We all know that it
is wrong to make untrue statements about other people. We know this if
not because the seventh commandment states, “Thou shalt not bear false
witness,” but because the hash lessons of experience have taught us that
bearing false witness is evil. We not only don’t like people bearing
false witness about us to others or bearing false witness about others
to us. We also know it is impossible to build a peaceful world―whether
that’s in our homes, workplaces, our legislatures, or even in on a
global scale―when we cannot trust that other people (or other people
cannot trust that we, for that matter) are speaking the truth.
Oftentimes,
however, we aren’t offered an explanation about why it is wrong to make
untrue statements. So, in light of St. John the Baptist’s testimony
about Jesus in today’s gospel, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world,” I’d like to reflect with you today a bit about
why it is so very wrong to bear false witness and why we need to
eradicate this sin from our souls, that is, the hurt and offense we
experience when people bear false witness about us or, for that matter,
when other others experience hurt and offense when we bear false witness
about them.
The second
creation narrative related in the Book of Genesis tells readers that one
of the two powers God gave human beings is the power to “name” things.
This power isn’t simply to assign a name but, by assigning that name, to
identify what God has created. What we see and identify isn’t what
we see and identify; no, what see and identify is what
God has created. The name we give describes the purpose for
which God has created it.
We see this power
at work when parents “name” a child. As parents behold their newborn,
they see something very special and unique; and, in that experience,
parents experience the awe and wonder that creation truly is. The name
the infant’s parents assign is important, therefore, because the name
communicates something not only about what the parents behold but also
what the parents hope to see as this child “grows and matures in grace
and holiness before God and humanity,” that is, the person God has
created and called hat person to become.
For example, on
Mother’s Day in 1955, my parents named me “Richard.” I was told that my
mother said to my father, “What a treasure!” His response? “Yeah,
let’s go bury it until it’s twenty five years old.” Whether that’s true
or not, that name connotes positive qualities, like “rock hard,”
“solid,” and “steadfast.” Now, there’s a person you can count on, who
doesn’t waver from his principles when the tides of life batter him, and
who possess the courage it takes to walk the gangplank when others would
rather make a deal with the enemy. Years ago, my mother told me that’s
what my parents saw and foresaw in their infant son, that is, this
unique and unrepeatable person God has created and called to stand for
something not to stand for everything.
Decades ago, some
friends named their infant daughter “Monica.” That name positively
connotes someone who is “wise” and provides “good counsel.” This is a
woman who is trustworthy because she possesses an innate capacity to
help others see what their problems are and how best to solve them.
Evidently that’s what Monica’s parents saw and foresaw in their infant
daughter, yet another unique and unrepeatable person God has created.
Naming a child is
one of the positive ways human beings exercise the God-given power to
name things; hopefully, the name parents give their infant correctly
identifies the unique and unrepeatable person God has created.
Today’s gospel
identifies St. John the Baptist as “naming” Jesus and announcing this
name to the crowd of people gathered at the Jordan River. It isn’t
“Emmanuel,” the “God-who-is-with-us” the angel told Joseph to name
Mary’s child. Nor is it the name appearing at the head of Jesus’ cross,
“Messiah,” “the King of the Jews.” No, John the Baptist said, “Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
John names this
man, Jesus―“the Lamb of God”―whose mission is to “take away the sin of
the world.” That is, Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who’s death will
release the world from the snares all of its members have gotten
themselves trapped in and, because of this, have so screwed everything
up, that the gift of creation now is in a chaotic mess. And, since
we’re reflecting today upon the evil of bearing false witness, the
snares into which people had gotten themselves by making untrue
statements about other people and all of the chaos this has brought into
the world because they have borne false witness.
John’s behavior
is important to consider as we reflect upon ourselves and the power God
has given us to “name” people, especially as we exercise this God-given
power in our daily lives. Notice that John announces who Jesus is in
terms of who God has created Jesus to be, in terms of his mission, and
what that means for people who see and understand Jesus’ true identity.
He’s not that guy “Jesus” standing over there waiting to be baptized.
Notice the Baptist didn’t say, “There’s the carpenter’s son, Jesus of
Nazareth.” No, he is Jesus, that guy standing over there, the
carpenter’s son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Yet, as we all
know perhaps all too well,
human beings
can also exercise the God-given power to name things in a negative and
sinful way. For example, people do this when they engage in gossip,
when they libel another person, or when they spread calumny and
slander. This is how, when human beings bear false witness by falsely
naming someone, they turn what is God’s grace―the power to name the
things God has created in such goodness―into an immense evil that begets
all sorts of chaos and destruction. When people gossip, libel,
calumnize or slander another person, their intent is not to “build up.”
No, sadly, their intent is quite the opposite! They want to “tear down”
by naming and categorizing people not as God has created them but as
these people see and judge them.
