Mtr Mary Trainor

An unbelieved truth can hurt [us] much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth [that is] unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion.*

Dear friend,

One might think Jesus is the rudest dinner guest ever. But we know better, and so we press on to seek meaning below the surface of his behavior.

We encounter this story today in Chapter 14 of Luke, a little more than halfway through this Gospel. He’s been invited to sup with a leader of the Pharisees at that man’s home on the sabbath.

On the surface, maybe it’s simply an ordinary gathering where this leader and an entourage of like-minded men want to get to know Jesus better. But probably not, as it tells us, “they were watching him closely.”

Then a man with dropsy (now we’d call it edema) appears before Jesus, who takes the initiative to query the dinner party guests: “Is it legal to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” If the question sounds familiar, it is. Back in Chapter 6 the Pharisees put the same sabbath question to Jesus. Only that time it was about plucking, then eating, grain. Thereafter, Jesus heals the man with the withered hand on another sabbath, prompting Luke to write: “But [the Pharisees] were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.”

Today the shoe is on the other foot. Jesus turns the same question back on them, “Is it lawful…?” Because they were silent, he pokes the bear even more.

The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.**

As one who follows Christ, I was reared to be polite. Most of the examples I can offer all have to with remaining silent in the presence of a difficult truth, particularly those that might hurt feelings. Who hasn’t said “the meatloaf’s great” while silently slipping it to the dog? Or “I love what you’ve done with the place,” when it really offends your taste? Big topics such as religion and politics were to be avoided at all times.

These social rules may get us through life without losing friends or being black-listed. But what about truths that affect a person’s life, their soul? The truth Jesus provokes in Luke is how we are to demonstrate God’s compassion, love, and mercy. It’s the truth that lies at the root of the Christian message.

I have lived enough to know not to share everything I think. But with years, I am much more apt to broach the sensitive topics, to probe in hope of revealing, either for me or for someone else, Jesus’ greater intent as regards the law.

Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.***

Mtr Mary

*John Steinbeck, East of Eden; **Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn; ***Warren Wiersbe