This week the nation has been awash with speculation around the Princess of Wales’ edited Mothering Sunday photo.
Hundreds of articles, posts and videos obsess over every pixel of the image – but why do we care so much?
Well, partly it’s because we want the royal family to be simultaneously just like us, and better than us.
This tension breeds a parasocial desire to gain insight into what’s really going on behind the palace PR. “What secrets are hidden beneath that blurred sleeve, that misaligned zip?”
On the other hand, it could be said that this photo touches on societal anxiety.
AI deepfakes and alternative facts are everywhere we look. Social media algorithms battle for our attention at all costs. And whether the content we consume does us any good, or even has any semblance of reality is irrelevant, time is money, now more than ever.
All this is leaving us exhausted; burnt out on anaemic “truths” demanding our attention but never satisfying. I think the reason we’re so attracted by stories like ‘Photogate’ in this cultural moment, is because we’re thirsty for capital T Truth that we can actually trust in.
Jesus said of himself “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”, a startling pronouncement that might be easy to dismiss as just another truth claim from just another teacher.
So many leaders, throughout history and today, offer their followers the truths they want to hear; the quick fixes and safe steps to achieve the good life. In contrast, Jesus in his earthly ministry said the kind of wildly unpopular things that lost him followers, not gained them.
He spoke truth to power, he downplayed his fame, and he called people to die to themselves for the life of the world.
To those closest to him he said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”.
Although often piercingly real, in the words and person of Jesus we find an uncompromised, uncompromising vision of Truth, humming with life and freedom.
So I encourage you, as Easter approaches, why not pop into a church this Sunday and find out why they believe Jesus is worth trusting in?
In this age of uncertainty, why not discern for yourself whether, in Jesus, you can find a Truth that will actually satisfy?
Pete Humphries is the youthworker at Wycliffe Baptist Church, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Reading
