Who Is Jesus預覽

Jesus The Truth 

The coming of Jesus should bring great joy to all people because he is the Savior, Christ the Lord. Zechariah prophesied that Jesus will be the “horn of salvation”. In Acts he is described as a Savior who is going to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is indeed good news of great joy! Yet people reject Jesus and they even go to the extent of opposing him. Why?

Let’s get the help of St. Augustine to understand this text. Augustine begins by asking, “Why does truth call forth hatred? Why is your servant treated as an enemy by those to whom he preaches the truth, if happiness is loved, which is simply joy in truth?”

Then Augustine answers the question, “Simply because truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived.” Augustine is saying because we are pursuing a spurious version of the truth that appears to make us happy temporarily we are unwilling to shift gears and accept the real Truth. “Thus they hate the truth for the sake of that other thing which they love because they take it for the truth.”

Accepting the truth for reasons other than allowing it to transform our hearts and minds is not worth it. Truth by default exposes falsehood. Augustine says, “They love truth when it enlightens them, they hate truth when it accuses them… they love truth when it reveals itself and hate it when it reveals them.” This explains why people reject Christianity. Because it challenges and questions certain aspects of their life.

Augustine goes on to say, “Thus it shall reward them as they deserve: those who do not wish to be revealed by truth, truth will unmask against their will, but it will not reveal itself to them.” Our response, however, can be different, like the Shepherds we run (maybe even out of curiosity), but we must go further and allow Jesus’ truth to transform us. Then we can truly glorify and praise God.