This morning I read the account of Jesus' interaction with people as recorded in John chapter eight. Interestingly, these were people who believed Him. As Jesus speaks words of truth, the interaction begins to deteriorate rather quickly. His words began to expose the condition of the heart of the listeners. In the place of exposure they searched for a way to discredit His words, for an excuse to discount the truth He spoke.
Their excuse for discounting the truth of which He spoke was his out of wedlock conception. Initially their comments rather vaguely alluded to the fact that Joseph was not his father. As the conversation progressed and Jesus words of truth continued to prick them, they became more pointed, accusing Him of being a Samaritan. (The implication was that He was not even a full-blooded Jew; that his mother had slept with a Gentile.) Instead of embracing the truth that could transform their heart, they chose to attack Jesus in an effort to validate their rejection of the truth.
And so it still is today. When pricked by transformational truth, people frequently look for a reason to reject the truth. Usually the reason for rejection is that the messenger is flawed, therefore his flaws allow for the rejection of the message. The flaws of the messenger do not change the truth in any way. Truth is truth. If we are to be transformed, then we must embrace the message in spite of our perception of the messenger
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