Daily Devotion for Tuesday 15th October 2024
St John 18: 38
Pilate asked Jesus, ‘What is truth?’
Reflection
When I was a child there were fewer sources of news. Just three TV channels – and I’m pretty sure BBC2 didn’t have an early evening news programme. More people read newspapers whose ideologies were memorably satirised by the TV comedy Yes Minister. Fewer read newspapers now and, whilst we have a multitude of TV channels, more and more get their news from social media or TV channels which don’t attempt to be neutral. This can be seen particularly in America where news stations are often partisan in their presentation of politics and even spread, what Mr Trump’s former Press Secretary called, “alternative facts”. These included false numbers attending Mr Trump’s inauguration, stories of faulty voting machines, and a stolen election. These lies led to the insurrection at the US Congress on January 6th 2021 by a mob seeking to overthrow democracy. This summer social media feeds, and some politicians, stoked false news stories which were seen to incite others to riot in England and Northern Ireland. Pilate’s question “What is truth?” rings down the ages.
Truth telling is a hallmark of Christian faith and ethics yet can be incredibly difficult. In an age where people are wedded to conspiracy theories, it’s hard to stand carefully and faithfully for the truth. In an era where institutions are trusted less than ever before, and where the Church’s lies about abuse have been exposed, we may not be seen as the first port of call for truth telling. Yet this shouldn’t stop us trying.
Truth telling takes many forms: reigning in preachers’ stories, exploring different ways truth is made manifest in Scripture, and being honest about our own struggles and failures are amongst them. Truth telling starts in our daily lives, should be seen in our churches, and when we dare to speak to power.
Truth telling leads to trust which our society needs if it is to flourish again.
Prayer
Truth telling God,
help us to recognise and expose lies,
the ones we tell ourselves,
the ones we hear in church,
the ones which infect our news,
that though the gentle telling of truth,
our world might be saved, Amen.