We are flooded with words these days. There are tweets, e-mails, Facebook posts, Instagram messages, IM's, texts, and all sorts of new apps that I don't even know about. So many words, in addition to what we hear in our normal conversations, on the telephone and on various video feeds. Which ones to believe? How do we know what is true? While what I am describing sounds like a new phenomenon, it really isn't. Sure all the social media and such is new, but people in Jesus day had the same problem of trying to figure out when someone was telling them the truth, and when it was just words, just talk. Jesus addresses that situation in today's Gospel reading (Jn 5: 31- 47). He gives 4 insights that we might use today to think about what to believe: 1. Jesus starts out this passage by saying: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true." He's reminding us that self-interested statements are to be viewed with skepticism. Jesus isn't saying that He is a liar, of course, but He is telling people that they don't have to take His word for what He is saying. Good advice-- people who make a big deal about how great they are usually aren't; 2. He says that He doesn't accept "human testimony," even that of John the Baptist, although He says that what John said is true. The point is that human testimony is generally suspect, although in some rare cases, like John the Baptist, the testimony might be honest. Don't believe something to be true just because someone says so, unless you know the person well and have complete confidence in the person's integrity; 3. Jesus says that there is testimony even greater than John's, or that of any other person. The testimony is the "works" that jesus has done. We all know the phrase "actions speak louder than words." Jesus says that is true even in the context of thinking about Him. The works are things the Father gave Jesus to accomplish and they testify on Jesus' behalf. The miracles, the teaching, the rising from the dead-- these are the things that give testimony about Jesus; and 4. Jesus makes the point that His life, and His works, are completely consistent with the scriptures, if you understand them properly. Moses wrote about me, He says. He hasn't just dropped from the sky out of nowhere. There is a whole narrative of salvation history that points to Jesus, and as to which He is the culmination. Those who don't want to believe Him are simply refusing to see what is right before their eyes in the scriptures. In other words, a powerful indicator that Jesus is telling the truth is the fact that He fits what was foretold. He didn't make up those prophesies. He just fulfilled them. And the fact that what someone is saying is consistent with other objective facts over which the person had no control is a powerful indicator that the person is telling the truth. Talk is cheap, but that doesn't mean it is irrelevant, or should not be considered. Words matter, and we have to decide whether or not to believe them. Jesus gives us some wise ways to think about words, which shouldn't surprise us. He is "the Word," after all.