Every Lie

December 31, 2015

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/123115.cfm

But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,

and you all have knowledge.

I write to you not because you do not know the truth

but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. 1 John2:20-21

But to those who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to those who believe in his name,

who were born not by natural generation

nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision

but of God. John 1:12-13

What a way to end the year, eh? Two readings from John, one from his first letter, and the other from his Gospel. Both readings tell us that those of us who believe that Jesus Christ is God, and allow that God anoints us with the truth, and that those of us who accept that God’s grace flows everywhere, then we are children of God. Not only are we going to be OK, but we live with God from now until eternity.

We just have to be anointed.

John, one of the “sons of thunder,” the one called the beloved of Jesus, the last living apostle, probably the only one allowed to die of old age rather than be martyred, is the man who bluntly explains to Christians for thousands of years to come, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And grace and truth trump everything else.

Grace and truth.

These, by the way, are the two things we ask for every day.

Please God, get me out of this mess. Help me pay my bills. Help my children to do the right thing. My friend is dying, please take away his pain, or take him home. And, God doubles down on his already atmospheric and abundant grace, pouring love and healing, and embracing the dying. Mess removed. Bills paid. Children do right things. Friends go home to God.

Sometimes we say thanks, but we’ve probably already moved onto the next cry for help. And God keeps pouring, bathing us in repairs, with seemingly unlimited resources (they are unlimited, of course), aiding our children from one recovery to another, and filling heaven with our loving friends, now saints.

People we know are now shouting hallelujah, and praying for us, arm in arm, in heaven. They are happier that we can imagine, and have everything we hoped for them.

How does a goofy gus like me know that this is true? Because John the apostle says that we know the truth. God is loving. God is constant. God is here as much in our disasters as in our joy. God’s mercy is never exhausted. His resources are unlimited.

“You have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

I may be goofy, but I need to testify the truth. So, I’m following John’s lead. Anyone who tells you different is lying, or at best, an alien to the truth. The truth never stops coming. The truth doesn’t wear out. Grace and truth are freaking unstoppable.

And not only do we get grace and truth in abundance, we are told that they bring us the power to become children of God. We get to be authentic sons and daughters of the creator, brothers of Jesus the Christ, and hosts of the Holy Spirit simply by accepting what God gives us – grace and truth. 

Jesus, you are God. I accept your grace and the truth.

In computing, this is called a loop in logic. It’s not very exciting. It’s just true. A is equal to A. Duh. If grace and truth just keep going, then the only way to break them is to shut them off. Stop believing that they exist. We have to lie to ourselves, and then everyone else, and say there is no grace. Or we say grace is temporary, coming in dribs and drabs. And there is no truth. It’s a bunch of guesses.

We have to testify to a lie. A is not equal to A.

But, why would we do that? What else could we want? What things would be more worth our lives than being a child of God? Grace and truth give us the power to be children of God.

In fact, everything that we are given points out the truth in John’s words. For instance, our income, our location on this planet, our body size, our brains, and our history -- all are gifts. Our family and friends are not mistakes or random relationships. They are graces. That’s the truth. We are continually reminded of what is true. 

Our friends and family are gifts? Yes. Our family, the ones most dear to us, are graces from God. Be they alive or gone from this life, they are graces. 

When we see the disasters and the pains and the emotional strife of this life do we remember that grace will follow? Or do we begin testifying to the lie that disasters, pains and strife never stop. There is no dealing with them. If we do not live as children of God, and accept that God showers us with grace to handle anything, then what is our truth? We must say the opposite. That grace and truth won’t win out. But, that’s not true. Grace has met every disaster, every pain, and every strife. It did. It did. I’m not lying. Grace and truth never stop. It's disasters, pains and strife that sputter. 

But we forget the truth. And then we turn from the grace. We take charge by choosing a lie, and refuse to let God be in charge.

