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Good morning. What do you do when you realise your country’s already brought about a level of climate change too great for any accord to reverse? How do you feel when someone says, ‘It’s for those who set the house on fire to rebuild it?’

There are some harms the word ‘sorry’ is wholly inadequate to address. When, as individuals or as a country, we find ourselves utterly in the wrong, and our self-image falls catastrophically from good and upright to swathed in guilt and shame, it can be overwhelming and paralysing. It’s common for a person to be defensive, saying, ‘But look at all the good I’ve done!’ or aggressive, saying ‘What right have you to criticise?’ or ‘It’s not just me – what about everyone else?’ When a person does finally appreciate the enormity of the damage they’ve caused, they can lapse into despair, fearing they’ll never get out from under its weight.

That’s the moment Christianity begins. So many lives are dominated by elaborate denials of what’s been done and perpetual attempts to evade the inevitable consequences. Jesus’ words, ‘The truth will set you free’ highlight the dynamism of Christianity, which lies in the astonishing energy released when a person finds liberation from the prison of the past and the fear of the future.

When Jesus entered Jericho, he met a man called Zacchaeus. Jesus said, ‘I’m coming to your house to stay.’ Zacchaeus was a notorious extortioner and racketeer. He said, ‘I’ll give half my possessions to those who have none – and if I’ve defrauded anyone, I’ll repay them four times.’

It’s a tale of extraordinary transformation. But see how many steps it actually involves. Zacchaeus swaps guilt for reparation. He begins an extensive process of facing the harm he’s done and correcting it. It’s going to take him years. But it turns him from a quagmire of misery to a fount of energy – and from a loner to the centre of a new community. The truth has set him free.

Zacchaeus doesn’t prevaricate, excuse or deny. He escapes the straitjacket of guilt and starts on the road to transformation. We might call that road a peace process. Because peace isn’t an idealised state of untroubled happiness. It’s a personal or collective commitment to turn anger, bitterness, guilt and shame into constructive steps toward an ultimate goal of relationship and healing. Peace and Christianity are humble paths of setting right overwhelming wrongs. In that sense, you could say they’re the same thing.

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