Matthew 5.33-37

Now that we have taken a break from the Sermon on the Mount to talk about marriage, it is time to return. So far, Jesus has shown what people who follow him look like and how this life separates us from the world (5.3-12). Yet we are not to keep ourselves from the world, but to remain in the world and allow our holiness, or our difference in how we life, to be a light to those who are in the dark (5.13-16). Jesus then gives his Dominant thought for the sermon, which is that people who follow Christ, their righteousness is the true righteousness, unlike the Pharisees (5.17-20). Now we are in the middle of Jesus giving six examples of what this righteous life, or right way of living, looks like. The first was on murder, then Adultery, then divorce, now we are going to look at Oaths. Let's read this passage:

³³ “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.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.


So what is this text about? 


Jesus is talking a lot about oaths that people make, and then he says don't swear upon any of these things because they are all God's. Then he says just say yes or no. 


Really, what is going on?


In Jesus' day, as it is today, people had to say, "I swear by the gold on the temple that I didn't steal a cookie." Not that they had cookies, I'm just using an example. But they had to swear, or cross my heart and hope to die, to show that they weren't lying. But why would they have to do this?


It's because that culture had become so untrustworthy that you couldn't just say yes or no, people wouldn't trust that. And they wouldn't because in their past they had been lied to, cheated, deceived, and so you just can't take someone for their word at face value. 


What a sad culture to live in. 


You have to make people promise on their mother's grave in order for you to believe their word. What a deceitful culture we live in. 


And so, for people to prove to someone else that they could be trusted, they would swear by the temple, or the earth, or even the heavens, and this made them trustworthy. But Jesus is combating this culture. He wants people who follow him to be so trustworthy that when they say yes, everyone knows they can trust them. This is the kind of reputation that Jesus wants his followers to have. It is a heart issue. It has to do with simply this, Do you keep your word? Do people trust you?


So is this true for you? Do you break promises and are you untrustworthy? It's not just a legalistic command, it's showing what kind of person you are. 


People need someone who they can trust. And at the heart of this passage, Jesus is commanding his followers to be those kinds of people. This is just another example of how Jesus calls his people to a higher standard, and now he is calling you.