Truth Week

John 18:37b – Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (NIV)

Perhaps instead of Holy Week, we should call this the start of Truth Week. "Holy" seems to set it apart from everything else that's going on in the world, and I guess that's what it's meant to do, but by the end of the week, has anything really changed?

Don't get me wrong — I love the celebrations that take place throughout the entire week — in fact, many years ago, someone called me "an Easter person", which I took as a compliment. It's just that, as the years go by, some of the rituals we go through have become so ordinary that perhaps it's about time we rediscovered Easter through a different angle.

So why call it Truth Week? Two reasons: first of all, because that's what Jesus emphasized at His trial. Whether it was in front of Pilate or the high priest, He never denied who He was. Whenever they hit upon the truth, Jesus confirmed it, as in the case here when Pilate calls Christ a king.

But the second reason is this: the world is in love these days with false gospels like the one apparently by Judas, and fictional stories like The Da Vinci Code. People gleefully absorb myths about Christ because they don't want to accept the authority of His church. They want to make up their own ideas about Jesus and shape Him into something that He never was. In other words, they want to bind and control Him, they want to bruise His reputation and bleed His ministry dry. They want to do anything rather than accept the truth: that He is the Son of God, that He is the only Saviour of our souls.

So, here's the challenge for the week: instead of being acutely religious and smarmily holy, let's live our lives as testimonies to the truth that Jesus really is our King and Christ really is our Lord.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the truth about life, and in the end, that is all we need to know. Help us to convey that truth to others through the things we say and do throughout this week. Then, after Easter is over, help us to continue to show to the world that You are the way, the truth, and the life, which leads to immortality and everlasting love. In Your holy name, we pray. Amen.

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