[AI translation] Now, interrupting the explanation of the book of Job, it being Communion Sunday, I read the next part of the Ten Commandments as the basic text for today's sermon. By way of introduction, allow me to read an explanation of our ancient confessional document, the Heidelberg Catechism, concerning the ninth commandment. Q112: That I bear false witness against no man, that I twist no man's words, that I be not a slanderer and abuser of others; that I take no part in the light-hearted condemnation of any man without hearing him, but that I avoid all kinds of lies and deceit, as the devil's own works, unless I wish to incur the severe wrath of God. In law and in all my proceedings to love truth, to speak and confess it honestly; and to defend and promote my neighbour's honour and reputation according to my ability.If this is what the IXth Commandment means, it is a very topical matter. For the problem of truth and falsehood is a very acute one. One of the most threatening dangers of this world is that it is drowning in a torrent of lies! Truth, honesty, integrity, which is the subject of this Word, could save the world from total chaos. For imagine that if in a marriage, in a family, even in business, or in the relationship between nations, people cannot trust each other, if they find themselves lying to each other, then that relationship is fatally poisoned. And today, one of the biggest problems in the world is precisely the crisis of trust. People dare not believe in each other, dare not, because it has become so natural for them to sin against the ninth commandment. False witness against one's neighbour! Is that what this commandment is about, to tell the truth? Well, it is not that simple.
The classic example of bearing false witness is the trial of Jesus. Jesus was tried by false witnesses before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and the One who was truly innocent was condemned to death on the basis of false testimony. Here we see the true horror, the true gravity of the sin against which this commandment is directed: The Son of God was the direct cause of his death! But do you know what was most terrible in this? That these false witnesses said things that were true. For example, one said: Jesus said, "Tear down the temple, and in three days I will build it." (John 2:19b) The other said: I heard him say, "I am the Son of God!" (Jn 10,36c) Well, pure, true. Jesus said. That is not a lie! It's pure truth, and yet that's what the truth says here: false witness. By their so-called truth-telling, that is, by telling the truth, they become murderers of Christ. So the problem is this: it is possible for someone to tell the truth and yet lie. He is bearing false witness by telling the plain truth!
So telling the truth is not as simple as one might imagine. Because truth is not something that can be established by logical reasoning, by thinking. Truth is something alive, like life itself! Let me illustrate this with a few examples! In Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, there is at the beginning a gentle-minded grey bishop. An escaped convict, an all-powerful murderer, enters his house and is given lodgings for the night. In the morning the bishop finds a cold place for his strange guest, but not only his guest, but also his beautiful, precious, large silver candlesticks. The wicked man has stolen from his benefactor! He is caught by the police. They find the candlesticks on him. This one is discovered to have been stolen from the bishop. He is taken to the bishop to confront him. There is no argument, no doubt: there has been theft. There is no defence. And as soon as the bishop sees the ironed burglar, he rushes to him with open arms and says something like this: my dear friend, why did you leave so soon? And if he had to hurry, why didn't he take this silver bowl with him (he picks up a bowl from the table), since I gave you this too, not just the candlesticks! ...Well: everyone knew that the bishop was not telling the truth, yet he did not bear false witness. He lied according to the written law, and in fact he told the most beautiful truth.
Or another example! Remember when an insane regime was seeking innocent people for death? Then, if someone could save the life of a persecuted man by denying the truth or by forging a false paper, did he not represent and serve the truth by lying and forging? And if he had betrayed his fellow human being by openly telling the truth, the truth, that he was hiding here and there, would he not have been serving the father of lies, the devil, by telling the truth?
Lies and truth! When is a lie a lie and when is truth the truth? What is the truth, we ask, as Pilate once did when the mysterious prisoner called Jesus stood before him. Imagine how inhuman it would be for a man to want to adhere to the principle that he tells the truth to everyone, under all circumstances! Lest anyone think that this is a virtue, such people imagine it to be. They are almost proud of the fact that they always say what they think. For example, if someone were to say to a sick person whose human face had been stripped of its humanity by pain and disease, 'Oh, you're frightfully ugly' - which might be perfectly true, by the way - or if, for example, a mentally retarded, slow-witted child were to be told by his teacher at school, you're stupid, my boy, you'll never amount to anything - which may be objectively true - or some information that you've heard in a cosy environment is passed on openly, in front of many people, if not distorted, then in the same way as you heard it, i.e. in accordance with reality: then such a person has lied and given false testimony.
