Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth’s superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —

In her poem Tell All the Truth, Emily Dickinson reminds us that while it is critical for truth to be spoken, it is also important that it be experienced on the oblique.  It is too marvelous, or sometimes too horrific, for us to face straight-on.  Dickinson tells us that if we were to gaze on truth directly, we would all be blinded.

I think that’s at least part of the reason why Jesus uses parables when telling his listeners about the Kingdom of God.  The truth about God’s Kingdom is so shockingly stunning, so marvelously magnificent that we frail humans simply would not be able to take it all in if we experienced it directly.  God’s love is so radically generous, inclusive, and limitless that we almost dare not to believe it.  Indeed, the very notion of God becoming incarnate in human form is testament to the idea that we humans need something that we can understand and handle in order to take it in.  The human Jesus is God’s Truth told slant. God comes in the form of Jesus so that we can experience God in the flesh and believe. 

But even the truth told slant is sometimes way too much for us.  Sometimes it’s just too hard to believe and to live our lives in concert with our belief.

There’s this striking story in the Bible in which a man whose son has seizures comes to Jesus seeking healing for his son.  The man explains his son’s predicament and informs Jesus that none of Jesus’ disciples have been able to help.  Jesus proclaims, “All things can be done for the one who believes” to which the father replies, “I believe, help my unbelief!”  Jesus then heals the boy.  While the man understands that Jesus wields divine power, he simply cannot get his mind around the immense truth that this divine power is meant for love and life for him personally, and for his family.  And so, he believes and yet, he doesn’t believe at the same time.  And it doesn’t even matter.  The son is healed not because of the faithfulness or belief of the man, but because of the power and love of God in Christ Jesus. 

This is not magic.  The story depicts the power of Jesus and demonstrates his desire that all humans experience abundant life.  Belief is simply a living into the truth that God’s plan is for love and life, abundantly and eternally. When confronted by this truth directly, it blows us away.  When told this truth on slant, even then, we can scarce take it in.  And it doesn’t even matter.  God’s truth is God’s truth.  God’s love is God’s love.  Tell it straight.  Tell it slant.  Either way, as Dickinson says, the Truth dazzles.

~Father Art