Glue, Not Putty

Wednesday’s readings contain the grand lie – the whopper told with bold-faced deception.  This lie is the height of dishonesty with shocking effects and consequences.  The lie is contained within: “He said in reply, ‘He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.  It would be better for that man if he had never been born.’ Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ He answered, ‘You have said so.”

Judas lied, and his grand lie makes us think about the importance of honesty.  Helping us understand this importance is Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister who delves into this topic as part of her work on spirituality detailed in her 2006 book “The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart.” She deals with honesty through the 8th commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” 
   
After highlighting results of a 2002 survey of 12,000 high school students in which 43% admitted that a person had to cheat sometimes in order to succeed, she quoted the Josephson Institute of Ethics: “The scary thing is that so many kids are entering the work force to become corporate executives, politicians, airplane mechanics, and nuclear inspectors with the dispositions and skills of cheaters and thieves.”  She added, “The thought of a corporate culture vitiated at its core by a total disregard for truth by the people who control it turns upside down the very lynchpin of our entire society.” Is there any reason for her to have a more optimistic view in 2014, 12 years later?  

She continued, “Lying obscures the real self – even from the self.  The more I begin to lie easily, facilely, even unnecessarily, the more the truth turns to putty in my mind.  It gets harder and harder to know what truth is…When I lie long enough, I lose touch with what I really think, really feel, really am…Lying reduces me to my own false self; it shrinks the most sacred part of me to the unholy; it violates the image of God in me…we must save the next generation from the false definitions of success that force them into cheating and lying in order to survive in it.  We must teach them, as well, the difference between speech that is holy and the gossip, slander, calumny, and lying that destroy the very fabric of human community.  The eighth word of the Decalogue is honesty.  It is the glue of the human race.”

Consider Joan’s pearl of great wisdom: “Lies blanket both the lied-about and the liars in suspicion, mistrust, and dishonor forever.” Two thousand years later Judas is still remembered for his deceit and dishonor.  May future generations find us truthful and trustworthy.  May we be glue and not putty.

Deacon David Pierce