For example,
besides all of those wonderful connotations associated with the name
“Richard,” it also connotes some negative qualities like “stubborn,”
“self-righteous,” and “arrogant.” Now, there’s a person who is
intransigent, who doesn’t listen to or appreciate dissenting views, and
who views himself as superior to everyone else. And, while some people
have asked how my parents were so prescient, what’s important to recall
is how these negative connotations don’t name the person God has created
or call forth better behavior from that person. No, by naming other
people’s faults, what we do is to categorize them and to remind them
(and others as well) about who they are, not the person God has created
them to be and called them to become.
The name “Monica”
also has its negative connotations. For example, this is a person who
is a “know it all,” an “incessant talker,” and one prone to “gossip”
about others. This name connotes a woman who just can’t seem to keep
her mouth shut and to be discrete when voicing her thoughts. In fact,
her brother-in-law even calls her “Mouthica.” Now, while some people
have asked how Monica’s parents were so prescient, what’s important to
recall is how these negative connotations don’t name the person God has
created or call forth behavior more representative of the positive
attributes of that name. No, once again, when we name other people’s
faults, what we do is to categorize them and to remind them (and others
as well) about who they are, not the person who God has created them to
be and called them to become.
God has given you
and me the awesome power to name things. It is within our power to
build the Richards and Monicas of our lives up or to tear the Richards
and Monicas of our lives down. In sum, that’s why bearing false witness
is so harmful and destructive…so much so that it’s sinful.
So, let’s engage
for a moment in a little thought experiment. Ask yourself the question:
“Who do I see when I look at other people?”
Now, envision
someone who you love and really care about. Identify some adjectives
that describe that person, words that name who you know that person
really to be…and because you love and really care about that person, all
you find yourself able to identify are positive attributes. Got those
adjectives in mind? Now, place yourself and that person in the middle
of a crowd, let’s say at the King of Prussia Mall on a Saturday
afternoon during the Christmas shopping season. Now, point to that
person and say as loudly as you can for everyone in the mall to hear,
“Look there’s ______, who ______, ______, and ______.
Now, besides the
frightful embarrassment this person is likely to experience, the power
of your words testify to and bring to the conscious awareness of other
people the truth of who you know that person to be. Should someone in
the crowd challenge you to defend your choice of adjectives, your
defense is simple: “I have seen and know for myself.”
That’s the grace
God has given to us. Like John the Baptist, who said “The one who sent
me…told me,” so too God has sent us and has told us to testify for all
to hear how others are God’s children. That’s how we build up God’s
kingdom.
But, since we’re
focusing our reflections today upon the evil of bearing false witness
and why it is so wrong, let’s take our little thought experiment one
step further.
Envision someone
you don’t particularly like or care for. Identify some adjectives that
describe that person, words that name who you know that person to be.
Once again, place yourself and that person in the middle of that same
crowd at the King of Prussia Mall on that same Saturday afternoon during
the Christmas shopping season. Now, point to that person and say as
loudly as you can for all to hear, “Look there’s ______, who ______,
______, and ______. (Well, maybe we wouldn’t do this in the middle of
the crowd at the mall, but picture yourself sitting at a morning coffee
klatch, on the telephone, over a “power lunch,” or at some social
function. Of course, we don’t want that person to hear what we are
saying.)
That’s the
danger. To the degree we engage in this negative use of the awesome
power God has given us to name the things that God has created, we
categorize other people using a standard, the standard of perfection, we
know all too well that the facts of our lives could never meet.
For those who
wish to be Jesus’ disciples the question all of this presents us is the
following: How might we spread the healing brought by the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world?
First: We need to
recognize the awesome power God as given us by gracing us with the power
to name things. “Bearing false witness” is wrong but not simply because
it breaks the seventh commandment. No, bearing false witness is wrong
because, when we do so, we abuse the awesome power God has given us to
heal the sin of the world.
Second: We need
to identify those situations and people where we’ve used this awesome
power negatively, not building other people up but, instead, tearing
them down. Bearing false witness is an evil and vicious attempt to
exert power over others and to categorize them, rather than to serve
others by reminding them of the purpose God had in mind when He created
them.
Third: We need to
confess our sin, to ask God for His strength to avoid the temptations to
abuse this grace, and to set about repairing what we have broken.
Bearing false witness breaks down relationships and can destroy
friendships. Bearing false witness is a public sin, one requiring
public confession.
Fourth: We need
to commit ourselves to speaking those words that reveal not
our judgments about other people but God’s purpose in
creating them. Bearing true witness means speaking to and about people
as God Himself does. John the Baptist shows us we are to bear true
witness when he sees standing before him not a man, Jesus of Nazareth,
but the Son of God made human, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world.”
“You are my
servant…through whom I show my glory,” the prophet Isaiah reminds us in
today’s first reading. Only as we turn our backs on the sin of bearing
false witness can we―who are baptized to be in our world the living
presence of the Lamb of God―effect the taking away of the sin of the
world. This is how God makes us “a light to the nations, that my
salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Happy and privileged are
we who are called to share in this his life! |