The Great Gospel of John
Volume 7
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the Mount of Olives. (cont.) Gospel of John, Chapter 8
- Chapter 34 -
The eighth commandment.
Thereupon the girl became more courageous and said with a very trusting look to Me: "Yes, You my most kind Lord, as long as it just doesn't offend You, who have grown so infinitively deep into my heart, I would like to tell You something about the eighth commandment; but before You, o Lord, - Jehovah now in person before us - one has to be very careful that one does not come too close to your divine holiness! And therefore it is somewhat hard and difficult to speak so boldly what is on my mind!"
2
Said I: "O you dear soul, you surely never ever have be afraid of that from Me; therefore boldly speak your mind!"
3
Said Helias with a loving expression: "O Lord, who does your will, does not sin, and thus I will speak! The eight commandment simply says: 'You shall not give false testimony!' Because no closer indication is given in the scriptures, about whom or what one should not give a false testimony, it goes without saying, that one should also not give a false testimony about oneself. Since I have been told by my old rabbi many times, that lying is a most despicable sin; from which all evil ruse, all deception, all quarrel, dispute, war and murder is born. One should always speak the truth, according to what one definitively knows and feels, even if it causes an earthly disadvantage at some stage! A true word is before God of greater worth than a whole world full of gold and precious stones. Hence, every untrue word about oneself is a false testimony forbidden by God.
4
And therefore I unhesitatingly want to tell You, o Lord, straight into Your face, that I truly love you above all! O, if I could press you against my heart as I wanted, o, I could die of the sweetest joy! See, o Lord, here I have not given a false testimony about myself! And in the same manner as I do not give a false testimony about myself, I will never give a false testimony about my neighbour! And the seventh spirit of God must also be active in this commandment as in all the other laws. - o Lord, have I offended You?"
5
Said I:"O, by no means, My dear daughter; irrespective how much you love Me, I always will love you incomprehensibly more! Regarding our mutual love we both are quite clear, but not so with the eight commandment! And so listen. I want to draw your attention to something.
6
If, for example, you were be questioned by a judge, if you knew about a secret and great crime which a very dear relative of yours had committed, and if you could not indicate where the criminal is, as up to now no one was able to lay hands on him! I set the condition that you have full knowledge of the crime your relative has committed as well as his hiding place. What would you tell the judge, if he were to ask you that?"
7
Said Helias full of courage: "Lord, if this eight commandment is based on pure neighbourly love, only to give no false testimony about anybody to cause him no harm, then vice versa this eight commandment cannot provide a condition, whereby through the irresponsible use of the truth one can harm the neighbour! In such a case I never would come forward with the truth! Since to whom can I be thereby of any use? Surely not to the judge, since he can not gain anything, if he can get his hands on the poor criminal or not; and the poor criminal who regrets his crime and seriously amends his ways, even less! Because if I deliver him into the hands of the judge, then he might be lost for ever, what I would not even wish on anyone who committed a crime against myself. Thus, in this case I apparently would turn my back on the truth, not to become a traitor to the poor criminal, even if my life were at stake!
8
If according to Your explanation, o Lord, neighbourly love consists of doing for your neighbour all that, which you wish somebody else would do for you, then even the most just God cannot blame me, if I do not want to do to even my greatestt enemy, what I in his position surely do not wish, namely that another fellow man betrays me. Besides, for God to punish a crude sinner, does not require a worldly judge and even less so a perfidious slanderer. He, the omniscient, the most just and almighty, will without a world judge and without my mouth, be able to punish a criminal! Until now, nobody has gotten away from Him, and thus also in future nobody will get away from Him!
9
But now I ask You, o Lord, if Isaacs' wife was sinning before God, when she apparently lied and deceived the old blind Isaac, by presenting the second-born son Jacob in place of the first-born rough Esau, in order to receive the blessing of the father! I regard this as an obvious deception, nevertheless the scripture says, it happened according to the will of Jehovah. But if this had been right and justified before God, then it will also be right and justified before You, o Lord, by holding back the truth, since if by telling the truth, it will not only be of no use to my neighbour, who never has done any harm to me, but it will cause a lot of damage to him.
10
I'm now of the opinion, that, if God and Moses did not made any exception with the eight commandment, in this commandment a large gap is left, which can only be and must be filled by Your commandment of neighbourly love - am I right or not?"
11
Said I: "Partially yes, but on the other hand not! See, the criminal, after his escape, might not become a better person, but, not unknown to you, would commit more and even worse crimes, causing harm to many people! But if you had told the court where the criminal is hiding, so that the court could search for him, you would thereby save many people from great misfortune and thereby do them a great favour. What do you think of this very possible scenario?"
12
By this Helias was somewhat baffled and did not know how to answer. Only after a while of deeper reflection, she said: "Now, when for the sake of one bad and incorrigible person many innocent people must suffer, then reason tells you, it is better for only one person who deserves to suffer. In this case, according to true neighbourly love, the truth, if asked for, must be told. But if one, in such matters, should become a voluntary traitor, must only be determined by You, o Lord!"
13
Said I: "Nobody is required by Me to do so, it is up to you! Let us move on to the ninth commandment! What does it say?"