In Jesus’ prayer after the Last Supper, he acknowledged one of the greatest challenges faced by his followers: living as people of truth in a world of ignorance and lies.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the seventeenth chapter of John’s Gospel (John 17:6-19), the prayer with which Jesus concluded his Farewell Address to his disciples at the Last Supper. In the prayer, Jesus acknowledged that with his departure his disciples would be vulnerable to the strains, the trials, and yes, the evils of the world. Jesus asked God to protect them as he had been protecting them throughout the last three years of his ministry.
Jesus drew a stark distinction between the world on the one hand and the word — the word of God — on the other. The word, said Jesus, is truth: the truth that had been given to him by God; the truth that he, Jesus, had passed on to his followers.
It is no great strain to realize that the world has a problem with truth. Partially this is because of simple ignorance. There is an enormous number of things that we do not know about the world, about the universe, about one another, about Jesus, about God. Ignorance is simply a part of existence, one that we can, at least to some degree, make changes in. We learn new things from the day that we are born right up until the day that we move on to the next life. We learn, and our ignorance declines.
It is also true, however, that within this world of ours there are people who tell falsehoods, and not just in ignorance. People invent things, not for entertainment or for instruction: they invent things for their own interest, in order to deprive other people of things, resources. We are surrounded by lies.
Again, this is no great surprise. Jesus said in that prayer that we, his followers, are people of the word, people of the truth, but we people of the word live in the world and though Jesus said we are not of the world we are still within it. We still experience it. We still struggle with it.
And with the world’s uneasy relationship with the truth, we are called to learn to deal with that reality of ignorance and to get closer and closer to a full knowledge with each passing day. That’s not easy. We are also challenged to discern between truth and falsehood, between what is real and what is lies, and that is a great strain upon us.
Jesus promised to be with us. Jesus asked for God’s presence with us as we live with this reality, this reality that we are committed to truth and yet surrounded by falsehood, this reality that we are committed to knowledge and yet beset by ignorance.
Do the best you can, my friends, to learn, to grow, to discern between the falsehoods and the truths of life.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
