A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 20

Chapter 20 – Truthfulness

 

What is truth? This a question Pilate asks of Jesus in John 18:38 in response to Jesus saying, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37) So what is truth?

 

For the purposes of exploring the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:33-37 talks about swearing oaths on heaven, on God, on earth, on Jerusalem. Swearing an oath is supposed to mean that you’re telling the truth about what you’re about to say. In a court room, the oath made is to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But again, what is truth?

 

Truth can be factual. Investigators and scientists will look at evidence to solve crimes and to make scientific discoveries. Knowledge can be truth – the earth is round, water is wet, the sun is hot, rocks are solid. In this case, truthfulness lies in the evidence put before us that we can see, smell, and touch. Truthfulness lies in trusting the people who provide us with the evidence and the knowledge.

 

What about opinions? Can they be true? Truthfulness can come from perspective and can be different for every person. I have not seen, smelled, or touched God and yet, for me, God is true and real. For others, God is not true or real. The same goes for Jesus Christ, who is true for Christians but not for Jewish people.

 

The issue around truth becomes distorted when we confuse factual truth for opinionated truth. Social media has exponentially increased that distortion over the years, where the loudest voices come to be considered true and the scientists become accused twisters of truth. I wish I could understand at what point fact and opinion got all muddled up.

 

I like what Francis de Sales says in the book when he states, “Let your words be kindly, frank, sincere, straight-forward, simple, and true; avoid all artifice, duplicity, and pretense.” (p. 127) Jesus calls us to be kind with our words and as truthful as we can be. Don’t be artificial with your words, don’t try to dupe people with your words, and certainly don’t bring harm to others with your words. If you think your words are true, be sincere about them. If someone points out possible flaws in your truth, be willing to have the discussion. However, never deny someone their truth without kindness and without fact.

 

I realize this might sound wishy-washy, giving allowance to all people to have their own truth. But I believe in both fact and opinion, and I want to believe that we all have the ability to have frank discussions without using our words to harm others.

 

Truthfulness is a line we must be willing to walk along with understanding, love, and compassion.