THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Following his arrest, Jesus is brought before Pilate for questioning and at one point Pilate responds to Jesus by asking the question: “What is truth?”

I suspect I’m not alone in having spent the past few weeks wondering, with all the political debate that has gone on, “what is truth” and what is not, as the various political parties have sought to persuade us to cast our vote for them.

Sadly, we seem to live in a society where the truth is often distorted. Whether that is for political gain, to sell more newspapers, or simply so that a story we, or others, are telling becomes more exciting, more dramatic or whatever.

For it also appears that the desire to sensationalise things is increasingly taking precedence over the truth.

As Christmas Day approaches, churches throughout this community and beyond will be retelling the story of Jesus’ birth.

It is a story that many question whether it is true – especially as the two gospel accounts of the birth differ from each other quite noticeably.

For Christians, whether they believe it to be history or descriptive accounts of His story which seek to explain who Jesus was, what the accounts do is proclaim a greater truth – the wonderful message of God’s love for the world – a love that Christians seek to share through their words and actions.

What is truth? Whether we are talking about politics, about religion, about our daily lives, that question will always remain.

However what we can always reflect upon is what comes out of our beliefs – do our beliefs lead us to proclaim a message of love in our world?