Be that as it may, we must make sense of the readings and the Gospel. As a Sunday between the Ascension and Pentecost, the focus remains on the Priestly Prayer of Jesus.
In the 1st Reading, fullness or integrity was a consideration for the early Church. The Apostles wanted to uphold Christ’s intention for His Church. So they gathered to elect someone to take the place of Judas. They settled on Matthias. Their choice conserved Christ’s concern that there be unity amongst His followers and in terms of apostolic ministry, there be continuity.
Integrity and continuity are central to effective discipleship as Jesus acknowledges that His followers are placed in the world and yet they should not be of the world. Such a tension requires prayers and prudence because one can isolate to the point of paralysis or one can be radically co-opted by the currents of the world to be effective.
Jesus’ prayer for us challenges our conception of what His Church should be like. Are we united or are we disunited because the strength of the Gospel of His salvation rests on an unequivocal unity amongst us. The unity in belief is a powerful attraction for others to follow.
Last Sunday, Jesus commanded His disciples to love. Today He prays that they be sanctified by the truth. Love and truth are essential when we desire unity in the faith. However, truth can be weaponised as it has been by the powerful. A good example is the recent health crisis. Now that we are somewhat past the pandemic, little by little, chinks have appeared in the media-medico complex that there have been many cover-ups of the side-effects of the vaccines. During the height of the pandemic, anyone who dared to stand up against the central assertion that the vaccine was safe would have been vilified by the powerful lobby that claimed to “hold the truth”. Dissenting voices were silence during the pandemic.
Conspiracists proliferate when there is lack of transparency but what the episode has proven is that truth without love will lead to brutality. Everyone has a voice, rightly or wrongly. Somehow a person’s voice can be distorted by power. When a person of authority speaks, generally what he or she utters is accorded the status of truth whereas a statement given by a person without power is easier to dismiss. Our public space is populated by media personalities or celebrities on all sides of the spectrum who project themselves as the purveyors of “truth” as if whatever they say is gospel-truth. The point is when truth is spoken without love it leads to oppression.
On the hand, love without truth leads to hypocrisy. Yes, Christ commanded His followers to love. In order to imitate the way that He loved, we have to differentiate as He did and it involves judging. It is not judgemental as we ought to love the sinner but we are not expected to love the sin. Otherwise, it would simply be hypocrisy to pretend nothing is wrong. This form of love is tough and hard. To properly love is to be truthful in what needs to be expressed and yet be humble in how we speak the truth. This is not the easy part.
One of the challenges to truth, honesty and transparency is our attitude. For example, we hear this humble demure or deference frequently. “Who am I to judge?”. When first hearing it, it sounds deeply respectful but it is actually a form of self-reference. Such a position renders objective truth inaccessible. It is like “I am in no position to judge since my measure does not always stand up to scrutiny”. Such a frame of reference does no justice to the act or situation itself. Meaning, is the act good? Is the situation right? Instead, such a criterion cripples objective judgement by shackling it to one’s personal morality or its lack of. One’s moral scale or the lack of a moral measure has now become the canon for truth.
Today, truth feels elusive since everyone seems to be easily offended and that everyone feels that his or her truth is the standard. Christian humility becomes possible when we adopt the attitude that recognises everyone is searching for the Truth. Wittingly or unwitting, humanity is searching for Christ. Truth in love is never going to be an easy path to travel. Those who embrace this humility will almost always face persecution.
Christ Himself knows it. This Sunday belongs to the days of waiting for the strength to embrace truth in love and humility. We need the Holy Spirit as the prayer of Jesus suggests. We will be tested personally through the loss of health or wealth. We will be tempted politically or socially through the deprivation of our rights or freedom. In every possible trial, we need God’s strength. We have been sanctified, that is, set apart by Christ’s commandments and we need His Spirit to keep us in the world without becoming the world. Come Holy Spirit, come.
