Easter 6C 2025

THE REV. E. WAYNE ROLLINS

It is observed that we live in what’s called a “post-truth age.” About a decade
ago, a senior advisor to the president stated that they had “alternative facts.” That same
president is back in office, and throughout his public history has kept a whole fact-
checking industry in business. It may be his greatest contribution to employment
numbers.

While many are alarmed at these statements, they’re not all that new. It’s not
like the last decade suddenly saw the immediate arrival of those alternative facts.
We’re here today because that same process tried its best to undermine to activity of
God, made known in Jesus of Nazareth. And we can celebrate today because God
revealed a truth beyond any of those alternatives.

Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure from them. In John’s Gospel, that is
through his death. He appears a minimum of three times after his resurrection, and we
have heard those stories this year. He says he must leave so that the Spirit of Truth can
come, who will speak to Jesus’ followers, continuing his teaching as time goes on.
It’s that part of today’s Gospel that often gets overlooked, or, in our quest to hold
onto what we’ve been taught and experienced, ignored. The result of that, as it is in our
political climate, is conflict.

“The Spirit of Truth . . . will lead you into all truth.” Jesus tells us later in this
farewell discourse. “The Advocate, whom [God] will send in my name, will teach you
everything . . . .” Jesus refers to the Advocate, sometimes called Paraclete, the promised
Holy Spirit five times in this discourse. In other words, there’s more to this life of
discipleship than what was covered in confirmation class.

I once taught a class I called Episcopal 101. We covered the time frame from the
English Reformation up to recent history. At that time, debate was raging over the
consecration of Gene Robinson as a bishop. In my parish, the debate continued over the
ordination of women, even though our diocesan bishop was female. Now, they have a
gay bishop diocesan, whose husband is their priest-in-charge. The Advocate continues
to define “irony” for us.

Look at our history as a nation. This weekend, now known as Memorial Day,
came about as “decoration day,” a day of mourning when the graves of soldiers who
died in the Civil War were visited and flowers placed upon them. Now, it’s the
beginning of summer, with cookouts, fireworks, and other celebrations that serve to
distract us from the pain and destruction of war, which makes it easier to start new
ones. The nation’s longest continuous Memorial Day parade, which may have a few
small groups of veterans of previous conflicts marching in it, is more of a two- to three-
1hour advertisement of where to buy stuff. I know this because it lined up in front of the
house where I lived for four years. They have learned something true, though. After
many years of, shall we say aromatic missteps, they put the horse brigades at the end of
the parade.

Some might point out that Jesus says there are things the disciples just aren’t
ready for, and the Spirit will fill them in when they’re ready. So, what if we’re not
ready? That’s when we might create alternative facts to try to isolate us from the truth.
That leads to more conflict among ourselves. It also puts us in conflict with God.
Let me add that we don’t always know whether current events are from the hand
of God, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. When the early church began to rise,
leaders of the Hebrew faith met in Jerusalem to discuss what to do about it. Many
wanted to stop it. But one leader, Gamaliel, who happened to have a student named
Saul, now Paul, said to his friends, “If it is not of God, it will not last. But if it is of God,
and we oppose it, we could find ourselves opposing God.” We’re about as far from
Gamaliel and friends as they were from Abraham. So it’s probably safe to say God’s
hand is at work as both continue side-by-side.

Truth is not always convenient, nor is it always comfortable. But we follow one
who said of himself, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” To deny truth is to deny Jesus,
which in turn is to deny God. To deny truth, in effect, makes us atheist, at least in part,
despite our self-imposed claims to identities. I say “in part” because when we make up
our own truth, we make the case that we are, for ourselves and those who want to
follow us, our own god.

We are called to speak the truth in love, which means that we speak words that
are true, with the intention that those words build us all up and bind us together in the
truth of the love of God. Truth is not self-serving, meaning to condemn others and
make us superior. Truth’s intention is to be life-giving, even when its words expose our
guilt and the error of our ways.

Conflict is the evidence that not every side wants to admit Truth. There is no
“agreeing to disagree” when it’s just an avoidance of an uncomfortable truth. And
allowing room for all to believe what they want to believe does not allow the insistence
that others believe the same. God’s truth, revealed by the Advocate, the Paraclete, the
Holy Spirit, lives outside individual belief.
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In short, if it is of God, it is true. Alternatives, to our lives as disciples of Christ,
are revealed as nothing more than self-serving lies, and show that we only worship
ourselves. And that’s the truth. I’m going to resist Lily Tomlin’s exclamation point.