What Is It About The Truth?
Why are humans always ready to “kill” before letting the truth come out? 🤔
And you think the housewives are dramatic!
These people were ready to push Jesus off a cliff because he told them the truth about a prophet not being honoured in his own hometown. And how the prophets of old, like Elijah and Elisha, ended up doing miracles away from their hometowns because they were received and welcomed more warmly.
Familiarity breeds contempt — Geoffrey Chaucer
Side note: did you actually know who is credited with the above phrase before today? Because I was today years old when I decided to google the proverb! And he said this in the 1300s!
You see, the whole reason a prophet was/is dishonoured in his hometown is that the hometown people know him. And isn’t it amazing how the people who “know” us are the same people who often hold us back?
Like, they are quick to put you in a box because they saw you as a teen being all sorts of wild as if evolution is not humanity’s nature? As if you are not expected to grow and change.
And the interesting thing is that they will doubt you more when you are doing something major. You know like healing people, yet they knew Jesus as a carpenter? It’s like, “What are you doing bruh?”
But why is that?
Story for another day.
Today, these people were mad at Jesus for calling them out on their behaviour.
And as a self-proclaimed series addict, I have seen many instances where someone kills another to keep the truth from coming out.
I mean, these guys heard the truth about their behaviour and it bothered them so much that they wanted to kill him!
What is it about being made to look at ourselves in the mirror that makes us so uncomfortable?
Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Anyone who gets so bothered with the truth is someone who is too comfortable with the illusions they believe.
In Jesus’ case, I think his home peeps thought of themselves as higher than they really were and so Jesus calling them out threatened their opinion of themselves. They just could not have it!
“Away with him!”
I imagine them chanting.
“How dare this carpenter’s son tell us what we are or are not! Who gave him the right?”
While the truth does set you free, it is often a bitter pill to swallow, requiring courage and humility to be able to accept.
Let’s bring it home.
Have you ever been so uncomfortable with a truth that you either discredit the person who could “out” you before they did so no one would believe them?
If yes, what was the reason?
- Did it threaten what you believe in?
- Did it threaten to expose you in some way as a fraud?
I feel like these two are the big reasons you may not want the truth told. And they both have something in common. The thing I say can lead people to do the things they vow they would never do — Self-preservation
According to Collins Dictionary, the definition of self-preservation is
the action of keeping yourself safe or alive in a dangerous situation, often without thinking about what you are doing.
This means we will lie to self-preserve and anyone who dares, to tell the truth, becomes an enemy.
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. — Mark Twain
But our friend, Mr Twain, seems to think differently.
His advice is that you should tell the truth to start with and then, you will not need to cut a person!
The next time before you lie, ask yourself what you are afraid of. Then, find out if the lie is worth it.
Because as Elvis Presley so beautifully and slightly annoyingly said
“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.”
That’s it for today, folks.
Being a Monday here’s to a truthful week ahead!
xoxo,
Adoyo’s Musings.
