Scripture/Sermon of the Day. June 12, 2022
John 16:12-15
“I still have many things to say to you, but you
cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into
all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he
hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will
glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that
the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine
and declare it to you.
Reflection/Sermon:
I. There was a movie from 1997 starring the actor and
comedian Jim Carrey called Liar Liar. Carrey is a lawyer who built his career on
lying, but he becomes cursed and could only speak the truth for a single day,
which caused him to almost lose his career. And while he struggled with all the
truth coming out of his mouth, he was also trying to reconcile with his ex-wife
and son whom he had alienated because of his pathological lying.
II. This is a great movie because though it’s a
comedy, it shows an impulse in human behavior that we all have to struggle with:
lying. It’s so major a problem that God had to include it in the ten
commandments (9): “You shall not bear false witness.”
I’d guess that every ancient culture has some version
of that command. Because people-not-telling-the-truth is part of the human
condition. Dishonesty must be illegal because it destroys the trust that holds
relationships and societies together. And yet, lying is so common, there are
many names for it: fib, canard, prevarication, falsify, perjure, untruth,
fabrication, yarn, red herring, disinformation, dissimulation, mendacity, sham,
cock and bull story, fake news.
III. Last Thursday night, June 9th, about 20 million
people in the United States watched the first hearing on the House's
investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to Nielsen. This
hearing is important and every American should see it because there is a Big Lie
that has been floating around since the presidential election of 2020 and this
Big Lie has been dividing our country more and more. Who won the election? Joe
Biden was sworn in as president, but the other candidate still says he won and
that the election was stolen from him. And both Republicans and Democrats have
different opinions about this. The majority of people in the United States
believe Biden won. But millions of others — many of them viewers of Fox News —
who believe Trump won. The committee investigating the January 6th attack on the
Capitol, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, wants to use evidence and
video and audio recordings to answer important questions about the last
election. There were 12 networks that carried the hearing live between eight and
10 p.m. eastern time. The only major network that won’t carry these hearings is
Fox News. So twenty million Americans from both political parties watched the
hearings, and about 3 million chose to watch a News station that did not
consider a violent attack on the US Capitol as newsworthy.
IV. And why should I mention this Congressional
hearing? Because it concerns truth — the spirit of truth. Jesus said, “When the
spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth.” Even the truth about who
won the last presidential election? Yes. Jesus said ALL truth.
There are two narratives — two “truths” — about the
war in Ukraine. Putin’s and Zalensky’s. Who’s telling more of God’s truth?
There are two narratives of our last election — who’s
telling the truth? Who really won?
There are different bodies of Christianity and they
interpret the Bible and the teachings of Jesus differently. Which is closer to
the truth? Will everyone ultimately be saved?
And why is any of this important? Because Jesus said
he is the truth, and knowing the truth makes us free. If Jesus is truth, then
knowing the truth will bring us closer to love and compassion, because that’s
what Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit are. Love and Compassion.
V. Ultimately, the truth that sets us free isn’t going
to come to us from any TV station, or social media or the Wall Street Journal or
the Washington Post. But some of it might. And the truth that sets us free won’t
even come from the Bible — because there are too many interpretations floating
around and many of them are wrong.
The truth comes to us from God. God brings it to us
every day. Do we hear it or see it or receive it?
But if it is the truth that is from Jesus and God and
the Holy Spirit, we know that it must meet certain criteria: it must be loving;
it must be gentle — like the “still small voice” the prophet Elijah heard. It
must have compassion for all people and all animals and living things.
God sends us, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the
spirit of truth, which is love, gentleness and compassion, today. Let us pray
for the grace to receive it.