Interestingly, believers fall into this turning away just like those who do not believe. When we hear the truth again, though, we don't easily bounce back and let God's grace and truth reign. Why? Because we become despondent that a turn we took toward the lie has now changed us, altered reality completely. We sense that we are doomed, because we turned away. We can’t turn back, we often believe, because we sense, improperly, that grace and truth are lost to us.

That’s a lie. But, we keep doing this to ourselves! But, grace keeps repairing us. It's not important that we continually fail. It's that God continually repairs! That's what we must remember. 

We do not come to God “by natural generation.” John wrote that line sometime in the first century. That was before Darwin by 1,700 years. 

“Nor by human choice.” He wrote that before Aldus Huxley proposed utilitarianism in a Brave New World in 1932.

“Nor by man’s decision.”

Uh oh.

Most of us alive today believe that the decisions we make will unalterably affect our outcome for an eternity.

And John says, “No.”

It’s an interesting conflict, because our brains don’t want to accept, “No.” We seriously believe that our destiny is up to us. We’ve told our children that. We’ve told our wives that. We’ve believed the politicians who tell us that. It’s assumed. It’s very American.

At first, we hear John’s words from our point of view. We accept Jesus, and we believe in the name of Jesus the Christ, and that will give us the power to make us children of God. We are incharge. We. We. We.

No. We are not in charge. The "we" in John's words are that we believe, not that we rule. Not yet. Not here.

Let’s review.

The Word is Jesus, and Jesus was in the beginning with God. Jesus was already with God before time, and before the universe was created. In fact, all things came to be through Jesus. Jesus was the manufacturer of everything and every one since the beginning of time. Specifically, "Life" came to be through Jesus. That’s what the apostle John says, and I’m with John.

John the Baptist testified that Jesus was coming in order that all (not just a few, but all) would believe through Jesus that life and light itself come from Jesus, who is God.

But the world did not know him. The world, that came to be through Jesus, did not accept him. Everyone, including Peter, said, “I don’t know him.” Jesus' own people did not accept him.

Then John makes a huge jump – “But, to those who did accept him …”

What? I thought everyone didn’t accept him. In the first reading, John says, “But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and you have all the knowledge.”

See what he did there?

The part of our brain that believes we control our destinies, that thing we can’t let go of, the all powerful grip of our free will, does exist, but it does not give us the power to become children of God. God does that. God anoints. God points to us and says, here’s my grace and this is the truth.

We can change our daytime ritual. We can stay up all night. We can take a sledge hammer to our own property and beat it into a pulp. We can give money to the poor. We can walk away from our families. We can get on an airplane and go see our grandchildren. We feel in control, and we feel responsible, and we act accordingly, and some times we don’t. But, whether we do things from a place of both anger and love, we believe we are the ones in charge of our lives and consequently our eternity. We believe that, because we testify to ourselves that we are in charge. We get into a habit of lying to ourselves, and lying to everyone else.

But, we can not declare ourselves as children of God. And, the only thing that matters is to be a child of God. To be a child is to put ourselves under the authority of the Father, and to do as he says, "Listen to my Son." And, then we are to do what the Son says. Walk in the way of the Spirit.

John tells his Christian brethren, decades after Jesus has gone back to be with the Father, almost as a response to my question, "What? I thought everybody said they didn't know Jesus?" "But," John says, “You have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and you have all the knowledge.”

Have we had an anointing from the Holy One?

“No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him. What about the anointing thing?

John testifies that Jesus is God. But John is only able to do that because he has been anointed with the grace and truth of Jesus. He has been anointed by the Holy Spirit. Graces are poured all over John and all over his friends and he recognizes that in everything that he writes about Jesus. John speaks the truth, because he knows the truth.

The anointing is the thing. Bow down for the anointing. The Holy Spirit will be there. Only God anoints. Often, and everywhere. Our anointing straightens everything out. We know the truth, and we experience God’s grace. Grace and truth tell us we will walk straight into heaven at our deaths.