"You can't handle the truth!" Jack Nicholson famously rants at the climax of A Few Good Men, saying that we live in a world of walls.
In contrast, Christ says, "The truth shall set you free."
In many ways our life walk teeters between these views of the truth... we want the truth, but we are at the same time afraid the truth might be too awful for us to bear. We veil ourselves from the truth and these veils serve both to shield ourselves from the truth outside us and to keep people from seeing the truth within us. We are doubly afraid. Afraid the external truth might be too much to bear and that the truth of ourselves may be too terrible for others to bear.
On this Transfiguration Sunday let us remember that when Jesus was revealed to his friends there was reverence and awe, but there was also rejoicing. The truth may be convicting, but it is also liberating.
There is much discussion in our society about how much truth we are entitled to or how much we can bear. There is fear that if we knew the truth it may destroy us.
On this score I side with the gospel, the truth sets us free. It may make us miserable first, however. I fully accept that, but that discomfort is probably on the whole a good thing. It brings our lives back in line with the truth of our situation. And there is so much realignment to be done.
Bear witness, then, to the truth! Both truth within and truth without. Remove the veil that shields you from the truth and walk free. This is our hope and our duty.