Keeping Our Word

Matthew 5:33-37

Jesus said to the crowds, "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."

In recent days, as we travel through the daily lectionary, we have been looking at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been giving us examples of his new kingdom way of living. A couple of days ago, we read Jesus' understanding of the commandment, "Thou shalt not murder." Today we see another example of Jesus' new way of living: keeping our oaths.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures God had insisted that oaths were to be kept. Even God swears on oath to his people. However, the scribes had come up with ingenious ways for people to get out of keeping their oaths. Any oath which avoided using the name of God was not absolutely binding. Thus people ended up swearing by all sorts of different things: their heads, Jerusalem, heaven, earth, and so on.

Jesus exposes the sinful evasion of truth under this scribal tactic. His thinking was that oaths shouldn't be required among his disciples. In the church we ought to be able to trust one another's word. It is only because we can't trust people in the world that oaths are required. Thus, Jesus did respond to the request for an oath at his own trial.

When we read the context of the verses above, we see one thing more. Isn't it interesting that what Jesus says about divorce falls between what he says about oaths and what he says about lust? Lies and lust both lead to adultery and divorce. But to avoid giving into both lust and lies we need a change of heart, something only Jesus can give us.

Can God and others trust our word? Do we keep our word?

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