I like to think of Jesus as one of the worst salesmen in the world. I confess this assumes a rather negative perception of a typical salesperson (apologies to any readers in sales). You know the caricature: someone skilled in how to manipulate you into a purchase. Someone who hides inconvenient truths in the small print and, despite flattering patter and enticing promises, is not interested in you or your welfare.
Jesus, in contrast, is brutally honest to the point of appearing to put as many obstacles in the way of his disciples as possible. I am thinking of early in his Galilean ministry in the Gospel of Luke. Large crowds of disciples have gathered, and he looks at them and says …they will be blessed (‘happy’ or ‘favoured’) when they are poor, hungry, weeping and hated on account of the Son of Man (Luke 6:20-22). To follow him is to expect hardship, grief, social exclusion and suffering instead of the ‘normal’ goals of life – riches, comfort, pleasure, and social status… (Luke 6:24-26). Rather than pursue these objectives, his disciples are to …love their enemies and rejoice when they are rejected and reviled. His is an anti-prosperity gospel. Faithful disciples will enjoy their reward in heaven, not on earth.
Today we live in a culture of relentless un-truth telling. We are swamped daily in a tsunami of lies, spin and manipulation, driven by sophisticated big-tech platforms designed to modify and control human behaviour. When one the greatest liars of the modern political era (and that is saying something) has a social media platform called ‘Truth Social,’ you know that the word ‘Truth’ has lost its meaning.
Now, in one sense, twisting the truth for political gain is not a new thing. Back in the early 1940’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this while living under the Third Reich’s propaganda machine:
Words no longer possess any weight. There is too much talk. And when the limits of the various words are obliterated, when words become rootless and homeless, then the word loses truth, and then indeed there must almost inevitably be lying. When the various orders of life no longer respect one another, words become untrue (Ethics, 329-30).
But it is the scale and depth of un-truth in the internet age that is unparalleled in human history. The philosopher Harry G Frankfurt has studied and published a book on what the collapse of truth is doing to society. He laments a “lack of connection to a concern with truth — this indifference to how things really are.” This indifference is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are because it eats away at respect for the truth. And respect for the truth is, Frankfurt says, “one of the fundamental values of civilization.”
The erosion of public truth leaves us adrift among competing truth-claims. ‘Truth’ is reduced to a weapon of powerful commercial or political interests, a tool to achieve their objectives.
When we feel that we’re being lied to or manipulated most of the time, it’s not surprising that most people have become cynical of truth-claims of any sort – whether by politicians, advertisers, bankers, historians, celebrities, public relations people, church leaders – take your pick.
And this brings us back to Jesus. He tells the unvarnished truth. He has no selfish or hidden agendas. He is …the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He tells us truth we need to hear. Our grasp of truth is partial at best, and most of the time we do not even know the truth about ourselves. “If we are to live truthfully, we must be able to confess our sins to one another” (Stanley Hauerwas). This means that the task for the Christian church is ‘simply’ to speak the truth – to preach and live the gospel truthfully to ourselves, to fellow Christians and to the world. This is not to say that Christians know the truth perfectly, but living in God’s truth is what we are called to do in a culture bereft of revelation.
Such truth speaking is not just to do with the big questions of life. Truth is found in the small things. Jesus’ words speak often of trustworthiness being forged in everyday life. “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No;’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37). “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much (Luke 16:10). Similarly, Paul says that love … ‘rejoices in the truth’ (1 Cor 13:6).
It is such consistent truth speaking that creates trust and prepares the ground for times of testing, when speaking the truth, as Bonhoeffer found, may cost everything.
Patrick Mitchel is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Irish Bible Institute in Dublin, an elder in Maynooth Community Church and author of The Message of Love (IVP, 2019).
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this article of those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Contemporary Christianity.
Thank you Patrick for this challenging and helpful observation of the current political and social environment in which we find ourselves.
Not long ago, I had a phone call from a colleague. He expressed concern that a post of mine on social media was unwise. As soon as he said it, I realised how right he was, and I took it down and prayed that not much damage had been done. I went back to him to thank him and said that that cannot have been an easy phone call to make. An example I believe of “truthing in love” Ephesians 4.15. To have said nothing for fear of upsetting me, would have been neither truthful nor loving. I don’t disagree with anything that Patrick has written here, but I hope my comment expands on it (and also passes an Ephesians 4.15 test). How else may we grow more into the likeness of Christ, as the chapter goes on?
Thank you Patrick for God’s truth, not the world’s.
Thank you Patrick, a timely piece.
What a shame the author spoiled a well written article with a cheap shot at the American President. Taoiseach Micheal Martin recently sat in the Oval Office and commended Trump for his “unrelenting “ pursuit of peace. 77,284,118 Americans voted for Trump – the second highest vote in U.S. history. Professor Mitchel would be better served setting aside his Trump Derangement Syndrome, respecting a foreign democracy and teaching the Word.