Truth is a powerful thing. Truth can shatter the most powerful systems and oppressors in the world. Therefore, there is nothing more terrifying than the truth.
When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he uttered these words: "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
Unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. These are important words for the disciples, and important for us today. Jesus was preparing the disciples for His death on the cross, and for the resurrection to follow. He even prepared the disciples for Pentecost and the sending of the Holy Spirit. It brings to mind the echo of MLK: "Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." The disciples were about to see evil triumphant. They were about to gaze on Jesus as He was crucified and pierced in the side (John 19). They were going to watch soldiers take His clothes and gamble them away. They were going to watch soldiers and officials and priests and people alike mock Jesus as He died. Evil was indeed gloating in its triumph.
We today live in a world that seems, at times, to have a triumphant evil. Our technology, once heralded to save lives, has churned out the bloodiest century in human history. We have made attempts at global unity and we have had global war. We have seen unprecedented economic prosperity and nation-crippling poverty. Indeed, evil seems to have achieved some victory.
But just as the cross gave way to the empty tomb, Truth has not had His last word. The Good News is that it doesn't end like this. And so we, the followers of the Way, the Truth and the Life are united in the mission to walk with nothing other than unarmed Truth (the Gospel that Jesus is Lord) and unconditional love ("This is my command: Love one another" - John 15:17).
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