All Saints Lutheran Church

Pastor Raita Neely

The Eighth Commandment

August 10, 2003

Matthew 18:15-20

Do you think God knows your name?  It might seem impossible.  You are just one person-not only one in a million, but one in billions living here on earth.

But God does know your name.  In fact, when God  chose you as God's own child, God gave you your name.  It happened when you were baptized.  As the pastor spoke the word and washed you with water, God joined your name to God's name. "Claudia Helene, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Having given you your name, God is as concerned about it as about God's own.  In the Second Commandment, God protects his name. In this commandment, God  is doing the same for you.  God protects your name because it is your handle. People use it to get hold of you, to speak with you and about you.  A good name means freedom: the freedom to live and move and serve as you await God's new day.

We all know the differences between a good name and a bad one.  Remember back when you were in school?  Classmates who had good names with teachers, for instance, had an easier time of it.  If there was any trouble in your classroom, the teacher usually assumed that the ones with the good name were not to blame. And when it came time for grades, a student with a good name usually got the benefit of the doubt.  A bad name worked just the opposite.

Whatever causes it, when people get bad names they soon learn that there are some people who won't have much to do with them.  Your name follows you all of your life, it goes on your records and recommendations.  It's not only a handle, it's a key.  When you have a good name, there are all kinds of freedom in it. It opens doors so that you can go places and do things; people accept, respect and appreciate you.  If your name gets bad, the doors close; there are places you can't go, things you can't do, friends you can't have or keep.

The original meaning of the Eighth Commandment was to make sure that only the truth would be told in law courts of ancient Israel .  Accused persons were tried at the city gates, and guilt or innocence was determined by whatever male Israelites were present.  Guilt could be determined based on the testimony of two witnesses, so that it was essential that only the truth be told.  This was particularly true since in the case of guilt-the sentence was carried out immediately,  there was no chance for appeal.

In ancient Israel , the occasions demanding public truth-telling most frequently were those that regulated public affairs, such as disagreements between persons or families over property, other business transactions, or personal injury.

The situation is not much different today.  The cause of justice can be perverted in many ways: by the guilty person's deliberate refusal to confess the facts and tell the truth; by the accuser's distorting of the facts; by witnesses who lie, either because of a bribe paid them or out of partiality or perverseness; by the judges' or elder's refusal to render fair judgment in face of the evidence presented.

The eighth commandment is directed against the serious, destructive perversions of the truth that damage life in community.  All institutions of the community are damaged when people do not speak truthfully.

The fabric of society today is so much a product of deception and self-deception that this commandment may appear futile.  We may indeed come to distrust virtually all human interchange, believing that at least all our public institutions are being manipulated, used for the purpose of misleading and deceiving us for the gain of the manipulators.  It is hard indeed to deny the corruption of our public institutions today.  Corporations bribe public officials on an international and grand scale; government bureaus charged with administering public justice and prosecuting wrongdoers themselves flout public justice; regulatory bodies take bribes from those whom they are supposed to hold to account, and even heads of governments tell lies when it serves their purposes.  Small wonder that cynicism develops and people lose all confidence. One assumes that false testimony is as likely as true, since speaking falsely wherever necessary serves one's greedy, self-centered, or ideologically fixed ends.

There is no question that false words pervert justice.  Words can do this in a subtle way.  When people twist language to serve their own ends they pollute the very spring of human social existence.  Our language is the basis of our culture, and of our human community.  When language can no longer be trusted, when words are used for deception, the whole community is in danger.  Fear and distrust grow.

The spirit of the Eighth Commandment is the spirit of truth.  In the Gospel of John Jesus says, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free: (Jn 8:31 -32).  The Gospel of John also tells us that Jesus is "full of grace and truth: (Jn 1:14 ). Therefore, in a very real sense, to be truthful is to be united with Christ.

With time, the meaning of the Eighth Commandment has expanded to encompass truthfulness and integrity in all kinds of relationships.  But no matter where we apply a concern for truth, the basis for our concern is our faith relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Truth.  We seek truth because through our faith we are rooted in the truth.

And yet, if we are very honest with ourselves, we must admit that sometimes the truth is precisely what we do not want.  Sometimes, the truth gets in the way of our prejudices and preconceived notions.  Sometimes the truth gets in the way of our opinions.  And that is hard for us to tolerate.  "Ye shall know the truth," quipped philosopher Aldous Huxley, "and the truth shall make you mad."

Luther, in the Small Catechism has this to say of the Eighth Commandment.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  What does this mean for us? We are to fear and love God so that we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way.

There is a story about a woman who went to St. Francis of Assisi and confessed that she had been gossiping about others.  As a penance St. Francis told her to go  buy an unplucked hen in the market place, and during her walk back to her home, to pull out the feathers one by one and place them at the door of each neighbor about whom she had gossiped.  The next day she was to return and see St. Francis again.  When she returned, St. Francis praised her for her obedience and then said, "To complete your penance you must go back now to each door and pick up all the feather."  "But Father," the woman exclaimed, "you know that is impossible.  The wind will have blown them away and I could never hope to gather them."  "Quite true," the saint replied.  "Neither can you recall the damaging words about your neighbors which by this time have passed from mouth to mouth far beyond your reach.  Be careful in the future and watch every word you say."

Luther, in his explanation to the commandment puts it this way.  "No one should publicly assert as truth what is not publicly substantiated.  What is secret should be allowed to remain secret, or at any rate be reproved in secret. Therefore, if you encounter somebody with a worthless tongue who gossips and slanders someone, rebuke him straight to his face and make him blush for shame. Then you will silence many a one who otherwise would bring some poor person into disgrace, from which he could scarcely clear himself.  For honor and good name are easily taken away, but not easily restored.

Several years ago a friend of ours who was a public school teacher in Bloomington was accused by two girls who were his students of improper behavior. In the end he was totally exonerated,  the girls had been angry about a test score and had decided to get back at him.  But the process of clearing himself took so long, and was so painful that our friend, who was an exceptional teacher, quit teaching and is now remodeling homes.  He still feels like his good name has been in some measure taken away from him.

As Christians, we begin with the assumption that every person has worth, because every person is God's creation.  We are to always speak the truth about our neighbor.  There should be no slander (Lev. 19:16 ), no false reporting (Ex. 23:1), no unwarranted attack upon a person's or a family's good name (Deut 22: 18).

In the Bible, a person's name is his or her most sacred possession, for it is that person's very self.  It is his or her reality in the community.  Therefore great emphasis is placed upon the importance of honesty and integrity when dealing with others.

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians ( 4:31 -32), "Put away from you all bitterness, and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together will all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Jesus gives us a way to deal with our neighbor.  If your neighbor says or does something that bothers you, that person should be the first to know.  Then he or she can explain or apologize.  If what bothers you isn't important enough to take the risk of talking to the person who caused the problem, the best thing to do is to keep quiet about it.

However, telling your neighbor about the problem may not mean a change.  So Jesus suggests a second step.  "but if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you."  Talk to the person again.  Give the person a second chance.

The final step is to tell the authorities.  Proper steps can then be taken to solve the problem.

God not only forbids betraying, slandering, and lying about one another, but commands us to speak the truth in love, loving our neighbors enough to keep quiet about their faults unless we speak to them directly.

God is concerned about our names because of the freedom in a good name: the freedom to live and serve well, confident of people's acceptance and respect.  I think our parents and grandparents were right when they taught us, "If you can't say something good about someone, don't say anything at all."  Amen.