John 18.37: “I entered the world to tell the truth. All who love the truth love my voice.”

On that portentous night truth telling broke out all over following the example of Caiphus who had burped the truth then looked behind himself to see who was speaking. As Caiphus, so Pilate: in spite of the slinking rogues pacing around his house like alley cats he labeled Jesus the king of the Jews – an involuntary seizure of truth.

These burps ticks and seizures undoubtedly embarrass their hosts by the light of the next day just like executives suddenly remember dancing at the party with their pants down.

But nevertheless it happened. Jesus wasn’t exaggerating , was he, when he said “If these are silent the stones will cry out.” The suppression of the Truthteller caused even the stones to cry out: Caiphus, Pilate, the place of the skull, the garden tomb – all burped out the truth under the general pressure of forced silence imposed on an already groaning earth.

It was indeed a meal the stones could not keep down. The Earth gagged even while swallowing. Hell vomited and the hole in the rock dug by a rich man couldn’t hold silence after such a supper. The truth will be told, cried the temple veil; the truth will be told, cried the walking dead. Truth and the light of day will not be kept apart : they kiss.