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Loving the truth about ourselves

Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14

Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

             Recently, I entered the brave new world of Twitter.  Do you know what that is?  It’s a social media platform where people tweet things, usually a short statement, that other people may find interesting.  Someone I follow is called the “Philosophy Muse,” who tweeted this maxim: “It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie.”  That made me wonder how many things people see on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram are in fact true and accurate, instead of people trying to “enhance the truth.”  Some people post black and white pictures on Instagram because it hides their blemishes better than color pictures.  Have you noticed how every Facebook profile picture is of a beauty queen or of prince charming – you better believe mine is!  When the Arkansas Catholic lists the clergy changes each year, many priests still use their First Holy Communion pictures!  Now, don’t misunderstand me, social media is great, and I use it a lot.  But there also lurks a subtle temptation to look better than we are, “to be loved for telling a lie than hated for telling the truth.”  It’s easy to fall in love with a lie.

             This is what Jesus is concerned about in the gospel today: being honest.  He says, “It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man, but what comes out of the mouth.”  Today, Jesus would have added, “not only what comes out of the mouth, but what comes out on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram.”  The disciples caution Jesus that the Pharisees won’t like his teaching, this is bad PR!  Jesus basically replies, “It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie.”  Those who deal in lies are blind guides leading the blind.  Jesus teaches us not to fall in love with a lie.

             I think our whole life we’re on a journey of self-discovery, gradually seeing ourselves as we truly are, not just as we are in our glamorous profile pictures!  I tell young couples preparing for marriage: “The worst thing that can happen to you on your wedding day is that you marry a stranger, someone you don’t really know.”  It’s very hard to be that brutally honest and vulnerable with another person, and even with ourselves.  We fall in love with a lie.  People say that I look just like my brother.  I always reply: “No, way, he’s ugly!  Here, look at my Facebook profile picture – see how handsome I am!!”  I am in love with a lie.  The best advice in Hamlet was given by Polonius to his son Laertes: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man” (Hamlet I, iii).  It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie.  Guess it's time to update my profile picture.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!