On the Cross and Lies and Truth

As we approach Easter, we think about the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The death of Jesus shows us how we do our worst deeds based on lies. Jesus was killed because of a lie. Powerful people believed he was a false messiah, a troublemaker who needed to be gotten rid of for the safety of the Jewish people. Those who arrested him in the Garden of Gethsemane were sincere in their belief that getting Jesus out of the way was the best thing for their people. They believed a lie. As they nailed his hands and feet to the cross, Jesus said, “They don’t know what they are doing “(Luke 23:34). We human beings have done our worst while believing we were right and being sincerely wrong!

This week in my reading and viewing, I ran across two unrelated lies we humans have believed that caused untold amounts of suffering and death. In Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin tells of the death of the first wife of Salmon Chase who later became Abraham Lincoln’s treasury secretary. At the age of 23, Kitty died from complications of childbirth. The physicians did what they believed was right. They bled her. To drain away a patient’s blood was believed to remove impurities from the body and encourage healing. It is easy for us to see what a devastating lie that was, but bleeding patients was so widely accepted that many people were killed by this treatment.

I watched “The Color of Freedom,” a film about the racist South African government’s imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. The film made it clear that the actions of white South Africans in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s were based on the same racism that protected slavery and segregation in America. They believed this lie: black people are inferior to white people; therefore taking away their freedom is right and the only way for white people to be safe.

Look at how lies can lead otherwise good people to do the worst things. Jesus said the devil is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He also promised, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32-33)"

"Our Unique Call"

Henri Nouwen was a Roman Catholic priest who wrote many books of spiritual guidance. His book of daily meditations called Bread for the Journey is available as a “Daily Meditation eLetter.” Go to henrinouwen.org to subscribe.

On March 10, Nouwen’s meditation was so much in tune with our times that I wanted you to have it. Here is “Our Unique Call.”

So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyze and depress us.

Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But each of us has our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.

I am reminded of one of Mother Teresa’s well-known sayings. “We cannot do great things. We can do small things with great love.” I know that this is our call here at New Hope. Let’s be about our work, small as it may seem. God will bless and multiply all that we do with love and fill our hearts with more love.