Tell Me the Truth

Only when we know the truth about ourselves, our sinfulness, and why it’s a problem, are we able to hear the truth that we are loved and forgiven by God, and in that truth find abundant life.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
   The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 11 C
   Texts: Luke 7:36 – 8:3; 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:10, 13-15

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

“If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – that she is a sinner.”

Now there’s some irony. Who knows what about whom couldn’t be more different than Simon imagines. Simon is the only one who doesn’t know the truth at this party.

This amazing woman knows the truth about herself and the truth about Jesus. Even though Luke rudely only calls her by the name “sinner,” implying a publicly known sin like prostitution, she had a name. And she knew full well who she was before, she knew who she was now, and she knew who made her a new person.

Jesus knows the truth about himself and the truth about her, too. This clearly isn’t the first time they’ve met. She interrupts this dinner party filled with tears of joy and gladness, prepared to anoint Jesus in thanksgiving, ointment purchased and in hand. Jesus says her generosity comes from having been forgiven a great deal. That is, she already experienced it, some time before. When he says, “your sins are forgiven,” he’s reminding her of what already happened.

Simon’s problem is that Jesus is a prophet and does know everything about this woman. So he also knows everything about Simon. Simon’s ignorance is impressively vast. It would be hard to know less about this woman, about Jesus, and about himself, than Simon does.

In today’s two powerful accounts, Nathan and the king, and Jesus at the dinner party, the ignorance of David and Simon to their own truths is deeply compelling. There’s something about them echoes in our lives.

It’s interesting: both want to please God, and they mostly do.

Simon is a Pharisee, so he cares about God’s law and tries to keep it. He likes Jesus enough to invite him to dinner, so he might not be an opponent. David’s love for God is well-known, and his desire to be faithful to God is one we repeatedly sing ourselves through his Psalms.

But David has done a great evil, and is acting as if it doesn’t matter. We can’t sugarcoat the rape of Bathsheba – how else do you describe a king commanding a subject to come to his palace and getting her pregnant – and we can’t deny the murder of Uriah to cover up that rape. As marvelous and heroic as David can be, this is utterly horrific and vile.

Simon seems less evil than just normal. Jesus’ story shows he knows Simon’s sinned, like all people. Simon just has a grading system. Whatever sins he may or may not have done, to him nothing compares to this wretched woman who’s spoiling his carefully planned party with this embarrassing display.

How do people who want to do good and serve God become so blind to their own flaws, yet able to see others’ flaws in seconds?

More important, who do we have who can open our eyes when we’re blind?

Who is Nathan and Jesus to us, and tells us the truth so we can actually hear it, and be changed?

Because we do need to hear the truth.

Who do we permit to tell those of us who are white and privileged that we are racist?

That we do things without even knowing that perpetuate systems rigged against people of color? That, even though right now many of us are thinking, “That’s not really true of me,” we all operate within a system of privilege that we don’t want to give up, but that is not the experience of anyone whose genes color their skin darker?

We know there are problems with racism in our country. But Simon and David lurk in our hearts, and we don’t like to see our part in those problems. We want to do good, we do. But there are truths each of us struggles to see and believe about how racism infects all our lives. Who do we let into our lives who can speak that truth to us, help us see our own sin?

Who do we permit to tell those of us who are men that we are sexist?

Who will we trust to tell us that we men are so embedded in a culture that favors us we likely could read today’s Scripture readings and nine times out of ten not even notice that neither Bathsheba nor this woman were named? Or notice that the sinfulness of the men involved wasn’t remotely punished by society, while both women were scorned and reviled?

Listen, we’re David and Simon. We want to be good, we do. But this is a reality many of us men can’t see. Who do we let tell us that we men are blind to the reality that because of a Y chromosome we get paid far better than our sisters? Who will we listen to who can challenge us men who are Christian with the inequities in the Church of Christ, including our use of language, that consistently diminish our sisters’ gifts and calls?

We too often are blind to how we each are part of the problem. Who will tell us the truth?

