Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
An evangelical couple who were touring Amish Country one summer day learned about the many apparently peculiar and contradictory practices of the Amish. They learned, for instance, that the Amish can’t own cars but they can ride in them. They can’t plug into the electrical grid, but they can power a lamp in their living room with a generator. And while they can’t have a landline phone in their house, they can have a cell phone in their pocket. The more the couple learned about these seeming contradictions in Amish life, the more puzzled they became. As their day of touring came to a close at an Old Order Amish home (where they enjoyed an Amish-style dinner cooked for them for a fee), the couple asked their hosts the question that had been nagging at them all day: “You have all these rules that govern your Amish life. And, honestly, they don’t make much sense to us. So, as born-again Christians we just want to know—are you saved?” To that, the Amish couple replied, “we don’t know. You’ll have to ask our neighbors.”
In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus tells the Jews that he can’t testify on his own behalf. In other words, he can’t prove himself with his words to them. But, he goes on to say, the works that the Father sent him to do and that he has done can testify on his behalf. The Amish couple seems to have taken this wisdom from Jesus to heart. Are they saved? Maybe. Maybe not. But either way, they are not the ones to say. Their neighbors, however, who don’t just see them in church on Sunday worshipping as they should but, instead, see them day after day, week after week, year after year going about their lives—they are the ones who can testify as to whether they follow Jesus.
In this season of Lent, we set aside time for self-examination and self-reflection. Among other things, we try to take an honest look at our lives to see in what ways we are living faithfully and what ways we are not. I think that this passage from John and the example of the Amish couple invite us to another kind of self-examination. And that is one that is not about looking inward but inviting others to be our testimony, our witness, our mirror. And so we might ask another whom we trust and who sees us in our day-to-day living in what ways do they see us following Jesus. And in what ways, perhaps, are we not. Put another way, what do they see our life testifying to?
As I think about inviting another to honesty (and also lovingly) witness to my life, the reading today from Exodus presses me to be more specific. Are there ways, I might ask my trusted witness, that I worship false idols? Have I put something before God? Is there something so dear to me, to my identity, to my sense of self-worth in this world that gets in the way of me loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind? If I am honest with myself, I have to confess that this is a real possibility for me. And for all of us.
Growing up, I knew about Easter! That was when I got to wear a new dress to church (the one out of two days a year that my family went to church) and, hopefully, some fabulous new white patent leather shoes to go with it. And then after church there was a delicious ham to devour with scalloped potatoes on the side followed by an Easter egg hunt that culminated in the discovery of an Easter basket filled wonderful surprises and treats. Those were the days!
Back then, I didn’t know anything about Lent. I didn’t know that before Easter can arrive, I have to take an honest look at myself. And to do that, following Jesus and the Amish couple, may very well mean that I need to invite a trusted other to tell me some truth about myself that I probably would rather ignore. Am I saved? We’ll see.
- Sue Trollinger