The Inconvenient Truth
Rob Gieselmann, Epiphany 4C,
Jan. 31, 2016
I have a question for you:
Does Donald Trump love you?
Paul wrote in his first
letter to the Corinthians –
which is “First Corinthians,”
not ONE Corinthians –
about the nature of love, that
love does not
demand its own way. And I’m wondering, when The
Donald looks at you and me,
through the television
screen – as it were – does he
– well, does he love you?
Now, the person who loves you
will tell you inconvenient
truths about yourself. You
know – you have spinach
stuck between your teeth, or
you drank too much
at the party tonight. And embarrassed me.
Mr. Trump is certainly
willing to speak inconvenient
truths, but my sense is that
he wants to tell you
inconvenient truths not about
you, but about other
people. Like all the
presidential contenders – It’s easy
to talk smack about third
parties –but what about your
own audience, the people you
are cultivating –
When was the last time you
heard a Republican endorse
a constructive immigration
policy? Or a Democrat endorse
the benefits of modern
capitalism?
Does Hilary Clinton love you? The sum of her life is
campaigns, and – shades of truth, and some would add,
insincerity. Does
Hilary love you? And Ted Cruz, does
he love you? With his supercilious insistence that he
and nobody else has it
right? Maybe you can forgive
Donald Trump for telling it
like it is – for his petulant
Demands about Megyn Kelly and
the debate –
People treat him, after all, like
a modern-day John
the Baptist – John the
Baptist didn’t take noth’n
off-a nobody – Only John the Baptist spoke
inconveniently to people, not
about people. And most
people don’t want John the
Baptist – not really –
we want people who will hate
what we hate.
Not hate what we love. I’m looking for integrity,
though – the unique
politician who is going to tell me
that the inconvenient truth
that Social Security
won’t survive unless I
sacrifice. Who will tell all of us
that we don’t pay enough in
taxes – rich and poor,
participating together. When the rich young ruler
asked Jesus, What must I do to inherit life? Jesus
told him
the painful truth – sell it
all, and give it to the poor.
But first – it says this – Jesus loved him. Jesus loved him
first, then spoke words he
knew the man could not heed.
Now Jesus is teaching the
hometown crowd, people
gathered to see whether Jesus
might perform miracles
for them, too. Instead, Jesus loved them, and told them
exactly what they didn’t want
to hear - inconvenient truth.
Messiah isn’t for you. Miracles aren’t for you. Don’t you remember the
Hebrew lessons about the widow –
a foreigner – and Elijah
helped her during the drought,
and not the Hebrew children. And
that foreign soldier
Naaman, Elisha healed him of
leprosy, and not any of the Hebrew lepers. God is interested in the outsider.
Do you remember the story of Naaman?
He was the
outsider – a foreign soldier
– and after Elisha healed him
of leprosy, Naaman promised to
worship Yahweh forever.
In those days, one’s god was
tied inexorably to land –
physical dirt. Naaman went so
far as to promise Elisha,
I’m going to take a wheelbarrow full of Palestinian
dirt
home with me, so I can worship Yahweh at home, too.
Such devotion, yet even in
the story – there is this
sense that Naaman’s expression
of faith would eventually
falter. That he wouldn’t be able
to fulfill his promise
completely. Nonetheless, Elisha
– with a wink and a nod –
patted Naaman on the back and
sent him on his way with
his wheelbarrow of dirt.
And this is the point: God is
more interested in the honest,
yet sloppy worship of the
outsider than in the carefully constructed worship of the insider – especially
when the insider wants to keep it all to himself. Jesus loved them,
these hometown folk - insiders
who wanted to keep it
all to themselves – He loved
them enough to tell them the inconvenient truth. *I sometimes think of myself
standing in line at the
pearly gates – and about who
might be waiting in front of
me – as my old seminary
professor liked to say, you’ll be scandalized by that person
standing in line in front of you … Who
is it you least
expect? The drug dealer? But more than that – I think
about those who in this life have suffered so much –
Indeed, we’ve all suffered – But
there are some
who seem to carry on their
shoulders a suffering
that is greater than the rest
of us. Their souls are bent
double from the load, their
gate halting, and life is
simply overwhelming. Day in
and day out.
Here I think about my own brother,
the one who
was born without a full mental
capacity – and how it
has forced him to live a lesser life – never to have
experienced the love of a
woman or his own children,
or to have a career … I also think of the long lines
of Syrians being forced from
their homes and country
and faith – wholly displaced,
while my greatest worry
seems to be Janet Yellen and the
falling stock market.
Every day, Mexican children seek
a better home here,
spurned and many bequeathed to
the desert vultures.
I hope these people are ahead
of me in line at the
Pearly Gates. I really do. I
hope these people get the
first choice of mansion, the
first selection of love,
the first embrace by our Savior
whose kind words,
will simply be, well done, good and faithful servant.
I need the love of God to
scandalize me – that same love
who declares yet again, I
don’t care that you didn’t do it
right. I’m just glad you’re here. And isn’t this what
Jesus tried to tell his
hometown crowd that day –
that there is more to faith
and God and love than
you think? God doesn’t hate everything
you hate.
So why is it we want
politicians who do? Who express
our hate? Who talk smack
about others. I don’t know
about you – I need an
honest-to-God Savior, not
a politician.
Comments
Post a Comment