Preparation for Truth

In the Gospel for Sunday, October 31^st this year, Jesus tells a scribe that he is “not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mk 12:28-34). The scribe is not far from the Kingdom because he rightly understands that loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself is “greater than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” The very next week, Jesus tells his disciples that the poor widow who only put a few coins into the treasury gave more than all the wealthy because she gave her whole livelihood while the wealthy gave from their surplus (Mk 12:38-44).

Two weeks later we have come to the conclusion of the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King. The Gospel reading for that week recounts the famous exchange between Christ and Pontus Pilate where Christ tells Pilate that He was born to give testimony to the truth and that all who belong to the truth hear His voice (Jn 18:33-37).

Among other things, one central message in the readings leading up to the culmination of Christ the King is that the truth is not merely abstract and applicable only to propositions. Truth is a necessary component of action, of living a good life.

What Truth Is

To be sure, the concept of truth certainly applies to concepts and propositions. A true thought is one that accurately depicts reality. If someone thinks my name is Jimmy, then that thought does not have the characteristic of truth because, in reality, my name is not Jimmy. However, truth is also more than a characteristic of thoughts and concepts. If you were good friends with someone, for example, and one day it comes to your attention that this friend has been stealing from you and gossiping about you, what would your reaction be? Well, many people might say that that person was not a true friend. Which is to say that person did not act the way a friend ought to act. In this sense, truth does not apply merely to a concept, but to a person and their actions.

It is this second sense of truth that often receives less attention, in my view, when we speak of truth and religion. Truth routinely gets boiled down to the veracity of this or that teaching. But we must remember that greater than all burnt offerings or sacrifices, is loving God and our neighbor and that implies action and duties, not merely giving assent to the correct set of propositions.

Christ and The Truth

So, when Christ says He has come into the world to give “testimony to the Truth” He does not mean that He has merely given us some precepts to believe in, though He certainly did that. He came to give a witness to how we ought to live our lives. The greatest testimony He gave was His example of compassion and tenderness in His public ministry towards the sick, widows, etc., and ultimately in His sacrifice on the Cross. These are meant as examples by which we need to measure our own lives and actions, not only the propositions in our minds.

Think also of Christ’s phrase “all who belong to the truth hear my voice.” And then think of those who heard his voice. One person who heard Christ was the Roman centurion who had greater faith than all of those in Israel (Lk 7:1-10). The centurion was someone who cared for the local community and helped them to build a synagogue. The woman to gave her livelihood also heard His voice. Now, think of those who did not hear Christ. The most obvious example is the majority of the scribes and Pharisees. The Gospel is full of condemnation of them for their duplicity and their hypocrisy.

Notice that those who were able to hear or not hear Christ did so not because of some teachings they assented to, but because of the righteousness of their actions and the goodness, or lack thereof, in their hearts. Belonging to the truth, therefore, and hearing Christ mean that we must not only be concerned with truthfulness as it is applied to teachings, but also as it applies to our own lives and actions.

Preparation for Truth

Advent is a time for preparation. We are preparing for the birth of Christ in our own hearts and minds. In order to make this preparation fruitful, we must therefore belong to the truth. As we then prepare for His coming, let us begin by helping the poor, volunteering, and supporting our family and friends with whatever their needs may be. And, let us not only do this during Advent but constantly. So then we can truly say with the Roman centurion and countless others that we do what we do because we have heard the voice of God and kept it.