Truth
and Love
By
Linda and Richard Eyre
Note:
Each week this column provides a short essay on one particular aspect
or facet of the Lord’s personality and character. It is intended
that the reader focus on this facet while partaking of the sacrament
this Sunday. (Click here to
read full introductory column.). Review previous columns by going
to the What Manner of
Man Archives
Would not the
truest, surest definition of teacher be “one who plants truth
in other minds and hearts”? Within that definition is a harder word
to define.
What is “truth”?
For centuries philosophers have sought a workable, complete meaning.
The author of truth — sometimes himself called “the Word” — defined
it: “Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were,
and as they are to come.”
It is truth
that glorifies men and women … and truth that makes us free (see
John 8:32). Intelligence is the combination of light and truth:
light comes from truth and truth from light, and the two together
(truth and light) are the glory of God.
Light is
truth, and truth is light, the light of Christ permeates the
whole earth and at least touches the heart of every man,
both as a conscience and as a discerner of truth. Things that are
right have a clarity, a feeling of rightness,
a ring of truth like the clarion sound of a bell on a clear morning.
Truth not only rings like a bell, it rings like a circle
— its ends connect. It is consistent with other truth. All truth
is “one eternal round.”
The thing that
sets Christ apart form all other teachers of all other times (even
more so than his preparation and his imagery and his power) was
the profound ring of truth in all that he said. It stopped men in
their tracks; it pried open tightly closed minds; it was a sweet,
clear note in a world of confused disharmony. Christ the teacher
never found it necessary to define or debate his points. Each one
carried itself by it own ring of truth; each one vibrated with the
tonal frequency that could penetrate the material of mind and heart
and soul.
There is one
final quality that completes the picture and that further sets Christ
apart as an incomparable teacher: Behind the ring and power of his
words was total love for those he taught, just to hear the force
and thrust of perfect truth was one thing; but to feel behind it
the warmth of deep, personal love was something more, and it was
this warmth that made the Lord’s teaching irresistible to the sincere
(and threatening to the hypocritical).
Ponder this
aspect of the Savior’s life by imagining him on the Mount. Each
short phrase resounded in the ears of the listeners with pure truth;
many eyes were transfixed on the light of his face; those hearts,
for the movement at least, were lifted above, away from the lower
earth, carried on the wings of his love.
Starting next
weekend we will shift our concentration to a group of qualities
that are best titles “light.” These are the characteristics
of Christ that actually lighted the world, and the first is intelligence.
© 2005 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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