Mtr Mary Trainor

You lie, and I’ll swear to it…

Dear friend,

My mother was a treasure trove of sayings, some original, some borrowed, all colorful.

The one above was usually rolled out when she was trying to con me into being her accomplice in some I-Love-Lucy escapade.

It is so hard to find the truth in this time of our lives. It seems we’re living in a new age, the age of “fake news.” Right? Not really. The creation of a story to manipulate an outcome toward one’s own best interest is not a new thing. In fact, I’ve come to learn that this fake-news thing has been around awhile, not just for my family, but for the whole human family.

Today’s Gospel from Matthew offers a classic “fake news” account. We are at the very end of this Gospel.

Immediately prior to today’s passage, women discover the empty tomb. On their way to tell the men, Jesus intercepts them on the road, before letting them continue.

Meanwhile, some guards go into the city and tell the chief priests everything that had happened at the tomb. The real story.

Manipulation now enters the scene. The chief priests and elders concoct a scheme to pay the guards to say Jesus’ disciples stole his body. No resurrection. Fake news.

You lie, and I’ll swear to it…

When I am dealing with a person who I know from experience is not truthful (have one of those in the family, too) I apply a “factor.”

For my habitually untruthful relative, I apply 10 percent to everything they say, meaning what is said is likely only 10 percent true. I’m lucky, I guess, in that I only have one 10-percent person. And I can deal with it by means of my “factor” system because I know who and what they are from my own experience.

But what do we do when we don’t know if we are in the presence of a 100-percent person, or a 10-percent person?

You lie, and I’ll swear to it…

As the guards accept the bribe to lie about why Jesus’ tomb is empty, they are offered assurance they will be safe: “If it comes to the governor’s ear we will...keep you out of trouble.” These men, the bribers and the bribees, are 10-percent people. If that.

Meanwhile, eleven other men gather on a mountain in Galilee to find Jesus there, as he had promised. Some worship him immediately, others hang back a bit.

He utters last requirements: go, make disciples of all nations, baptize in the name of the Trinity, teach them to obey everything I have taught you.

And we know from the rest of their story that they did as he asked, some paying with their lives to do so.

Why? Because they know Jesus is not fake news. He is their 100-percent-factor savior.

Mtr Mary