the ideas and practices of elite, liberal culture…as we (gave in) to the enormous pressures for accommodation with culture." He states, "the virus has been deeply driven into the fabric of (our own) ELCA. It has turned the church into a chaotic cacophany of voices, none of them particularly authoritative. We have become a model of interest group liberalism. The only theology honored is one that exalts a Gospel without Law…the theological and moral traditions we have held in the past to be authoritative, are now reduced to the same level as the many voices we have invited into the conversation. Now," writes Benne, "there is little orthodoxy left to overthrow, in the ELCA."
In some ways, it is has come to pass that in the ELCA, if not in mainline Christianity, if not in the body of Christ as a whole, that we have, in the words of St. Paul in Romans 1:25, "exchanged the truth about God for a lie." When such spurning of the truth of God becomes an every-day life-experience, an experience not resisted by the church, but in some places, encouraged by the church--it conditions people to kneel before their own self-created idols, whether it's sports, power-politics, drugs, alcohol, an obsession with sex, or an obsession with our own image and youthful looks. (Paraphrased from an essay by Pr. Bruce Wilmot Adams, Glengowrie, South Australia.) And when this happens, it's no wonder that Christians no longer open themselves to the Spirit of Truth. It's no wonder that, even Christians, have forgotten that the Spirit of Pentecost; the Holy Spirit that was given to the Church, and wants to be received by Christians, always and everywhere, is the Spirit of Truth. So that, what we have now, is not just the world which cannot, or will not receive the Spirit of Truth, because it neither sees him or knows him--now, in some ways, it is so-called Christians who cannot, or will not receive the Spirit of Truth, because we neither see him, or know him. So that, this Pentecost Sunday, it is incumbent upon us to ask, again, "What is truth?" It is incumbent upon us to ask Jesus, "What is Truth, anyway?" And then, it is incumbent upon us to hear His answer--to hear God's answer. And how does Jesus, finally answer this question?
Well, he doesn't say, "Actually, there is no such thing as truth--not objectively." He doesn't say, "Well, truth is what you believe to be true." He doesn't say, "Well, what is truth for you?" Rather, Jesus, definitively, firmly, and clearly says, "I am the truth"…he says, "I am the way, and the TRUTH and the life." He says, "You want to know what truth is?" He prays, in John 17, for his followers, asking, "Father, sanctify them in the truth--THY WORD IS TRUTH!" That's what the truth is--it is the Word of God--the Word of God, incarnate in Jesus, who is the Truth, embodied; and the Truth is the Word of God, recorded for us, in Holy Scripture. There is no other truth that is trustworthy, and consistent, and true, than Jesus, the Word, and the Word of God that is, revealed in Holy Scripture. Apart from God's Word, one may say there is no objective "truth". Apart from Jesus Christ, who manifests God's Word, in the flesh, in his teachings, his miracles, his sacrifice and his resurrection--apart from this, one can certainly doubt whether there is any other "truth", in the world--but God makes it crystal clear, that "truth", for now and for all time, is revealed in His Word--and His word, is the Word made flesh--Jesus; His Word, is the testimony of Scripture--that testifies to, Jesus, who is the Logos, the mind, the will, of God-- which is why Jesus can say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…the words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me speaks through me."
Pilate, and we, and our culture and world ask, "What is truth?" And this is Jesus' answer-- God's Word is Truth--I am the Word, incarnate--I am, the Truth--the Truth, that the Spirit of Truth, has revealed, and is revealing, right now, right here, in your hearing, that you might hear the Truth, and the Truth might, indeed, set you free--that the Truth might set free--all those, who will receive the Truth--all those who will receive, the Son, who is the Truth. The world, Jesus says, will not receive the Truth-- because it neither sees the Spirit of truth, nor knows him. But, Jesus says, you have received the Truth, because you have received the Spirit of Truth--you know him, because He abides with you, and will be in you…Jesus says, "forever"! And we say, "Come, Holy Spirit!" We say, "Come, Spirit of Truth!" We pray, may the Spirit of Truth, be with us, and in us--forever. May we abide in the Truth, and may we live in the Truth, forever.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.