“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:15-18

“There is only One God and His Name is Truth”

I remember being amazed when I read this banner. It was hung at the entrance of a newly constructed Sikh Temple in the neighborhood of my infancy. I was a teenager then and had recently joined the Anglican Church. It wasn’t a mere conversion but a complete inner transformation. My heart was on fire for God. I was filled with evangelistic zeal. I wanted to share my renewed faith with everyone I knew. I also had my fair share of Sikh friends but was completely ignorant of their religion. For some reason, mainly due to my ignorance, I thought Jesus was the exclusive property of the Christian Faith. The simple banner disrupted my false notion. Jesus belonged to everyone and anyone who seeks the Truth. Jesus tells us that the world cannot see nor know Him because the world is not interested in the Truth. However, those who seek the Truth will recognize the Spirit of Truth.

The opposite of truth is not lies but falsehood. Obviously, lying is part of falsehood but it does not mean lying is wrong all the time. Many people have lied in the Bible to save the life of a person. However, falsehood is a lifestyle. People who are false create a make believe world seeing and hearing only the things which feed into their lifestyle. They also create an idol who tells them lies about themselves. They are blinded by their own lies. They cannot see the Spirit of Truth. The problem is that it is not difficult to create a world of our own illusions. All of us could do it without much effort.

Bruno made an astute observation about the other homeless youth. Many of them have tattoos of their mother’s name. Sometimes fights break between them because apparently one has insulted the mother of the other. I actually have seen these silly fights break out between adults after a few drinks. He said jokingly that none of our youth has seen nor heard from their mothers for years. In fact, most of them don’t even remember their mother’s full name. They just have a false illusion of their mothers. In Bruno’s case, he doesn’t even remember what she looks like. Bruno does not have a tattoo of his mother’s name nor does he have a false notion of her, neither does have any resentment towards her. He realized that his mother was not able to take care of him and left him in an orphanage at a young age. He spent many years creating a false idea that one day she would come for him. Eventually he succumbed to reality. He realized the hard truth that nobody was coming for him. As tragic as this sounds, this has made Bruno a much more successful person than most of the other young people. He wasn’t afraid to face the harsh reality. Bruno is not the only one. In the streets, we can separate the young homeless people into two groups. Bruno, Maria, Wallace, Alex and many more are one group who have accepted the harsh reality of their situation. Then we have the other group. These latter ones tend to be involved in crime and create a narrative in their minds to justify their actions. Maria, who is part of the former group, told us recently that she learned how to eat bread when she became homeless at the tender age of 8. She is now about 25. I am not really sure what she meant exactly by this but we understood what she was trying to communicate. Her mother neglected her when she was a young child. She has severe mental illness. She was not even able to provide her basic needs of her children. Maria refused to create a fantasy about her mother nor her life. She wasn’t angry nor resentful. Maybe there was a period when we first knew her, she was a little resentful. Eventually she realized that this was useless and unhelpful. She just accepted her reality. Consequently, she is able to see many other good things which occurred in her life despite her dire situation.

In our local church, we are doing a monthly bible study on the gospel of Luke. We have found that our gospel readings make us confront harsh realities. Last Sunday, we studied the difficult passage on money which is usually a taboo subject. Money in itself is not a taboo subject. People love talking about money. However, what Jesus said about money is taboo. It is something don’t like to talk about. He called it a false god. He did not think of it as something neutral but rather as something which sets itself up against the true living God. We need to recognize this. However, it is easy for us to create a fantasy and say that this is not truth. We can reason that Jesus did not really say these things for us today or we are strong enough to resist money’s influence. We can create a list of excuses to avoid understanding and confronting what Jesus is truly saying. Jesus is quite adamant about His position on money in several moments of His teachings. Incidentally, His teachings are His commandments. He did say if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. They are not a burden. They are meant to open our eyes to see the Truth. Even in the last moments of His life, money was seen as the motivation for his betrayal. Judas chose money over his friend. Of course, some people may argue otherwise. Nevertheless, whatever their arguments may be, the gospels tell us money was exchanged. The gospel of John informs us that Judas stole from the common purse. Money had a strong hold on him. When he realized the outcome of his betrayal, he tried to return the money. He wanted to be free from its hold in his life. Unfortunately, his remorse overwhelmed him.

All of us need money to survive and live a fairly comfortable life. Jesus is not saying that we should all become like St Francis of Assisi and live a monastic life of poverty. Money is essential for life. However, we need to be careful. It is a false god and it can create false illusions. Our love for money can make us create narratives to justify almost everything to our liking. It can create an obstacle hindering us from discerning the Spirit of Truth. It can blind us from the true God. The latter group of homeless youth that I mentioned above think in their minds that money can help them gain whatever they lost. Some of them even think that they can buy themselves back into their families through their ill-gained wealth. This never happens. The money only creates false promises which it cannot deliver.

There is nothing wrong with our young people having names of their mothers tattooed on their arms. Neither there is nothing intrinsically wrong with being offended when someone says something offensive against their parents. In the same way, there is nothing wrong with having money to ensure that we have a secure lifestyle. However, there is something wrong when we allow these things to create a false idea of life. These are unreliable materials to create our own illusionary reality. The best they can do is to make us live in a parallel universe which will crumble and fall eventually. After everything is said and done, we will find ourselves as orphans in this world if we base our lives on this false gods.

Yesterday, we had to leave the streets a little early. We said our goodbyes to Bruno and the other young people. Mary wanted to use the restroom at a local restaurant before we left. I was waiting alone. Bruno called out to me and insisted that I wait for Mary at the spot where he usually stays. He wanted to spend a little bit more time with me. There was something in the way he said this that communicated explicitly his love for spending time with us. I realized that it was a joy to spend time with this young man. Someone looking at him from the outside would just see a homeless young man. We see a loving man who has faults like anyone else but his love compensates for all them. If we were to delve deep into his history, we will find that he was every reason to be angry with the world. However, he faced the harsh realities of life, the hard truths. He realized his mother did not want him. He realized that he will never get the chance that others less intelligent in this world might have. He realized that he will never be treated fairly in this world. He chose not to react in hatred and resentment. He faced the truth and was open to the voice of the Spirit of Truth. He discovered the Good Shepherd who never abandoned him. He sees the face of the Good Shepherd in the people who show love and kindness to him. He responds to them in Love. We are witnesses of this. We see and can boldly testify to the truth and faithfulness of the words of Jesus in our ministry. Those who choose not to create a false reality and accept the condition in which they find themselves will discover the Spirit of Truth. However, the Good Shepherd does not leave them in this condition of hopelessness and rejection. The Spirit of Truth guides like a Good Shepherd to a higher place where they see the eternal Truth. The kind of Truth giving them and us the joy of Life which this world can never offer.

Bruno, Maria, Wallace, Vinicius, Ana Paula and the list goes on. They were born as outsiders and excluded from the illusionary promises of this world. However, they faced the harsh realities of their lives. Then they heard the voice of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit guides them as He guides us into the knowledge and love of the living Father who never leaves us orphans in this world.