The Truth Will Set You Free

Posted: 11 Mar 2009 12:00 AM PDT
Jer 18:18-20 / Mt 20:17-28
When people get really angry about something, they are almost always revealing something about themselves and about their needs, and quite often they neither know nor intend to reveal it! And so it is with today’s Old Testament reading. The prophet Jeremiah was not just another eccentric outsider. He was the ultimate insider in the government of the kingdom of Judah. He was a nobleman and a leader in the government, and he had been telling the truth to his colleagues and to the people for a long time.

But they just didn’t want to hear the truth, because it called for a painful re-thinking of their country’s destiny and of their own personal careers. Those in power were not about to give up their privileged status so easily, so in their fury they threw Jeremiah in prison to shut him up. But the truth that Jeremiah had spoken couldn’t be silenced, and the nation collapsed as he had predicted.

Many things can move us to ignore or deny the truth, but fear and ego are the prime culprits. We can never grow whole, we can never grow into our best selves, until we face the truth and embrace the whole of it, whatever it may be. But there’s no way that we can face the truth alone — ego and fear are too powerful. Fortunate for us, we don’t have to face it alone. The Lord will walk us through the fire and out the other side, step by step.

Trust that and you’ll know what they mean when they say, “The truth will set you free.”