Plain Speak

1 John 1:6

          There are times when you just have to tell the truth, no matter who gets hurt in the process. We sometimes talk about the elephant in the room as a way to express this need to talk about the uncomfortable truth that almost everyone seems to know, but no one seems willing to discuss. But someone needs to start the conversation.

          In the field of communication agreement can be a bad thing. We call it groupthink today. But there is a danger in groupthink that is named the Abilene Paradox. It goes something like this. A family is playing checkers on the porch of their Texas ranch in the late 1950’s. One member of the family suggests that they all get in the car and drive to Abilene Texas some 50 miles away and eat some pie at the dinner there. They suggest it, not because they actually want to go get pie, but because there is a lull in the conversation and think everyone is bored. No one really wants to go on the hot Texas afternoon in a non-air conditioned car, but each holds their negative opinion to themselves. They say yes out of a strange sense of support for each other. They don’t want to be the only one not enthusiastic about the trip. They don’t want to be the odd man out.

          So they make the miserable trip and eat the awful pie. Four hours later they are back home and start a discussion where the truth comes out that no one really wanted to go on the trip, but felt trapped by what they thought everyone else was thinking, namely that the trip was a good idea. They find out that no one wanted to go, but that everyone felt pressure to conform to the opinion of the group.

          John does not feel this pressure to conform. He doesn’t yield to the political correctness of his day and there was political correctness in his day. He doesn’t just say what other people want him to say, or what he thinks others want him to say. He speaks the Truth in a very straightforward and direct manner.

          The Truth that John states that is just a difficult for our world to hear today as it was back then is that there is darkness and light. There is an established moral right and moral wrong. And there is no middle ground, no grey. There are no 50 shades of anything. Light and darkness, black and white, right and wrong.

          As John said, God is light without any darkness. And if we claim to be connected to Him, we can’t live our lives in darkness. If we do, we lie to ourselves, to others, and to God. There is no place for grey.

          I remember as a kid going to the public swimming pool. I remember when they would blow the whistle to signal that everyone had to get out of the pool and I would try to keep my feet in the water. By comparison to my whole body, my feet were such a small part. But the lifeguard wouldn’t even let our fingers be in the water. Out of the pool meant just that. Everyone had to have every part out of the pool. In or out, no partials.

          John says it is this way in our life of faith. We can’t be dippers in God’s pool. We must be all in. We can’t pretend. Light or darkness. And in God there is no darkness, only light. So we must walk only in light.

          If John were alive today and in the political arena he would talk about the 100 Trillion dollar debt that we owe that we can’t possibly repay. He would talk about the actual threat of Islam as it is believed and practiced by a large segment of Muslims around the world. He would talk about the greed of the few that enslaves the many in poverty. He would talk about the sexual crime and slaughter of innocents, including those in the womb.

          For John and for us there is right and wrong and the LORD has defined it. We don’t get to use our Crayola big box to color the world to suit our behavior. We either walk in light or darkness. And the LORD has spoken clearly on the important issues. Are we willing to accept His color palette?

Honest Feelings

Psalm 17:10-15

          One difference between someone who follows the LORD and someone who doesn’t is that the follower wants the LORD looking in on their life, being aware of what is going on with them. The non-follower wants to hide what they are doing from the LORD and often from others. Inwardly they know they are doing wrong. That is, until their hearts become calloused by repetition of the sinful behavior. People then get to the point that they feel nothing when they engage in the sinful behavior.

          We see this in our psalm. In the first half of the psalm our writer has solicited the LORD’s presence. But more than that, he has asked for a thorough examination of is innermost being. He wanted the LORD to look into his motives and actions. He was like an open book; he wanted the LORD to read every page.

          Not so those who are addressed in today’s portion of this psalm. They are closed. They don’t want anyone looking into their business. We know this because they express their opinions with an arrogant attitude. Arrogance is a sign of contempt, an attitude that says that I am better than you. I deserve what I have and you deserve what you have. They think that no one is watching, that they will get away with their evil behavior. They feel above it all.

          And because they think no one is watching, they don’t even try to hide their evil. So they are open in their pursuit of our writer. This person is purposeful in their pursuit to do harm. This is not accidental harm. They are tracking the writer down. And when they find him, they surround him, alert and ready to pounce. They are like paid assassins. Once they get a target, they don’t take their eyes off them. They wait for the perfect moment and then carry out their mission, usually quickly and efficiently. This has been popularized in current movies and TV shows.

          He feels like he is going to be devoured by his enemy. Lions don’t give up tearing their prey until they have had their fill. And if you have ever seen what is left over after they have finished, and the hyenas have arrived, and the vultures have followed, and the other critters and flies…. You get the picture. Nothing will be left. What a terrible feeling that he will be next.

          But our writer has hope. He calls on the LORD to rise up and get involved. He wants the LORD to bring His sword of justice. What I find interesting is that he uses language that is picked up by Paul in his letter to the Roman church. Here our writer says that they store up wrath here for themselves, and they are also storing up wrath with the LORD.

          These words might not sound too Christian. Aren’t we supposed to be all sugar and spice? But these words express his true feelings, and if we can’t express our true feelings to the LORD, to whom can we express them? This is honesty. This is transparency. He feels these things, expresses them, and then leaves them in the LORD’s hands. He doesn’t try to carry out his own counter offensive. He lets it go.

          He has assurance of the LORD’s favor. Even if he dies, he knows he will see the LORD. He is accepted. He is safe, even when his world isn’t.

Denial (Not the Egyptian River)

Mark 14:27-31

      There is a very funny scene in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the good guy meets an enemy and has a sword fight. The good guy chops off the arm of his opponent. Then the other arm. Then each leg in turn. Then the armless and legless man wants to keep fighting claiming, “Tis a flesh wound.” This valiant warrior is in deep denial.

