This sermon explores the prevalence of lying in daily life and contrasts it with Jesus's embodiment of truth before Pilate. Fr. Foley argues that like Pilate, we often "wash our hands" of inconvenient truths. He calls Christians to live authentic truth through love of neighbor, even when costly.
While I like to think of myself as a realist
from time to time, for my own sanity,
I need to escape from the social/political noise and news
and retreat into a bit of fantasy.
Often that takes the form of listening to
a great piece of fiction on audibles
such as Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr
or Richard Powers’ Bewilderment.
Less often I get a chance to escape to the theatre
but a friend and I decided to do just that
a few days before the election
to provide some respite
from the robo-texts and attack ads.
Our avenue for escape was the musical “Some like it Hot.”
I vaguely remember the 1959 movie of the same title
and figured it would be a lighthearted romp
with an inconsequential plot and plenty of pleasant tunes
though I didn’t know a single song from the score.
It is providential that I recently had my annual physical
and my primary reported that the old ticker was still strong
otherwise I might have needed to down
a few nitroglycerin tablets
when Some Like it Hot exploded onto the stage
and blazed forward with non-stop energy
for a dazzling 150 minutes
with mesmerizing choreography
voices so powerful they could be adapted for military usage
and staging worthy of the keystone cops.
While more than worthy of its star studded celluloid predecessor
this stage version is a completely different animal
from the highly entertaining
Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon classic,
often rated among the best comedies of all time,
but essentially a farce designed to tickle your funny bone.
In contrast, beneath the veneer of its razzle dazzle,
the stage version of Some Like it Hot is deadly serious
digging deep into issues of integrity
the honest journey into our authentic selves
and ultimately – in gospel mode – about truth.
Over the past few weeks I have been reading about the psychology
of lying and truth telling.
One shocking study baldly stated that not only everybody lies
but that we do it all the time.
Psychologist Robert Feldman conducted a celebrated study
in which he discovered that 60% of people lied at least once
during a single 10 minute conversation,
and most told two or three lies.
The researchers were authentically quite surprised noting:
“We didn't expect lying to be such a common part of daily life!”
Another researcher found that during a single week
we deceive about 30% of the folk we have a one-on-one with.
It is not surprising, therefore, that children pick up this behavior
Sometimes as early as 2 years of age.
Some of these childish deceptions can be hilarious, for example,
- One middle-schooler told classmates that he was a vampire and school was his punishment for killing someone;
- Then there was the kindergartner who convinced her teachers that she could speak Nigerian – which is not a language. When her Mom picked her up from school and the teachers raved about the daughter’s ability to read a whole book in their “native tongue” and translate it on the spot, the Mother’s response in expletive-laced English laid that one to rest pretty quickly;
- And my favorite, that has some resonance with this place, is the 8 year old who told her aunt that she was taking Irish dancing lessons, then gave an impromptu performance comprised of 2 minutes of leg flailing that concluded when this future Trinity Dancer kicked over a coffee table and broke a lamp.
While truth stretching by children can be highly entertaining
developing such a pattern of truth avoidance
is dangerous both to our individual and social well-being.
Well documented research from 2015
reiterates the widely accepted position that virtuous acts
confer a raft of psychological and health benefits
while lying, cheating and stealing do the opposite.
As summarized by Leanne ten Brinke
who directs the Truth and Trust lab
at the University of British Columbia
“Dishonesty is bad for your health!”
at least in the short term, contributing to
- increased blood pressure
- the narrowing of blood vessels
- elevated cortisol levels
- and a significant depletion of those parts of the brain needed for appropriate emotional and physiological regulation.
So you would thing that health care professionals
would be the first line of defense against dishonesty,
leading the parade for truth telling and virtuous living.
Unfortunately, however, there is not much evidence
To suggest that habitual lying, deception and cheating
are enduring threats to our health, rather
the brain seems to adapt to dishonest behavior.
The more one practices dishonesty
the more self-serving deception increases.
