"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.
LECTIO & MEDITATIO
The question that I ask after reading is that making oaths prohibited? If so, then we will have problems making oaths at the Commissioner of Oaths to give evidence on oath in a court of law.
I think to look into the context of the passage, Jesus was emphasizing in his teaching that an honest man do not need to resort to oaths; it was not that they should refuse to take an oath if required by some external authority to do so.
So therefore, oath-taking or swearing will only be pathetic if it is a confession of our own dishonesty. The only reason is that when we know our simple word is not likely to be trusted, so we try to induce people to believe us by adding a solemn oath.
As Christians, we need to say what we mean and mean what we say.
CONTEMPLATIO / PRAYERLord Jesus, help me to say honestly but yet tactfully. To mean what I say and say what I mean. Amen.
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