Truth brings all honest people into an alliance

Today, Good Friday, Christians remember the death of Jesus on the cross. It is to this bitter end that his declaration of the truth brought him. On Sunday, Christians will celebrate the Resurrection.

That event is the guarantee not only of the claims that Jesus made, but also of his ability to accomplish his promises. It means that the truth is something to stick to even when it leads to the grave. Perhaps Easter can only be reached by way of the Cross, yet there is no other route than the way of truth.

The world does not believe, any more than Thomas did. Why should it?

Belief is to accept the truth of another person's word, and the world has other business to attend to, just as Pilate had, without puzzling over what truth is and who has spoken it. And so the world staggers on, from war to war, from lie to lie, about who has what deadly armaments and how the other side will respond.

Just as peace is more than the absence of war, so the truth is more than the absence of lies. Yet those who search for truth should realise that they are all brought into an alliance. Doubting Thomas demonstrated that truth demands recognition when it is seen and felt.

That is something that can unite all honest people, Christian or not, this Easter time.

Comment in The Daily Telegraph