By Ishongkun Kurbah csc –
Readings: Sir 48:1-4, 9-11; Mt 17:10-13
Sometimes I ask myself, ‘why do people who speak the truth and stand for justice suffer, face a lot of outrageous opposition and even death?’ Are they wrong in speaking the truth? It is hard to get an answer.
Elijah was a bold and courageous prophet who spoke the truth and performed signs against the wickedness and trespasses of the Israelites so that they turned back to God. However, he was hunted, and he had to flee for his life.
John the Baptist, the prophet in the New Testament, spoke truth against the wrong deeds of King Herod, for which he was arrested and beheaded.
Jesus who spoke the truth plainly and exposed the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders became their enemy. People often take the person who speaks the truth as their enemy and not as friend, for truth is sometimes bitter and painful. If we accept the truth, we might lose what we have loved, power, wealth, comfort, and prestige.
If we accept the truth, we might have to change, and change is a challenging and a painful process. We experience it in our life when people tell us the truth, especially when the truth concerns our limitations and shortcomings, the truth that tells us that we are wrong and that we must change.
It must have been hurtful to hear, and we might have disliked and ignored that person for we did not want to change and in the process, we have failed to recognize a true friend. Let us not repeat what some Israelites did to Elijah, what Herod did to John the Baptist and what Jewish leaders did to Jesus ignoring the truth and even hating or disliking the person who tells us the truth.
In John 8:32, Jesus said, “The truth shall set you free.” If we accept who we are with our shortcomings, limitations, and wrongdoings, we pave way for change to become better persons.