The Gospel According to George and Martha

Everything you need to know about Jesus, you can learn from children's books.

Take "George and Martha--The Story of Two Good Friends" and the parable of the split pea soup.
George and Martha, for those of you who don't know them, are two hippos created by James Marshall. (These are great books.  Even if you don't have children in your life, you should go to the library and look them up.)

Martha loves to make split pea soup.  She makes pots and pots of it and gives it to George to eat.  He accepts graciously.

One day she catches him surreptitiously dumping out her soup. She is very hurt.

George 'fesses up. He actually doesn't like split pea soup.  This leads, as confessions do, to one from Martha.  She doesn't like it either.  She only likes making it.

The conclusion:  A friend builds you up and makes you feel good.  But also tells you the truth.

When Jesus said, "The truth will set you free", I don't think he meant it in the way it has come to be seen:  The Truth about Christianity being the One True Religion, about only Certain People being "saved", about Certain Political Views being Right.

I think he meant an accumulation of little truths, like whether or not you like split pea soup, whether you like your job, how exactly do you feel about your son's getting married.  All of the little, hidden, details of our inner landscape that make us who we are. 

The Split Pea Soup lie was a little lie, an innocuous, harmless lie.  But little lies can add up.  They can slowly add up to a life devoid of integrity and truth.  The little lies eat away at our souls, and that is a kind of hell. 

Fortunately, the same is true of little truths.  Do we or do we not like split pea soup, really?  That is what Jesus wants us to tell the truth about.  How did we really feel about our son's wedding?  Our job?  Truth-telling can become a fascinating, creative, even artistic enterprise, and we will indeed be set free by it.  All the little nuances of our inner landscape take time and trouble to discern and express, but the freedom and love we experience is well worth the trouble.