Author Steven Brill believes,
that the social repetition and acceptability
of dishonesty, alternative facts, hoaxes
and conspiracy theories
have led to what he calls the death of truth.
Interestingly, he does not lay the blame at the feet of politicians
but rather roots this turn to deception in decisions by Silicon Valley execs to code the algorithms of social media
to maximize profits by pushing divisive content;
Brill unravels the genius of automated buying systems
that reward their click-baiting content
and penalize fairness in the marketplace;
he explores how ad-financed misinformation platforms
designed by hucksters and conspiracy theorists
skew the facts so audaciously
that any search for veracity doesn’t stand a chance.
Now you may not agree with all of Brill’s arguments
and I am certainly cautious of some of them
but I yet believe that his pointed characterization
of this alienating trend
is the perfect title for today’s Gospel
“the death of truth.”
In an extraordinary dialogue
between a peasant rabbi and a Roman prefect,
truth is top of the agenda
and the soon to be handwasher
with his soothsaying wife
understand that with unusual clarity.
And the scriptural stunner here
is that Pilate does not deny the truth;
he is not some 1st century naysayer or denier.
Rather more clearly than anyone outside Jesus’ inner circles
Pilate recognizes this rabbi’s leadership
his prophetic role, even his kingship.
So technically Pilate does not deny the truth
but does something even more damning
by washing his hands of it:
an intentional shunning of a sacred honesty
whose infamy will echo down through the ages.
Pilate was clearly attempting to protect his political hide,
which required acting in Rome’s interest
against this holy subversive;
needing to maintain alliances with the Jewish establishment
including the chief priest
who was appointed by the Roman Governor;
and preserving order without too much violence
which in the end was his political undoing, eventually
sacked for suppressing an insurrection with excessive force.
Ultimately Pilate was neither indecisive nor a coward
but instead a cagey politician who understood that acknowledging truth was risky
and so he washed his hands of it
in effect signing the death warrant of truth Incarnate.
Telling the truth is risky and has multiple downsides.
As one expert opines:
Regrettably, telling the truth …. can lead to a loss of friends, status, access to decision making or credibility. Telling the truth in an environment of deceit is … a revolutionary act.”
In the Christian tradition, the ultimate cost of honesty is called
Martyrdom - not something on most of our “to-do” lists.
Besides being a threat to reputation, relationships and even life,
a second problem is that discerning the truth is often mystifying.
There are so many truth claims out there
even and especially about what it means to be Christian
that truth-detection often feels like a game of roulette.
It would be great to have some infallible litmus test
for recognizing if someone was lying –
like the clarity provided in the hit film Knives Out,
in which Detective Benoit Blanc is hired
to investigate the mysterious death of a wealthy novelist.
While interviewing potential suspects he meets nurse Marta
who admits “just the thought of lying makes me puke”
which was literally true …
She was kind of a gastric Pinocchio
but instead of lies elongating her nose
they made her vomit:
a dream for private investigators.
Our litmus test for sniffing out the truth
is not gastric but graced
not physiological but theological
not about the repulsive but the respected.
Jesus did not simply tell the truth before Pilate
He lived the truth,
Incarnating that most subversive and illusive form
of leadership: the kind with integrity.
And his litmus test for truth-telling:
was baptismally planted in our gospel hearts:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
If a truth is being perpetrated
that demeans some racial group or gender identity;
if a truth is being perpetrated
that disrespects or even exiles outsiders;
if a truth is being perpetrated
that asserts unbridled violence is an acceptable strategy
it does not meet the Jesus criteria of his lived truth
but is patently false and morally misdirected.
And if we cave in or even wash our hands of such
we too have contributed to the death of truth
and the ongoing crucifixion of people like us:
created in the image of God.
No one said that authentic Christianity was easy
which is why we gather here week after week
to support each other in defense of holy truth
so with the poet laureate of India we pray:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, holy God, let my country [flourish]
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
