TO TELL THE TRUTH
Matthew 26: 57‑75
Ephesians 4:25-32
There is no good way to die. There is no good time to die. A lot of lives are destroyed and too many people are killed by lying and dishonesty. Lying caused Jesus’ death. Unfortunately, too many of us who claim to be followers of Jesus continue the crafty art of deception, dishonesty, and lying.
Deception and deceit are as deadly today as they were in Jesus’ day. Lying will kill a relationship, a reputation, and it can lead to the killing of a life. There is a sense in which all sins are forms of lying and deception. We like to color our lies as a means of suggesting that some forms of deception are not as wrong as other forms. To say that one form of deception is a little white lie is to imply that there was something pure about it. The only thing pure about a lie is that it is purely deceptive. To suggest that a statement was a bald faced lie means there was no mixture of truth in the statement, but that seldom, if ever, is the case. Part of what makes lying so deceptive and destructive is the mixing and blending of truth and falsehood. Thus a half-true statement is extremely damaging because it contains enough truth to entice a person to believe it.
It was the mixing and blending of truth with falsehood that worked so effectively for the religious leaders to crucify Jesus. The more popular Jesus became the more adamant they became that Jesus was wrong and had to go. Being motivated by their fears these religious leaders began to plot ways to destroy Jesus. Because Jesus posed a threat to their existence, some of the religious leaders concluded that any means was acceptable to achieve their end. What we do when we feel cornered or threatened and motivated by fear often is we choose to lie. In essence we say that the end, our survival, justifies the means, our lying.
Jesus was given a hearing before the Sanhedrin, not that he wanted such a hearing or requested it, but the Sanhedrin wanted the hearing. The charge against Jesus was blasphemy. Blasphemy means to attribute evil to God. At the hearing they tried to make the charge stick but apparently could not get two witnesses to agree on their stories until finally two men did say they had heard Jesus say he could destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.
Caiaphas concluded that he had wrung a confession out of Jesus and therefore charged him with blasphemy. Blasphemy was a religious issue and was punishable by death. The religious community had the right to handle that matter on its own. The Sanhedrin pronounced the death sentence. Incidentally, there is no evidence that the Sanhedrin were unanimous in their accusation, in their indictment, or in their sentencing of Jesus. And there is evidence that the trial was not conducted according to the required guidelines and regulations for such a trial. Nevertheless, the false and deceptive charges prevailed because those who lied were so threatened by Jesus that they had concluded the only way to deal with him was to get rid of him. However, rather than handle the matter themselves, the religious leaders decided to get the government in on the act. They chose to give a political interpretation to what Jesus had said. They turned Jesus over to Pilate and said that Jesus was claiming to be a king. That put Jesus in conflict with and in opposition to the Emperor of Rome. Jesus had not made such a claim. He had not said he was the messiah, the Son of God. He had responded to Caiaphas’ question by saying, “So you say.” Jesus’ description of who he was was quite different from the popular interpretation that many gave to messiahship and foreign to any understanding that a Roman governor would have of it. This is an excellent illustration of a half-truth being mixed and blended with falsehood that resulted in lying, a sin that crucified Jesus.
Taking place off stage from this drama was Peter's denial. Earlier, on more than one occasion, Peter had protested too much about his loyalty to Jesus. In retrospect I wonder if Peter were seeking to convince himself as much or more than Jesus of the depth of his commitment. Out of anger and fear he had taken a sword in an effort to protect Jesus who really needed no protection and Jesus had rebuked him. Then Peter had followed along behind those who had taken Jesus to the house of Caiaphas. There in the courtyard Peter was asked not once, not twice, but thrice if he were not with Jesus. The first time Peter evaded the question by saying, "I don't know what you're talking about." How many times have we lied by pretending to be ignorant? We already have enough ignorance without pretending to have some that we don't.
Evasion is one of the ways Peter used and we use to lie. The second time Peter swore that he had not been with Jesus and the third time he invoked a curse from God upon himself if he were not telling the truth. When a person feels as trapped as Peter did there really is not much that can be done until the consequences of his words and actions begin to contradict his claims. Peter was frightened. He saw that Jesus' life was in danger and he sensed that his was in danger by association. In order to save his own life, he lied.
What causes a person or a group of people to lie, to make untrue statements about a situation or another person? We don't really need to ask anyone other than ourselves that question. You and I could spend a lot of energy expressing accusatory disbelief at what and why the religious leaders said about Jesus that was not true. I think our energy would be more wisely used if we would seek to get in touch in our own lives with the feelings and responses which we have had that are similar to those of the Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus.
When we lie, why do we? What is the motivation behind our lying? Are we threatened by some circumstance? Is our fear that somehow we are about to be destroyed? In an effort at self‑preservation and maintenance of our identity we decide for our own protection we need to cover ourselves with untruth. At this distance from such a situation, it all seems and sounds absurd, but under the threat of being destroyed, logic and clear thinking do not always occur. Sometimes you and I entice and encourage people to lie. We become suspicious of them and with our questioning we begin to back them into a corner. When a person is cornered, she often will react with the first thing she thinks might release her. I suspect this approach often happens in our family lives. As parents we may corner our children. Spouses who have become suspicious of each other begin to give each other the "third degree" as the expression goes.
