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or promises they were making to each other every day. What were their contracts like and how had they learned to trusteach other?God had given some clear commands in the Old Testament, which was part of their instruction manual:
Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of the Lord your God. I am the Lord. (Leviticus19:12)When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break hisword but must do everything he said. (Number 30:2) If you make a vow to the Lord our God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you. (Deuteronomy 23:21)
The point of these passages was that God wanted to remind Israel that words themselves are not cheap. They havetremendous power, the ability to invoke trust and the ability to break relationships. The problem with promises is that theyare easy to make
–
especially in the heat of a moment when there is need to express caring, gratitude, or a desire forreconciliation
–
but can be more difficult to fulfill than first imagined.If you are stuck in a life raft on the Pacific Ocean, with nothing to eat, not water to drink, and sharks circlingaround, you are likely to make an unconditional commitment that some in this situation have expressed:
Dear God, if You get me out of this alive, I’ll serve You forever!
Somehow it just doesn’t’ have the same ring to say,
All right God,
if You save my life, I’ll be loving to people when it’s convenient, go to church when I’m not too
busy, and give You all the money I have left over after comfortably taking care of myself.A promise that is worth more costs more because it binds in an absolute way and does not change with circumstances. AnIsraelite who made a commitment to the Lord had to honor it if he or she did not want to dangerously damage thedivine-human relationship. Over time much effort was made to twist the words so that they sounded good but had adifferent meaning from what was intended.
With regards to promises and words Jesus says, later in Matthew’s gospel:
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by
the g
old of the temple, he is bound by his oath.” You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the templethat makes the gold sacred? You also say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone
swears by the gift on it, he is bound by hi
s oath.” You blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that
makes the gift sacred? Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by
God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. (Matt. 23:16
-22)
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were adept at creating ways to circumvent the intent of words. So, instead of “promising”
on the name of the Lord, they would do it “on the temple” or on the table in the temple, or on something onthe table.” Nothing less than changing the promises to suit themselves. They twisted and stretched and reworked the
promises in order to justify t
hemselves and still look as though they were keeping their word. If they just swore “by theright thing,” then they were covered.
What we have here is a condemnation of the flippant, profane, uncalled for and often hypocritical promises, used inorder to make an impression or to spice daily conversation.
Jesus exposes them and radically simplifies things. The ancient purpose of vows was to insure the telling of the
truth. So Jesus states it simply and plainly, Vows shouldn’t even be necessary, but jus
t...
Let you “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no!” (Matt. 5:37)
How would our life, our family relationships, our workplace, our society change if we could heed this instruction?
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