Praying for truth today

In John 18, Jesus stands before Pilate and tells him, “the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.” “What is truth?” retorts Pilate.

Jesus was the only entirely truthful person that ever lived. Leading up to His crucifixion, His accusers fabricated charges against Him. Peter fearfully and fervently denied that he knew Him.

Truth has always been deployed flexibly by human beings.

In politics, like the rest of human society, there are times when truth is manipulated, partially concealed, or outright denied.

With each example, the public’s crumbling trust in politicians is eroded a little more. And just like the Cold War bunker that recently fell off the East Yorkshire cliffs and into the sea, the day may come when that trust collapses completely.

This is one reason why I’m so concerned about recent events in Minneapolis. American politics is fast losing touch with the truth – with shocking consequences.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been using lethal force to suppress protest. They have shot two US citizens dead at short range, and the federal government has created – in the words of one of Trump’s aides during his first administration – “alternative facts” to justify it.

At the time of writing, there are signs of a pushback to ICE’s activities, from horrified observers on both sides of the political spectrum, but George Orwell’s novel, 1984, feels chillingly prescient: “reality is not external. … Whatever the Party holds to be truth, is truth”.

As Orwell sought to explore, our relationship with truth affects our exercise of power. Humans grasp at power, cling to it, bend the truth and use force or bureaucracy to consolidate it.

But the Bible is clear that God equates untruth with injustice. Isaiah 59 describes an unjust society, where “Justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found…”

God’s response is anger at the lack of justice: “He was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.”

The New Testament tells us that Jesus came from God to achieve salvation on our behalf. And Jesus models truth and power in a radically different way. He claims to BE “the truth” (John 14v6).

John’s Gospel repeatedly returns to the theme of truth. Jesus is “full of grace and truth” (1v14), and “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (3v21). We should worship “in the Spirit and in truth” (4v24), the one who seeks God’s glory “is a man of truth” (7v18), and ultimately, “the truth will set you free” (8v32).

Jesus could have been a very different Messiah if He had used truth and power as fallen humans use them. He could have confronted the Romans and set Himself up in authority. He could have escaped His crucifixion by calling down angels from heaven.

Instead He gave up the power of the universe to die on behalf of you and me – and all whose hearts are full of deceit, untruth and desire for self-advancement.

The ultimate truth is the good news of the gospel embodied in Christ. We follow The Truth, and this should lead us to be truthful people, who do not seek to create our own truths, or to gain power for our own ends.

As we intercede for our troubled world today, let’s pray for an outbreak of truth in power and politics. Let’s pray that we will take truth-telling seriously in our own lives, and for those in authority to encounter The Truth, in Jesus Christ, and to rule with wisdom and justice.

*Christian MPs and political figures contribute as believers not party politicians. en does not endorse any one particular party.