Do you all feel already that the truth which God demands in this commandment is not the product of logical reasoning, nor a picture corresponding to real facts, but the truth: it is a relation! And since Jesus said of Himself, "I am the truth" (John 14:6b), truth or falsehood is always decided by the attitude towards Jesus Christ. It is better to say: it is one thing to be true and another to be true. It is one thing to lie and another to live a lie, to be a liar. My word becomes truth by speaking in obedience to Jesus. It is in obedience to Jesus that I say what I say: that I am in Jesus, the truth, that I live in Him! In other words: in love! And to obey Jesus means: to live with the love of Jesus in my heart for another person. So it is possible to lie out of love and then what I have said is the truth!
Or it is possible to tell someone the truth out of hate, and then what I have said is a lie! If I say to a man's face how ugly or stupid he is, even if he really is: I am lying because I despise a man for whom Jesus gave his life. If I insistently tell someone, who cannot bear it spiritually, how ill he is, then, although I have told the truth in form, I have lied because I have spoken uncharitably. If I saved someone's life with false papers at the time, I was right, my conscience can rest easy, even though I committed document forgery.
So, by obeying the requirement of the IXth Commandment, we are in fact not serving Truth, not the mere concept of truth as a principle, but Christ, and that means, in practice, the neighbour! The other man! So all our speech is always a decision, a resolution for or against Christ and the other man. In fact, all the things we say about the other man, and especially the things we say about the other man behind his back, are subject to this commandment. And now think how obvious, how common, but what a disgraceful habit we all have: to speak of the other man when he is not present! For example, when the discussion in a company gets stuck and people run out of other topics, they immediately turn the conversation to someone who is not present. And by putting the other person down, we can so easily put ourselves up! By blackening the other a little, our own virtues can shine so brightly! Just think of all the irresponsible talk, gossip and opinions that flow from morning till night, or in company from evening till morning, like a dirty torrent. On its way it defiles, soaks people's honour. How much harm has such talk caused, how many people it has ruined, driven to despair and misfortune! Sometimes, when one realizes what harm his speech has done, he wants to bite off his tongue! This is also false testimony.
Yes, one might say, but when I speak of someone, I always speak the truth. Well, that's just it! Indeed: the truth, but without love. And then you are no longer right! For example, two people talking: - Did you hear that the X's are separated? - How awful! No wonder, though, because the husband is often left out, and the poor woman is sickly. I saw him with someone the other day, they say... Here's a little breath of information. There is nothing in it that does not correspond to the real facts, and yet it is a vile, false testimony about a lot of people, because the purpose of telling the 'case' is not to save a family life that is falling apart, but just to gloat. Or think of the operation that has already caused the loss of so many people, which is the new Hungarian word for "drilling"! With a few words placed in the right place, you can treat anyone in such a way that they literally sink like a drilled ship in water. When someone has been drilled, they have always given false testimony, even if they have told the truth. It is very easy to say bad things about anyone, because everyone has a weak side, believers, priests, the church, even you! And even me! There is no need to distort it, nor to exaggerate it, it is bad enough, on its own. It's enough for someone to take it uncharitably on the lips and pass it on. How many marriages, how many friendships, how much human happiness has been ruined because someone somewhere started a story like this. And an avalanche started. Oh, the spoken word has an unimaginable effect: it can help or hinder, build or destroy, comfort or despair, guide or confuse, encourage or kill! And most terrifying of all, that word, once spoken, cannot be taken back. If you pick up an object in a shop with the thought of stealing it, you can still change your mind, put it back, and nothing has happened. But the word, once uttered, flies away so that it can never be grasped again. It flies away like a stone, and it hits, it wounds - like a stone. Words kill! And this is not just a proverb, but a bloody reality. What words can do, false, unloving speech, witness-testimony: the cross of Calvary shows! Behold, the consequence of false witness: the death of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the third person of the Trinity! Every unloving word, every false testimony you have spoken against your neighbour - even if it was true in content - is a murderous resolution against Jesus!
And yet, if it had not been so, if the ultimate consequence of the false testimony had not been the death of Jesus, we would all be beyond excuse. Then we would never be absolved from the sin we have been talking about here today. But Jesus himself stood before the flood of false accusations! He allowed all the world's contempt, hatred, false accusations, unloving judgments, lying testimonies, to be unleashed upon Him. His blood was shed on the cross for the restoration of man's honour.
And now Jesus, Who was crucified by false witness, and Who rose from the dead, behold, through this commandment He says: 'Do not seek to speak the truth, but to live in the Truth. In the Truth: that is, in Christ! In Christ, for whom another man's honour, his name, his life, is as precious and holy as yours.
Let us then, as we humble ourselves before our Lord, implore Him:
Train us to be one,
As you are one with your Father,
Until we are one in you at last
All hearts under heaven;
Until the pure light of your Holy Spirit
Shall be our light and our sun,
And the world will see at last,
That we are your disciples.
(Canticle 395, verse 3)
Amen
Date: 31 August 1958.