And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?”

Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?”

-John 18:22-23, NKJV

Recently, I was reviewing the story of Jesus’ death as I prepare for Good Friday services.

Verse twenty-three jumped out at me in my preparations. It comes after an exchange Jesus has with the Jewish authorities.

Jesus does not make it easy on them. He points out that their questioning of him under the cover of darkness is truly shameful. I suspect this is why Jesus is punched.

They did not like to have to face the truth of their shameful deeds.

Notice that Jesus does not apologize for exposing their shameful deeds to the light. He does not take back his words highlighting their underhanded tactics to condemn him.

Instead, Jesus invites his assailant to bear witness if his words are evil. 

Of course, his assailant knows Jesus spoke the truth. It was just very unflattering truth for him and his compatriots.

I see a lesson here for faithful spouses.

We should not shy away from speaking the truth even if it reflects badly on our (ex) spouse. Sure, we may endure abuse for sharing such unflattering truth. However, sometimes we need to share it.

In fact, Jesus shared the truth in such a way that invited the listener into repentance. The light showed how dark the deeds were. He pushed them to look at what they were doing.

Similarly, we may  be called to share the light to expose the darkness of evil in our (former?) marriages. No light, no invitation to repentance. 

That said, I do not encourage doing this in an unsafe setting without witnesses. Plus, I do not encourage doing this to wound or harm the other. The point is to make the offender or those listening think.

Sharing the truth also gets us, the faithful spouse, out of the passive role. This is important, too.

Share the truth.

It is the sharing of the truth that has the power to set people free.