During the Maundy Thursday service at St. James, one of the themes of the homily was that the search for truth is one of the things that motivates us as both human and spiritual beings.  We are innately called to find it, live it and proclaim it.  While I agree with the overall thesis, why is it then so hard to accept truth when we bump up against it?

I believe that one possible answer is that we have been taught that truth and disappointment often come hand in hand.  We hear the words, “to speak truthfully” and we immediately steal ourselves for the words that follow, often delivering a disappointing reality against our desired perception.  “Truth” has become the signal that what we are currently experiencing will not continue, that what we hope for will not be attained, that an ending we had longed hoped to avoid is close at hand.

But why is this?  Why has “truth” become the sword of reality?  In part it has to do with the way perceptions of truth are shaped.  My truth is truer than your truth, so when it comes time to let you down, I speak “truthfully” because you are misinformed.  In other ways, we have become a protective society that doesn’t believe everyone can handle the truth.  We put a veil on truth, shading it with what we assume will be a more palatable color.  We white-lie to those we care for because we believe they “can’t handle the truth”, setting them up for disappointment down the road.

Lastly, in our society, truth has been connected with power.  If I wield the most power, I control the story and therefore the truth.  In this instance, truth leads to oppression if it goes against the “truth” established by the majority.  It’s this aspect that causes me to have difficulty with the words from the New Testament “and the truth will set you free”.  There have been too many modern examples of truth leading to immediate discrimination and retaliation—both of which are the largest forms of disappointment around.

Yet this is not the truth that I think was being referenced to in the homily.  Here is the truth about truth.  The way we talk about truth has been tied to disappointment.  When we seek the truth the way we now define it, we will come face to face with the fact that we are not always right—after all we are flawed humans and to “tell the truth” none of us are perfect.  Our notion of what truth is is often misguided and that is the reason we often can’t “face the truth”.  Coming to terms with the truth means coming to terms with our own flaws and failures.

But Jesus wasn’t referencing truth as an opposite to the notion of fiction.  He was talking about the kind of truth that is about faithfulness, firmness and steadfastness.  When the word “truth” is etymologically analyzed, the Saxon/Germanic roots clearly note this notion of more than just that which is not false.  This is the truth that we all yearn for.  We all are looking for sources of solidity in an unsteady word—the kind of solidity that comes from the notion of gracious love that passes all understanding.

So, the truth about Easter is two-fold.  Truthfully Easter is about disappointment—we failed to repent, we disappointed God, we caused (and still cause) disappointing pain.  Peter disappointed Jesus when he denied him three times, believing that being truthful would lead to Peter being arrested.  Judas truthfully disappointed the trust Jesus had placed in him with a kiss.

But Easter is also about the kind of truth that is faithful and firm.  Jesus was the kind of truth we yearn for—someone whose love is so unwavering that he would take up the mantle of death.  As Easter Sunday comes, let us celebrate the truth of love that was so faithful that it conquered death.  And just for once, remember that our truth isn’t linked to ourselves but to those around us to whom we show the same kind of generous, gracious and steadfast love.