Every one of us has been both the victim and culprit of lying. Probably nothing demeans another person more than to lie to him because the one lying is saying that the other cannot handle the truth or is not worthy of being trusted or ought to be thrown into chaos rather than to experience order. These are the things that lying does. Lying causes inconsistency, disorder, and chaos. Lying destroys a relationship at its foundation.
Trust is the cornerstone of any relationship whether between an individual and God, two individuals, or among a group of people. Trust calls for consistency meaning that a person says what he will do and does what he says. When a person lies she in essence says that another person cannot accept what she says as the truth and no consistency develops, neither does a relationship.
Part of my pastoral work involves me with people who are seeking either to improve their relationships or to reconcile a relationship that has been broken. One of the most difficult tasks I face as a pastor in these situations is assisting people in reestablishing trust in each other where they have been dishonest with one another. Reestablishment of trust can be done, but it calls for hard, intense work on the part of those who are seeking to be reconciled as well as on my part.
The nature of the church is that it is a voluntary organization made up of people who choose to be related to each other in their commitment to God and their covenant with each other. Essential to a congregation is trust among those who choose to be part of it. The Church has faced and experienced many attacks through the centuries. It has come through those attacks whatever form they have taken, not without difficulty, damage, and discouragement, but the Church has survived. It is my conviction that the Church can survive any external attack that may be leveled against it. But the one thing that can destroy the Church, any congregation as part of the body of Christ, is lying. The lying may take a variety of forms. It may be a breech of trust that a significant leader does. It may be gossip stories that people find pleasure in repeating. It may be a rumor that someone starts and others keep going. Usually in a rumor there is just enough truth contained in the story to make it believable and enough falsehood mixed with it to make it enjoyable to tell because of the reaction that it will evoke in listeners.
The reasons for such lying within the fellowship of the church are basically the same as were the reasons why some religious leaders and Peter lied about Jesus-fear, threat, intimidation, self‑preservation, resentment, and revenge. The lying crucifies all that are involved. The one who is lied against is crucified in the terms that his character is defamed, the confidence that others would have in him is damaged, and it is a cruel, agonizing experience to endure the damage and destruction that is caused by lying.
If you hear something about another person that you find hard to believe, one of the best things you can do is to go to that person, tell him what you have heard, and ask him if it is true. I have found that when I hear something about a person that just does not sound like something that person would say or do, when I have followed that hunch and asked the person about it at least ninety percent of the time the story is wrong and false statements are being made and embellished and passed on to others.
James (3:1‑18) has keen and strong instruction for us in the church with regard to our speech. He describes the tongue as the instrument of speech. He notes what a small part of the body the tongue is, but what an impact what one person says to another has. A word spoken cannot be retrieved. We do well to remember that.
Jesus said that our words reveal our inward selves when he said, "The mouth speaks what the heart is full of" (Mt. 12:34b). Wasn't Jesus suggesting that we don't have to listen to a person very long before we learn what the speaker's attitude and state of mind are? Jesus' summary statement about our speech is in these words, "Your words will be used to judge you‑‑to declare you either innocent or guilty" (Mt.12:37). The Achilles’ heal of the church is lying. When those within the church are dishonest, when they deceive one another overtly or covertly, the church crumbles because it is established on mutual trust.
Several years ago I watched a children's Christmas special on television. Like many children's specials there was a lot in this one that applied to adults. The program was called, "Puff, the Magic Dragon," and it was about the importance of honesty and truth telling. Portrayed in the program were four kinds of lies: the Social Lie, the Tall Tale, the Meaningless Lie, and the Lie of Self‑Deception. The Lie of Self‑Deception was identified as the worst of all of the lies. Is it not true that all lying is self‑deceptive? Whenever we feel threatened, the climate is right for deception. Although our intention is to deceive another person, we first must deceive ourselves into believing that we have the ability to deceive the other person.
There are basically two ways that we can lie, with our speech and with our silence. Regardless of which way we choose to lie, our lying crucifies relationships. Part of our nature as human beings is to relate to others. Whenever we choose to be deceptive we cruelly, slowly destroy the relationship. Our lying crucifies God, crucifies the person to whom we have lied, and it crucifies us because it cuts us off from relationships, which are basic to our nature and our need as human beings.
Years ago I enjoyed the television game show To Tell the Truth. Three guests were brought onto the program. An affidavit about the person named is read to the program panel. Then through a series of questions of the three guests, the panelists are to determine who the real person described in the affidavit is and which two are impostors. Of course the better the impostors are or the better liars they are, the more money they make. That was an enjoyable game to watch for fun.
We have a problem in our lives when we turn the game To Tell the Truth into the actual way we relate to others. We often continue our deception of others and ourselves when no one discovers that we have lied. We conclude that we can get by with it and no great damage is being done. Yet all the while relationships are eroding. Jesus found himself in a to tell the truth game and the two witnesses were believed. The result of the lying of others was that Jesus was crucified. The result of the lying of Peter was that he crucified himself figuratively. That is what lying does. It crucifies God, others, and ourselves by crucifying relationships. Lying is motivated by fear and it is destructive. Lying is a sin that crucifies. That ought to be reason enough for there to be no more lying among us and for us to strive always to tell the truth.