Who do we permit to tell us that our everyday activities we so blithely do without thinking are destroying our planet?

Who gets to break through each of our stubborn habits, our laziness, our inability to even want to try, and say a truth we can hear, that we cannot keep at our lifestyle and hope to survive as a human race?

Listen, we’re Simon and David. We want to do good. We do. But each of us does things every day that waste water, pollute the air, deplete resources, and because we can afford to do it, we keep doing it. Who do we allow into our lives enough to call us to account for this? Who will we listen to when they ask us to stop letting the water run the whole time we brush our teeth, or consider whether we need to drive everywhere, or ask where our food comes from and whether people are fairly paid for it and animals well treated?

Who do we permit to tell us that our lifestyles and choices are oppressing the poor and making people suffer unbearably?

Who gets to tell us that we can’t demand low prices on goods we buy and expect the people who work to sell us those goods to be paid fairly? That we will all have to pay more in taxes and other costs to build a society where the minimum wage is actually one people can begin on and start to feed their families? To build a society where people can find safe, affordable housing, and the dignity of being neighbors and contributors to the well being of all? Who gets to point out that our choices deeply affect those who have few choices?

Listen, we’re Simon and David. We want to do good. We do. But we cannot keep living above a level that cannot be sustained for all on this planet. Who do we let into our lives that can tell us this truth so we will hear it?

Who do we permit to tell us when we are not being loving, not being Christ?

Daily we hurt others, we do things we probably think of more often when we confess our sins than those other, deeper, sins. Things that we know are not of Christ. But we can be as blind to them as anything.

So if we truly want to be good, like Simon and David, who gets to tell us when we’re being a jerk? Who gets to say, “Be quiet, that was unkind?” Who gets to challenge us for not being loving to another person? Who do we let into our lives who we trust to tell us the truth?

That’s the deeper question. Who speaks to us truth we can actually hear, and are convicted to seek forgiveness and a new way of life?

The truth-tellers we hear best are the ones who love us.

Nathan loves David, and David knows it. Nathan knows his king wants to do justice and be good, and serve God. He makes up a story he knows will incite David’s innate justice and goodness because he knows how David will react. And he breaks through David’s blindness.

Jesus loves Simon, and Simon can tell it. He doesn’t rebuke him or rail at him. He, too, makes up a story Simon can hear, using Simon’s world, a world of debts and repayments.

We deeply need such people in our lives, and we’ll hear them because they love us. They’re not seeking to destroy us, or cut us down. They may be deeply sad about what we’re doing, but they love us.

And when we listen to them, we open ourselves to hear the words of Scripture when we couldn’t hear them before. When we listen to them, we find the desire to seek forgiveness and healing from God. When we listen to them, we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s leading and power to make us new.

Jesus said, “If you continue in my Word you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [1]

That’s what we long for. That we know the truth so we can ask forgiveness from our crucified and risen Christ and receive love and grace and freedom. So we find the joy of our sister who washes and anoints Jesus’ feet in gratitude and happiness at her new reality. That generosity only comes from first receiving the generosity of the love of God that has no limits.

In our tradition, when we confess our sins together we do it at the start of the liturgy. That can be a hard place to begin, having just scurried to our seats, dealt with the stress of getting out of the house, and just as we settle in we’ve got to face difficult truth. The Book of Common Prayer gives our Anglican and Episcopal sisters and brothers the option to confess after the Prayers.

We’re going to do it there today. We’ll come to confession having heard the truth first. We’ll have heard God’s Word and heard a sermon. We’ll have sung our response to God’s Word, and prayed our concerns for each other and for the world. Then we can consider what truth we need to speak to God for our forgiveness and life. We’ll rise, forgiven, and offer each other the same peace of Christ.

This order could be very helpful to us, like Nathan and Jesus, opening our hearts both to the truth about our lives and the truth about God’s love. So we can see. And, forgiven, live.

In the name of Jesus.  Amen

[1] John 8:31-32