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Across the Pastor’s Desk by Kenneth Jensen

There is a parable about twin brothers. One was named “Lie”; the other, “Truth.” One day they stood by the river on the edge of town. It was a cold day and the river ran fast.

Lie challenged Truth to swim across the river, claiming that he could swim faster than Truth. The rules were that they remove their clothes and on the count of three, both dive into the freezing water, swim to the other side and back.

Truth jumped in but Lie did not. Instead, he chose to put on Truth’s clothes. He returned to town and walked around pretending to be Truth.

When Truth made it back to shore, he chose not to put on Lie’s clothes. He walked back to town naked. People stared and glared as Truth walked about town. He tried to explain why he was wearing no clothes. But they continued to mock and shun him, refusing to believe he really was Truth.

The people chose to believe Lie rather than Truth because Lie was dressed appropriately and easier to look at. Ever sense, it is said, people have come to believe a lie rather than the naked truth.

When my 95-year-old aunt died several years ago, I found myself going through her stuff. Included were canceled checks dating back to the 1940s. To my astonishment, many were written in pencil! Others were universal checks. Forget your check book at home? The store provided universal checks. Fill in the amount, list the name of your bank and sign it — no problem.

Today, only a fool would dare do the same. Back then, in rural Iowa, we trusted each other because we knew them and what they said and did were true.

Now, we live in a more metropolitan, multi-cultural society. Truth is subjected to scam artists, misleading information, conspiracy theories, political gaslighting and self-promoting televangelists. Lies are more attractive than the naked truth.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this come from the devil.” (Matthew 5:37 NIV).
And, in the words of the Psalmist, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” (Psalm 37:3 NIV).

Kenneth Jensen is a retired ELCA clergy living in Albert Lea.