Bible Reading from Matthew and Instruction

Bible Reading: Mathew 5:33-37

[Jesus is speaking concerning oaths. Oaths are solemn promises. To swear is the act of making a solemn promise or oath. Swearing does not mean cuss words as it is mostly in the vernacular today.]

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Thou shalt not swear falsely, but fulfill thy oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you not to swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither do thou swear by thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your speech be, “Yes, yes’; ‘No, no’; and from whatever is beyond these comes from the evil one.”

These are the passages that Jesus is referring to. These passages record the Lord God’s own words.

Lev 19, 12: “You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the same of your God. I am the Lord.”

Num 30, 3: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or binds himself under oath to a pledge of abstinence, he shall not violate his word, but must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered. [This is spoken by Moses.]

Deut 23, 22: “When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it; otherwise you will be held guilty, for the Lord, your God, is strict in requiring it of you. Should you refrain from making a vow, you will not be held guilty. But you must keep your solemn word and fulfill the votive offering you have freely promised to the Lord.”

Now, those of you who believe that Jesus tossed out the Old Testament would do well to study this passage, which is why I include it for your tardy instruction. Notice that Jesus does not say to ignore what God has required in the Torah, in the Old Testament which is in this example the making of oaths. In fact what Jesus is saying is that this is so powerfully true that he advises this generation (and the ones to come after) not to make vows that are bound by God, or in the use of God’s name, at all. Jesus saw that humans had already become so weak and craven that they were incapable of discerning even when to make a vow to God, and when not to invoke his name in binding. Jesus is actually underscoring the cautions made in the three passages that he is referring to above. So this is an example of how Jesus has NOT in ANY way released people from what God has stated and required, which is documented quite clearly in God’s own words and repeated by the prophets such as Moses, as in the second of the three above quotes. This is why the Apostles worried and had to resolve instructions such as circumcision, because they KNEW that Jesus had NOT released them from obeying God in all matters. What Jesus did was institute a New Covenant that fulfills the Old Covenant, and so the form of the sacrifice to God has changed, but not the requirement for total obedience to God. Those of you (Prots etc) who cherry pick from the Bible are in serious fault because Jesus here demonstrates how he is giving advice about how to most sacredly and safely fulfill what God requires AS GOD ALREADY STATED THESE REQUIREMENTS.
This is another reason why God, through Jesus Christ, instituted the sacrifice of the Mass with Jesus as First Priest and as sacrificial lamb. God saw that he had to bring a New Covenant that humans could have a hope and a prayer of actually obeying and not damning themselves. This is why the liturgy of the Mass is so precise and important because the early Church fathers developed a fullness of understanding of what is retained from the Old Testament and what is brought anew through the New Testament. Notice I say “brought anew,” not “ignored cause Jesus said so, or he would have said so if we were supposed to do it.” Look again at this example of how Jesus taught. Even a dummy should understand this. He first cites the scriptures regarding oaths, by referring to them, knowing that every pious Jew he was speaking to would know instantly the three passages that he intends to bring to their attention. So Jesus did not have to spell out which scroll and sentence he is citing because everyone knew full well which ones he means when he says “You have heard it said by the ancients.” Second he does not say, “Whoopee, ignore everything God said, I’m going to give you new instructions.” Nope, far, far, far from doing that, Jesus is worried at how many people are not taking what God instructed seriously enough, and foresees that the situation will worsen. So he advises people to not make vows at all, but to say “Yes” or “No” and to mean it when you say so. This is not a release from what God has instructed; far from it, it is the most serious of cautions. It is in fact an example of Jesus underscoring cautions that God already made when he first spoke on these matters, and how Moses amplified and repeated to people the understanding of God’s instructions. And finally this is also an example of where Jesus instructs people to discern what to do next WITHOUT SPELLING IT OUT FOR THEM IN SCRIPTURE. Jesus doesn’t whip out a pad of paper and dictate God’s “new rules” for making promises and using God’s name. He leaves it to his followers to become the new ones who are fulfilling “You have heard it said by the ancients” for future generations. The early Church fathers, who lived within several centuries of the living Jesus and the Apostles, discerned the traditions and the teachings in a way pleasing to the Holy Spirit. So this is another obvious example of where the whole idea that “If it ain’t in the part of the scriptures that I believe it ain’ true” AND “Jesus dropped all that messy Old Covenant stuff” is NOT VALID and NOT TRUE. If anything it is like Jesus is the father of kids who inherited a high performance car and realizes that they are going to wreck themselves in it. He doesn’t ban high performance cars. He doesn’t write a new user manual. He TELLS people that they have to be MIGHTY CAREFUL in their use of vows and the name of God and advises them not to do so at all because they are too immature to do so properly.

This is one reason that the devout Muslim often hedges even a secular or governmental statement of promise regarding policy with the words, “God willing.” A Muslim rightly understands the seriousness of a vow because even if they do not invoke Allah by name it is implicit in their faith. So even the most fired up and determined Muslim will hesitate to swear by Allah’s name. Jesus is cautioning people to both avoid doing so and instead be actually sincere and trustworthy when they say “Yes” or “No,” and he is reiterating the power and risk of what God has already stated regarding oaths and the use of his name. It is also, like I said, another example of how Jesus taught and reinforced what God has already instructed, but Jesus acts as a Mediator, to try to get people into the proper sacred mindset to have any chance of communion with God at all…