“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16)
Dear Children of God! How are you? How is your life with your beloved ones? Are you being strong on this fasting occasion? We hope you are fasting as much as you can! May we remind you as well to learn and study well in school and Church education.
When we grow up in the house of God, we will be blessed. Our Lord will endow (give) us wisdom and discerning. We shall become then a good person who helps families, communities and countries. The second semester is coming to an end; Thus you must study hard and score good grades. Good! Now we will proceed to this lesson which is about lying.
The King James Biblical Dictionary defines lying “as an intentional violation of the truth, a falsehood uttered for the purpose of deception, and a sin strongly condemned in Scripture.” Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ also teach us to not lie. Amongst the Ten Commandments, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” is one of them. (Exodus 20:16) these words state that it is not proper to lie in any way.
The Bible states also, “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”(Exodus 23:1) Therefore, we must not tell lies and be liars.
Dear Children of God! Telling lies is not good; It will also apart us from people. If we lie, we will lose our honor, love and trust. We shall always be honest.
Little ones! Do you know why people lie? One of the reason is to cover their fault or sin! But this becomes another harmful action which brings punishment. If we make fault, we must tell the truth but not a lie and make another problem.
The life of Saint Susanna is exemplary to be mentioned here: She was the wife of Joachim, a Jewish nobleman, and one of those who had been carried away captive into Babylon. All his kinsmen used to come to him to judge their causes. Now Susanna was very beautiful and feared God. Her righteous parents taught their daughter the Law of Moses.
Saint Susanna had a fruit-garden (orchard), which belonged to her husband. She used to go at noon and walk about therein. In those days there appeared two teachers who were hypocrites (false), such as God spoke of when He said “Sin went forth from Babylon through hypocritical teachers who said, Let us protect the people”; These men frequented the house of Joachim.
When they saw Susanna walking in the garden they lusted for her, and their hearts went astray and turned their eyes perversely to her. They remembered not the judgment of God. Both loved her and wished to bed with her; but neither told to the other what was in his heart, for they were afraid to declare their lust. They waited the whole day long to find her, and one of them acting craftily towards his fellow said, “Let us go to our houses for it is the time of evening.”
They passed out of the garden, separated from each other and told each other of their desire. They agreed together upon a time when each would find her alone, and then they waited for her. On a day according to her wont, she came with two of her handmaidens and wished to bathe in the garden because she was heated. There was no one in the garden.
Now the two men had hidden themselves and were awaiting her. She said to her handmaidens, “Let them bring to me the oil and the soap wherewith to wash myself, and let them shut the doors.” When her handmaidens were departed, the two teachers rose up, seized and said to her, “We wish to bed you, and if you refuse we will be witnesses against you that we found a man with you.” Sussana wept, and said, “I am in affliction in every way: If I do what you want I shall die, and if I do not I cannot be saved. It is better for me to fall into the hand of God than to sin before Him.” Sussana uttered a cry at the top of her voice, and the teachers cried out at her. Then one of them ran and opened the doors of the garden. When the cries were heard by the members of her house, they all ran out and came by way of a side door. They saw what had happened. When the teachers had told them this matter, all the servants of her house were ashamed, for such a thing had never been heard in connection with Sussana.
On the following day all the people gathered together to Joachim, and these two teaches came with their hearts of violence, and declared before all the people, laying their hands upon her head as they did so, “We were walking alone in the garden, and this woman came with two of her handmaidens, and they shut the doors of the garden. She sent her handmaidens away, and there came out a young man from the place in which he had hidden, and lay with her. When we ran after him we could not catch him, for the door was open and he had gone out; we seized Sussana, but when we asked her she would not tell us his name.”
The witnesses believed them because they were teachers of the people. Sussana who was weeping and whose heart trusted in God, looked up to heaven, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, “O God of the world, you know that they have laid false information against me, and I, behold, I must die, although I have not committed the sin.”
God heard her request, and whilst they were carrying her away to kill her, the Spirit of God moved a certain young man called Daniel, and he cried out, saying, “I am innocent of this woman’s blood.” They said to him, “What is the meaning of these words?” He said to them, “Are you fools that you condemn a daughter of Israel to death without making any investigation of the charge against her?” When the council had come back to the synagogue, they had the two teachers brought, and set each at a distance from the other. Daniel said to one of them, “By what kind of a tree did you see her?” And he said “under a peach tree,” and the other teacher said “under a Pomegranate tree.” And Daniel condemned them by their own words, and the people blessed God Who had saved Sussana.
Dear Children of God! We have to be aware of not lying especially to our elders. Because they will eventually find out as God reveals the truth one way or another at the right time just as you have read in the story of Susanna. A lie is very bad thing and causes big problems in our lives.
Little ones, it is very important to remember the Ten Commandments and live by them. The topic we have seen for today is amongst and teaches us big lesson in our spiritual life. Always keep in mind to be aware of God’s law and live by His order as well as Liturgy of the Church.
Farewell! We have finished our lesson for now and leave you with good wishes and greetings!
May God be with you; Amen!