Gen. 27: 1-27, 30-36; II Thess. 2: 2-4, 9-12
In the movie Wicked Little Letters set in 1920, Edith Swan is a devout Christian lady caring for her elderly parents in their English home. One day she begins receiving nasty and hateful letters causing incredible distress to the whole family. The main suspect is her Irish immigrant neighbor, Rose, an unmarried mother. Pretty soon the whole town begins receiving the same nasty and hateful letters and Rose is arrested.
Now, spoiler alert. Through some incredible sleuthing, a true deceit is revealed. Edith, the good Christian lady, upstanding and righteous in all things, has been the one sending the letters all along. She has let Rose take the blame for it because of anti-Irish immigrant feelings. Edith’s controlling and emotionally abusive father doesn’t believe it until Edith curses him to his face as she is led away for her crimes. Being deceived is hard for us because it ruins our trust in the deceiver and in everyone else sometimes. Three lessons we can learn from the scripture today on deceit are these: deceit hurts everyone around you, being deceived is not your fault, but, willingly staying in deceit is a form of idolatry which ultimately harms our relationship with God.
First, deceit will hurt everyone around you. Jacob and Esau had a tense relationship as brothers. Jacob had effectively swindled Esau’s birthright by trading it for food. Now, their mother has plans to deceive an elderly Isaac into giving the blessing of the first born to Jacob as well, leaving Esau with nothing. This was achieved by tricking the blind Isaac into thinking that Esau was in front of him by dressing Isaac up to seem like he was Esau. In the end the trickery works. Isaac blesses Jacob leaving nothing for Esau.
Look at how much havoc this deceit brought to Isaac and his family. Jacob has to flee into exile because Esau wishes to kill him. Esau becomes hateful and murderous. Rebekah has chosen favorites and forever damaged her relationship to Isaac and Esau, whom she must continue to live with. Isaac is now broken and heartsick in his old age and will never see Jacob again. One decision to choose deceit instead of honesty broke this entire family for years and years.
How many families, friendships, and relationships are ruined because someone chose deceit over honesty? A husband sneaks around on his wife and ruins life for himself, his wife, his kids, and sometimes event he extended family is broken. An elderly parent is deceived by a con artist and loses all of the life savings they have worked so hard for over the years. How many families are torn apart or live in a state of discomfort over politics in our country—their disagreement too much for the relationship to bear? How many people subscribe to bad theology that teaches anger, hate, and cruelty instead of the love and redeeming grace of Jesus? Lest we forget God is not willing that any should perish. And neither is God pleased when we are torn apart instead of finding a common mission in Christ Jesus.
Whether we are a deceiver or the deceived, that untruth in our lives will lead to anger and destruction. We often hear the truth shall set you free. But if we are truthful, honesty and truthfulness can often be a very hard road. Sometimes small lies make life a lot easier in the moment, but they end up destructive in the long run. Deceit doesn’t just hurt us, it hurts everyone around us.
Secondly, if you are a victim of deceit, know that it is not your fault. Second Thessalonians tells us about the powers of a skilled con artist. He will exalt himself. He will act with counterfeit power, show the people signs and miracles. He will be full of deceit, trickery, and use every device at his power to deceive. It is easy to be conned by someone that skilled. I think of many of my fraud victims. In hindsight they see the warning signs, the problems, and the schemes. But the reason fraud works is because it’s so hard to see in the middle of it. They also carry a lot of guilt and self-blame. Fraud is always the fault of the fraudster, not the innocent victim. Schemes work when someone takes advantage of our vulnerabilities, just like Jacob took advantage of Isaac age and visual impairment.
The way to combat spiritual frauds is to come back every time to the words of Jesus. When ministers, teachers, or even personal mentors say something, we should hold them accountable to the words of Jesus. Perhaps the first and best sign is whether someone exalts themselves or Jesus. The Gospels tell of the importance of being humble and not desiring to be first in the kingdom of God. We must be diligent in our desire to follow Jesus and live our lives by the Gospel word and Jesus’s example. Believing in Jesus may be the ticket to salvation, but if we squander every effort to live for Jesus, can we honestly say we believe it, or do we deceive ourselves? Do we sacrifice self and comfort for Jesus, or do we sacrifice Jesus for our own self and comfort? Being deceived by a committed fraudster is never our fault, but there does come a time when such behavior crosses a line.
The third lesson is that willfully staying in deceit, when we know the truth, is idolatry and damages our relationship with God. In the midst of his deceit, Jacob has to answer how he was able to find the wild game so quickly. His reply is “the Lord your God put it in my path.” Jacob knew about God, but living in his world of deceit, trickery, and self-interest, he didn’t really know God. But the biggest tell of this issue is in the epistle. If people want to continue in their deceived ways, God will allow it, but they will earn condemnation for enjoying lies rather than seeking truth.
One of the most prominent scams in my work with elder victims is the romance scam. A con artist pretends to be a love interest and asks for large amounts of money. The problem is many folks who are deceived by this choose the deception even when the con artist is exposed. In Wicked Little Letters, even after Edith fully admits to writing the letters, her father keeps saying, “I know you didn’t do it, shut up.” He would rather live in the deception rather than the truth because the truth hurts.
Though God understands and offers compassion when we are deceived, God will hold us accountable when we would rather live in deceit than come into the light of God’s truth. Deceit creates dysfunction, and it damages our relationship with the God who loves us. At the training this week we learned about how we can be deceived into thinking all is okay in life. We become so consumed by work, routines, and aspects of life that we forget and neglect our relationships, our faith, and ourselves. When someone lies to our face, we tend to be upset by it. But we often have a comfort and tolerance for being able to deceive ourselves.
When we lie to the world and ourselves saying, “I’m fine,” we do more damage to our relationships and faith than we realize. Instead, we must be honest in life with our loved ones and ourselves But, that isn’t the complete goal. We must also put in the work to be well, to have good relationships, to accept shortcomings, and to live in this world in the way God calls us. Saying that you are not okay is a first step but never doing the work to be better and to come back to God’s will is still living in a place of deceiving ourselves.
In Wicked Little Letters, the whole town was rocked by the deceit of Edith Swan, and it nearly cost an innocent woman her freedom and her child because of the deceit and the prejudice. Deceit damages everyone within its influence, but being a victim is never our fault. Where we must work, however, is to address those places we are deceived or engage in deceit and work through the trouble to grow in our relationship with God, to follow Jesus, and to help others who are hurting. In doing so, we find strength in our faith, and healing in our Savior.
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