“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 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 even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. — Matthew 5:31-37
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Yesterday, we heard Jesus tell his listeners that the covenant of marriage is so sacred any thought of violating it, even a lustful glance, is something to be avoided at all costs. Following on that theme, he now addresses the issue of divorce and remarriage. If a marriage is severed in divorce, that’s proof that the original marital commitment wasn’t sincere, wasn’t maintained, and can be considered invalid! If the marriage vow isn’t kept, the entire marriage was false and therefore, the man and woman involved in the fake marriage were simply living in adultery.
It’s important to note also that Jesus seems to place the blame here on the one who files for divorce. That person, notice, is victimizing the other by causing the other person to be guilty of adultery in this marriage and in any marriage to follow!
Jesus takes sexual purity very seriously.
But, it’s too easy for us to think that Jesus is talking about marital issues alone. He never let’s us get it that easily, so he immediately follows his statement with a statement on making oaths where he says that all oath taking is undesirable. Why is that? What’s wrong with making promises or swearing on something?
I’m not certain I fully understand Jesus here, but I think I have an idea what he’s getting at. Oaths are taken to convince someone else that my word is good. It has nothing to do with whether my word actually is good or not. The oath isn’t about my trustworthiness. It’s about my persuasiveness. Can I convince the other person that my word is good?
Jesus says, don’t even go there. Just be true to your word, all the time, consistently, and it doesn’t matter if people believe you. You be a person of integrity. Make sure your “Yes” is always “Yes.”
How easy is it for me to say something and walk away from the encounter knowing that I have no intention to do what I said? It’s very easy! Everyone knows it, so we often have to embellish our words to get people to believe us. But no matter how easy it might be, Jesus declares it to be wrong, and that’s where the connection is to be made with marriage.
Marriage is one example of “oath” taking because we have to convince the law and others that we are serious. What if the simple words, “I do” were enough? What would our lives be like if we simply lived what we said? We say, “Till death do we part” and live it out. We say, “You are the only one for me” and we live it out. We say, “I’ll do it” and live it out. What if our “Yes” always meant “Yes”?
What would it be like if we were to say, “Jesus, I’ll follow you” and then live it out?
BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: Just do what you say, and convince people to trust you by your integrity.
