Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, year C, 2022- "What is Truth?"

The Christmas season, as you know, is 12 days long, beginning with the celebration of The Feast of the Incarnation on December 25 and ending with The Feast of Epiphany of January 6, but not all Christians celebrate the Feast of the Incarnation on December 25.  Churches such as the Eastern Orthodox, churches in Russia, Greece, and the Middle East, celebrate Christmas on January 6

This amazingly allowed Nancy and me to celebrate Christmas twice one year.  We attended Christmas Eve midnight mass here at home and then flew to Egypt on a study tour of Coptic Christianity with a group from my seminary.  We again attended a Christmas Eve midnight mass with our Coptic brothers and sisters in Cairo 12 days later. 

Sadly, the very next year this Coptic Christmas Eve service was attacked by Islamic radicals, and many people were killed and injured. This act of hatred and violence could not be further from the great Truth that was being celebrated that night in Cairo.  They were celebrating what St. John writes about in the prologue to his Gospel, “…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth.” That night, Truth and the lies of this world came face-to-face.  Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).  Jesus came into the world embodying Truth, the truth about us, about God, and about this crazy world in which we live.

 Years ago, a noted Psychiatrist, Dr. Scott Peck, wrote a book titled People of the Lie.  Dr. Peck makes the all-too-real connection between untruth and human evil.  Living the lies of this world, simply stated, is the source of evil; after all, Satan, who roams this world, is the Prince of Lies.

 So, knowing Truth is important.  St. Paul in our Epistle reading today writes about Jesus coming to us bringing wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of God’s will, he writes.  Paul celebrates that Jesus not only brings salvation, He also brings truth, truth about what this life is really all about.

To us fallen and sinful humans, Truth is an elusive commodity.  Our culture even denies that there is such a thing as transcendent Truth.  We thus leave it to the individual to construct his or her own truth.  Of course, we followers of Christ find all this modernist talk about there being no transcendent truth quite absurd.  We know that ultimate Truth about life and about God is not a product of the human mind; rather, it has its source in the mind of God, which is why we Christians strive to continually grow in our knowledge of God. 

Barney Lamar whom many of you know from the men’s Saturday morning fellowship, sent me a link to an article on this topic written by Anthony Deblasi (Dec 19, 2021).   Deblasi points out that, if what we think or believe is not the truth, then it is not knowledge; in fact, it is the opposite knowledge, it is a lie.  This is important because it is true knowledge that guides us to a fulfilled life.  Jesus told us that He came that we might have life to the fullest.

Simeon and Anna in our Gospel today give us a picture of what it looks like to live into what is true. Truth had been revealed to Simeon and Anna through God’s Word, the Law and the Prophets, and they were now seeing its consummation in the presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple.  Simeon exclaims, “Lord, now you have set your servant free to go in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” We hear in these words the Christmas and Epiphany theme of light as a metaphor of truth and knowledge breaking into this world just as St. John writes about in His Prologue, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

So, “What is Truth?”  I’m sure you recognize this as Pilot’s insightful question to Jesus at Jesus’ trial.  Jesus had told Pilot that He came to bear witness to the truth.  As Christ’s followers, therefore, are not we also to bear witness to the truth?  That is a rhetorical question… of course we are?

 In closing, let me mention a few truths to which we are to bear witness:

 ·       We are to bear witness that we are creatures made in His image of our loving Creator, that God created us out of love, to be the objects of His love, with the ability to love Him in return. 

 ·       We are to bear witness to God’s invitation to be in union with Him, something made possible through Christ who rescues us from our fallen human nature and invites us to new life in Him. 

 ·       We are to bear witness that, by the sanctifying power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives, new life begins now, today, right here among the lies and deceits of this present world, by letting light break into the dark world through us. 

 ·       We are to bear witness that the chief purpose of man is to live a life that glorifies and honors God.  This requires repentance, submission and obedience to God’s good and perfect will for our lives.  

 ·       Finally, since the big, in-your-face untruth of our time is about human sexuality, we are to bear witness that God did indeed has placed boundaries around human sexuality for the healthy ordering of our lives and our society.  Against this great truth, our culture is in open rebellion. 

 You and I know the answer to Pilot's question, “What is truth.” We know the answer because we know Jesus. 

The Rev. Rob Hartley, Christmas II, 2022