      Southern California is in deep denial in connect to their water shortage. Now neighbors turn in their neighbors for water use violations. They thought they could beat the desert back with development, but the desert is winning out. And the solutions of the past aren’t working. Siphoning off water from other states’ supplies can’t continue. There is just not enough water. The bucket has a hole in it, and the pump is dry. Drastic changes need to take place. And the sad thing is that they have known about this coming shortage for years and have done little to correct course.

      There is a small movement in the church that wants to deny the reality of sickness, poverty and death. They believe that acknowledging the existence of an illness is a lack of faith. And for them, faith is something magical that keeps bad things away. So they walk around limping, but acting as if they are marathon runners or championship ballroom dancers. Everyone around them can see the fairy tale in which they live, but attempts to point out the obvious are soundly denied.

      Jesus wants to pull the blinders off the disciples’ eyes. He wants to shine a light in their darken minds. And the light Jesus wants to shine is the reality of their denial. Jesus is going to be killed, no matter what they say or do. And in the process every one of them will turn their backs on Jesus. None will keep their allegiance complete.

      And Peter really steps in it. He declares that he is better than all the others. He thinks he is above the others, that his fidelity will be intact. The pride in his statement is catastrophic.

      And yet, haven’t we done the same thing at times. We see someone stumble into sin and we declare that we would never fall that far. We point the finger at others, while denying our own frailty and weakness.

      It is better to be honest about our weaknesses. Maybe we can’t do it publically, but we need to at least be humble before the LORD and admit our weaknesses. We have entirely too much chest-thumping. We throw the ball in the end zone and forget the previous fumbles, missed handoffs, interceptions and missed plays. The moment in the end zone seems to say that perfection is present.

      Pull down your own barriers to honesty.

Rent a Wreck

Mark 11:1-3

      Someone had a great idea. Why do rental cars need to be the newest cars out there? New cars are expensive. What if we used used cars instead? Cheaper, less concern for getting dings and dents. Thus RentAWreck was born. Today’s innovations on this concept are the ride sharing companies. Cars and bikes are both being tried in an effort to create a business model that will work.

      But so far, a successful business model has not been worked out, at least for the bikes. All too often the bikes get stolen, or just never returned. And the cars are still too small a market to be successful on a large scale. So people keep trying new things.

      The thing that is lacking is not so much with the concept of sharing, but with the lack of integrity of the human heart. A system of sharing will only work with honest, non-self-centered people. And our world is in a short supply of these. These are not values that have been taught and caught well by younger generations from the older. We have values curriculum in schools, but the students don’t necessarily see living examples around them.

      Jesus arrives in the area of Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Places to stay would be scarce with tens of thousands of visitors stretching the housing resources. All the nearby towns and villages would have been brimming with extra people. Everyone made room for visitors in their homes. Any place someone could bunk was open.

      Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem, less than an hour walk. Jesus knows about a rideshare kiosk in the area. The tells two of His disciples to go and swipe His member card and pick up a set of wheels for His journey into Jerusalem.

      Jesus’ choice of a colt is highly symbolic. It ties right into the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Himself. The Messiah is predicted to ride on a donkey into Jerusalem. So Jesus sends His disciples to the colt kiosk.

      What Jesus asks His disciples to do took faith on their part to carry out. They could go there and not find a donkey. Then they would return as failures. They could be accused of attempting to steal the colt and end up in jail, or with a hand cut off. They could go, find the donkey, speak to the people, but the people might want them to put up a security deposit on the rental. They would return humiliated and empty handed. They didn’t have a credit card to use for the security deposit.

      We don’t know if Jesus had made these arrangements with the owner on a previous visit to Jerusalem. Perhaps the owner had responded to the invitation to become a follower. Maybe it was someone who had been healed by Jesus, and so would have been counted on to joyfully provide for their new Master. Or perhaps it was an insight Jesus had, an ability to see the donkey tied there without having to be there.

Keeping Secrets

Mark 9:33-34

      Secrets can be hard to keep. Some would say that you can’t hide a secret, that you will tell other people through very subtle gestures, primarily facial expressions. The TV show Lie to Me gives some insight into this science. The face telegraphs the deceptions that the heart is committing. And people can be trained to read those signs. I am not sure it is as exacting and as accurate as that TV show portrays, but there is something to it.

      I have found that people can’t help but tell their story. If you sit and talk with people over time, they will tell you their secrets. They will do it either openly, or by what they don’t say. For instance, if they talk about their family growing up, but fail to mention their father, that tells you something about their relationship with their father. Was he absent, dead, divorced, abusive? The silence on the issue tells you something. People can’t help but tell their stories.

      The disciples had used their time while traveling to have an informal discussion about who among them was the greatest disciple. And before we get too superior, we have all wondered where we fit in the hierarchy of importance at one time in our lives. When you lined up at recess to be picked for the team, no one wanted to be picked last! Or when the other person was picked for the promotion and you weren’t. Or they got the job and you didn’t.

      I wonder who won the argument that day. Which disciple would you put on the top? Peter? Thomas? You see how easy it is to slip into competition!

      The funny thing is, Jesus knows what they have been talking about, even though they wanted to keep it a secret. So Jesus gives them an opportunity to come clean. He simply ask them the content of their discussion. They could have told them the results of the straw poll. They could have asked for His opinion, and then the winner could have said, “I told you so!” But none of this happens. They keep silent.

      What things are you trying to keep secret from Jesus? Wouldn’t it be much better to just be open with Him! He knows what we talk about with our friends and co-workers. He knows our inner thoughts. Let’s just be open with Him about what we view as secrets. Let’s open up that world to dialogue with the One who knows it all and can lead us out of our inner darkness.