Texts: Malachi 3:5-10, Matthew 5:33-37.
Tell the truth.
That's what we do,
right?
We do what we
promise. We acknowledge when we have made a mistake.
We tell the truth.
That's what we do.
That's the way it is
in the kingdom of heaven.
To quote Jesus:
You have also heard that our ancestors were told, 'You must not break
your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the LORD.' But I
say, do not make any vows! Do not say, 'By heaven!' because heaven is
God's throne. And do not say, 'By the earth!' because the earth is
his footstool. And do not say, 'By Jerusalem!' for Jerusalem is the
city of the great King. Do not even say, 'By my head!' for you can't
turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or
'No, I won't.' Anything beyond this is from the evil one. Matthew
5:33-37.
No need to get all
fancy and emphatic. Just say what you mean. And mean what you say.
Tell the truth.
We can easily
imagine complicated situations.
When the cashier at the grocery story asks, “How are you?” do I
have to explain that my dog just died or my child was just diagnosed
with a learning disability or that my car just cost me $853 and I had
other plans for that money? Or can I just say, “Fine, thank you.”
A story I read again
this week in preparation for today's sermon:
Roddie Edmonds was shipped to Germany near the end of WWII. He and
his unit were caught up almost immediately in the Battle of the Bulge
and captured. They were shipped to a POW camp. Edmonds was the senior
officer among 1275 prisoners. Toward the end of the first day in
camp, the camp announced that the next day only Jewish soldiers were
to line in the morning after roll call.
Edmonds who was a Christian told his men they were not going to
comply with the order. The Geneva Convention said the only
identification the Germans could require was name, rank, and serial
number. So the next morning all 1275 Americans stood at attention.
The German officer was furious. He hollered at Edmonds, you can't all
be Jewish.
“We are all Jews here.” Edmonds insisted.
The officer pulled his pistol and pointed it at Edmonds forehead. You
will order your Jewish soldiers to step forward. Edmonds reminded the
officer of the Geneva Convention, then said. "If you shoot,
you'll have to kill all of us, and you will have to stand for war
crimes after we win this war."
The German officer put his gun away and Edmonds Jewish soldiers were
saved. It is not known how many of Edmonds soldiers were actually
Jewish. Perhaps as many as 200 were.
Was that telling the
truth?
These are interesting
diversions. Do we have to tell the truth when someone asks, “How
are you?” Do we have to tell the truth when doing so will get
someone killed? These kinds of questions are most just distractions.
The challenge Jesus issues is: tell the truth.
Keep it simple and
pure. Tell the truth.
Among citizens of
the kingdom of heaven, the purpose of a contract is simply to help us
remember our promises. We do not use words as clever devices to trick
people. Rather we use words to communicate clearly our intentions,
our convictions, our decisions.
"Yes." That's what we
say when we mean, yes.
"No." That's what we
say when we mean, no.
"I don't know." That's
what we say when we don't know.
We tell the truth.
When it's to our
advantage, we tell the truth.
When it's to our
disadvantage, we still tell the truth.
Sometimes, in the
complicated pressure of a moment, we might distort the truth. If that happens, later when our
conscience wakes up and we realize we have departed from the truth, we confess our error. We make amends. We
apologize. We return to the truth. When we have confidently and
honestly said something that was incorrect. We own it. We acknowledge
our error. And return to the truth. At the heart of our theology is
an ineradicable conviction that God tells the truth. Since we are
children of God, truth telling is what we do. It is what we return to
every time we slip.
Truth is our native
tongue.
It is the
indispensable homage we pay to God.
So, let's tell the truth.
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