musings.from.the.porch

Jesus says,

Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not take oaths at all – not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, not by earth, because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one.

INTRODUCTION

My first impression looking at these verses was this is something that we don’t do anymore. We don’t make vows or take oaths except in rare occasions, like in court or the marriage vows. So how does this apply? I found some background information and reflected on what Jesus is getting at. It seems to me he is pointing to these things: Truthfulness and Profanity, which I think may have a little application to you and me.

BACKGROUND

I found some helpful background at Net-Bible to help understand the meaning. In Jesus culture an oath was used for resolving a dispute or to seal a business deal between parties. It was a solemn act between the parties. The vow was made to God. He was witness and judge if one party would break or dishonor the vow. Therefore the parties were holding themselves accountable before God.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 when you make a vow to God, do not delay in paying it. For God takes no pleasure in fools: pay what you vow! It is better for you not to vow than to vow and not pay.

In Jesus day the vow had been perverted by the tradition of the Pharisees. (The good old Pharisees) They had established vows that invoked other things such as sacred objects but not God. In Matthew 23 Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites. He blasts them for making vows on the gold of the temple as being a binding oath but they said a vow by the temple was not. He pointed out to them both are God’s property. The gold of the temple is only sacred because it is in the temple and the temple is sacred because God’s glory resided there.

TRUTHFULNESS

So what is the point of this?

Lets look at Leviticus 19:12 you must not swear falsely in my name, so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
 
The Pharisees did not want to break the law by swearing falsely so the Pharisees had created a system of vows to insulate themselves from accountability to God. They had reduced the solemn nature of the vow to a matter of manipulating their listener. The Pharisees had twisted the vow or oath. Instead of being truthful and accountable to God, they wanted to be believed by adding artificial weight to their words, to put emphasis where it wasn’t needed. They wanted to promote their position and status with their hollow vows. Occasionally you will hear someone say “I swear by my Mom that it is true” which I think means “you don’t believe me so I need to add something to what I said so you will believe me.”

It seems that what Jesus is saying to me is Be TRUTHFUL. This is important today because truth has become subjective and circumstantial and we manipulate it to suit our purposes.

I think Jesus is making an admonition of flippant oaths and vows and to stop adding artificial weight or emphasis to our words.  Which brings us to PROFANITY 

PROFANITY

What is profanity? What does it mean to be profane? Sometimes I use words but have forgotten their meaning and need to remind myself what they mean. Profane was defined as something outside of the temple, as common not hallowed or consecrated.  Profane is also showing disregard or contempt for sacred things, being irreverent or to treat things with irreverence, to defile or debase. Taking the Lord’s name in vain, the third of the 10 commandments is to treat God profane.  However profanity is not limited to breaking the third of the 10 commandments.

Here is an example:

When I first decided to believe Jesus and follow him certain things in my character changed immediately. Other things did not. One of them was swearing. From college to working for a general contractor I had quite a limited vocabulary. As I became aware of how my words discredited me, I prayed, “Why I can’t get rid of swearing?” And the thought that came to me was “When you are done trying to impress people it will go away.”

I noticed that when I am swearing although I may or may not take the Lord’s name in vain, I am adding unnecessary or artificial emphasis to my words in order to bolster my perception of myself in others’ eyes, like fitting in with a crowd, or trying to make my words carry additional weight that doesn’t need it or to sound more truthful.  And isn’t that the same as the flippant vows Jesus was admonishing??? Trying to add artificial weight to my words to gain stature, or credibility is why Jesus blasted the Pharisees.  

But being profane is also to make irreverent God’s creation. Take God’s amazing work and creativity and to defile and belittle it. Like to mistreat the sexual union between man and woman that God created as holy and sacred within a life long commitment and regard it as merely an act of personal pleasure. How much entertainment do we derive in getting humor or pleasure from seeing things portrayed in a profane way? In considering this passage is time to take stock of how much really slips through into my entertainment and speech that is profane both in the way:

I try to add artificial emphasis so that I think I am to be believed and treating God and His creation profanely.

Jesus says let my yes be yes and my no be no, anything else is from the evil one.

So in other words Jesus says let my speech be truthful and pure, anything else is from evil.

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