In our eyes, we tend to ‘grade’ sin. Some sins (murder, adultery, incest) we classify as ‘deadly’ sins, whereas others (gossip, losing your temper occasionally, having a moan, telling a white lie to get us out of trouble) barely register on our ‘sin scale.’
In the film ‘Nativity’, a careworn teacher (Paul Maddens) tells a ‘little white lie’ to his arch-rival Gordon Shakespeare about their former friend, now working in Hollywood, coming to film the school nativity play Maddens is directing. That lie, overheard by the sackless teaching assistant Mr Poppy, becomes a noose around Maddens’ neck, for Mr Poppy (in all innocence) tells everyone Hollywood is coming and the whole school (and, later, community) is alive with hope, excitement and anticipation. How can Mr Maddens ruin everyone’s dreams by telling the truth?
St Bernadette’s is a Catholic school and one scene features Mr Maddens asking the parish priest about the difference between ‘white lies’ and other kinds of lies in an attempt to salve his conscience. The priest gazes at him blankly as he attempts to justify white lies on the grounds of tact: it would be rude to tell your hostess that the meal she has prepared for you is horrible, he argues, so that kind of lie isn’t really a lie. Surely it’s better, the priest replies, to tell her the truth and maybe help her to become a better cook as a result!
Though the film’s scenario is preposterous at times and undeniably saccharine, the idea that deception is a tangled web which easily enslaves us is a very deep truth. Paul’s choice of examples and warnings from the Old Testament in 1 Cor 10:1-13 may seem to us initially as bemusing as Mr Maddens’ ‘little white lie.’ We readily identify with the Israelites’ complaints in the wilderness: tired, hungry, frustrated by the endless journeying, they are fractious and ungrateful. Surely that can’t be sin on the same scale as murder?
Yet when we read the Old Testament passages afresh, we see how God classed those sins as idolatry and putting God to the test, and the punishments He sent were terrifying. Snakes killing people, earthquakes swallowing up those who rebelled against Moses’ leadership, death by the sword… there is no doubt that God will not tolerate sin in any shape or form.
One of the key lessons from this passage is that good beginnings do not guarantee good endings; spiritual privileges bring with them responsibilities. We have no room for complacency in this spiritual life we lead. God is holy; ‘our God is a consuming fire.’ (Heb 12:29) We have to learn to see sin through His eyes and then must do all we can to leave those ways behind.