March 25, 2005
Truth
Good Friday 2005
What is truth?
Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke to a packed audience at Vanderbilt University two years ago during Holy Week. Instantly, as he walked on stage and before saying a word, a spontaneous and vigorous standing ovation burst forth, seemingly almost without end. His hour-long address was punctuated often with such praise.
It came my good fortune to be invited to celebrate Eucharist with Bishop Tutu and his family the next morning (Maundy Thursday) in their hotel suite. The “Archbishop of the World” sat at coffee table in tee shirt, shorts, and knee-length black sox and presided over the Church of South Africa liturgy.
Afterwards, I asked him how he felt about his Vanderbilt engagement. He said he was surprised and quite moved by his reception, that he had not expected such warmth and approval in the south. Then, he asked me why I thought he got such response.
I was stunned to have my opinion sought by such a man, and I heard myself say, “Because you and all you stand for are symbols of hope and of truth. Because you together with others have shown that peaceful revolution is possible not only in South Africa but everywhere else, even for us.” He smiled, nodded his head, and touched my arm with gentle firmness.
When I heard Pilate’s question to Jesus “What is truth?” I realized once again that Jesus’ silent presence was the answer, an answer that can only be understood by faith. Thomas, the disciple, asked similarly, “Show us the way.” He was told, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
The question is as old as the ages, and there’s no sign that it has lost any of its vitality. Philosophers, theologians, now, even quantum physicists strive to codify it. Some even claim to succeed.
Any thoughtful person asks that question sooner or later. Why am I here? What does life and my life in particular mean? Jesus came to Gethsemane, that garden in the shadow of his cross, looking for meaning and asking the same questions. What he found is essential in our trying to understand how there can possibly be anything “good” about Good Friday. Paul put it like this in his letter to the Philippians:
“Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant… obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2.5-11).
In his search, Jesus seemed always to embody the tension between religion and faith. That tension may be nowhere more evident than in the events that we commemorate during this week now passing. For in his commitment, Jesus emptied himself of all pretense in order to become a servant. Thus committed, he made Good Friday an in-your-face confrontation with both religion and the state. It was his “Yes” to God and to the cross that turned the world around.
A friend and colleague who is a priest was asked where she sees that same Christ today. Noticeably, she did not mention the church. Rather, she said, “I look for someone who has told me the truth so clearly (that) I want to kill him.”