And That's The Way It Is

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
With the death of Walter Cronkite, I lost a piece of my childhood. Growing up, he was the presence, the Voice, who reassured my family and me all was right with the world.

Of course, even then, we knew everything wasn’t alright: Vietnam, Kent State, riots in the streets, JFK and MLK, Jr. shot down in cold blood. But somehow, Walter’s calm, grandfatherly demeanor helped us believe the sun would rise again tomorrow. There was still hope. The latest crisis wasn’t the end of the world.

How reassuring to hear at 6:59 each evening, “And that’s the way it is.” Contrast that with the wimpy sign offs of today’s anchors: “I hope you have a good day” or “We hope to see you right back here tomorrow night.” When Katie Couric came on as the CBS anchor in 2006, she even appealed to her viewers to suggest her tagline. How the world has changed. Today, anybody with a cell phone camera and a Twitter account can be a “journalist.”

True, Walter’s trademark phrase was a little over the top. It’s impossible to distill the essence of the world situation down to 22 minutes, not counting commercials. But his weighty pronouncement held out the hope there is such a thing as real, objective truth in a world of ever-changing perceptions. Yes, “the truth” is best arrived at by interviewing multiple witnesses, listening to alternative interpretations of a given event, and making sure women and people of color--and not just middle-aged white guys like Walter and me--have their say. But at the end of the day, there is real truth to be found if the news isn’t reduced to entertainment or political posturing.

The New Testament pulsates with just such a conviction. There is not just one witness, but four to the epoch-making, world-reshaping event of Jesus Christ: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each speaks with a distinctive voice arising from his own life experience and the pressures and questions driving his witness. But all four Gospels share the conviction God has come near in a decisive way in Jesus Christ, and that his life, death, and resurrection change everything. As the book of Hebrews declares in its opening salvo, “Long ago God spoke in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days God has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb. 1:2).

The church doesn’t exist to pretend there are certain special people who have everything figured out. But in a world where increasingly the mantra is, “One person’s truth is as good as another’s,” we do have a holy obligation to keep our heads and hearts clear about the One who is “the way, the Truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Walter Cronkite understood the elemental human hunger to know the Big Truth above and beyond all the little truths. Let’s hope God’s Good News people do also.