Something Good to Say

The Eighth Commandment

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest possible way.

The Eighth Commandment. Luther's Small Catechism © 1986 Concordia Publishing House. www.cph.org.Used with permission.

By Rev. David Petersen

I have a daughter in high school. Unless she is doing both at the same time, which she frequently is, the majority of her waking hours are divided between talking on the phone and preening in the front of the mirror. She has, and I am not making this up, fallen asleep on the phone.

What do you think she talks about for those long hours? Don’t answer. I have a confession to make. I recently spent three weeks traveling with her, and we visited and stayed with a number of old friends. She was a bit scandalized along the way. She rebuked me quite harshly a number of times. Why? She said I gossip too much. She was right.

I wanted to defend myself. I wanted to say that it wasn’t gossip because it was true or because it was about public figures. But I didn’t really know if much of it was true. I was repeating what I’d heard or read. I was exaggerating. I was hiding behind the facade of political analysis and theological discernment in order to say evil things about people, to belittle their abilities and ideas. I was not explaining much of anything in the kindest way.

Why would I do that? I myself have been the victim of slander. I have been the target of whispering campaigns, of crude jokes, and deliberate misunderstandings. I have had words I never said put into my mouth and even stories told about me that had no basis in reality at all.

Did you not know that I have suffered all these things? Did you think I never went to high school?

High school can be a place of great joy because your friends are there. What fun it is to go and see them. But it can also be one of the cruelest places on earth...because your friends are there. Our greatest sorrows tend to come from those we love. We should refrain from gossip simply because we do not want it done to us, because it is, in itself, evil. When we gossip, we appoint ourselves as the judge of our fellows, as the arbitrators and rulers of what is cool, smart, or good. We put ourselves in the place of God, and it crushes those we talk about. It is also dangerous. Sins are never without victims, and we don’t really get away with anything. Gossips always get caught.

But there is more to it than that. By gossiping, we put ourselves into the place of God according to His wrath as Judge. But that is not who our God is or how He has revealed Himself to us. He has revealed Himself to us in the man Jesus Christ who came to be a sacrifice for our sins. Along the way, as a man, He not only keeps the Law in restraining from doing what it forbids but also in fulfilling all it asks. He looks upon you whom He loves and sees only good. Imagine this. He can see into your heart. He is not fooled in the least. So when you do not call your friend back as you said you would because you’d rather talk to someone else, and then pretend as though you forgot and get mad if she questions your honor even though you are lying, He knows the truth. He knows what is in your heart. He knows you are a liar. You cannot fool Him. And yet He does not judge you for this. He removes your sins. You cannot lie to Him and do not need to because He loves you. He finds the good in you, the good He placed in you and declared to be yours. He does not gossip or judge or seek to belittle. Instead, He honors you. He encourages you. He tells His Father all about you, but it is all good. He tells His Father how lovely, pure, and selfless you are. He tells Him how eager He is to bring you home and be with you forever. He tells His Father how you delight Him and what fun you are.

This is how the Lord Himself keeps the Eighth Commandment for you so that you are spared, rescued out of the hell you would create with gossip for yourself. You have an example, a Friend, and an Advocate in Jesus Christ who ever speaks good things of you on earth and in heaven.

Rev. David Petersen is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is also on the Higher Things editorial board. His e-mail address is David.H.Petersen@att.net.