Saturday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, June 15, 2024

Matthew 5, 33-37

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One.”

The Lord’s words here seem to undermine one of the foundations of society, that of vows, which could include legal or business contracts.  Throughout history, vows or oaths have bound relationships, both personal and political.  If interpreted a certain way, his words would prohibit the use of oaths in court proceedings and even in wedding vows.  In order to understand what the Lord actually means, we should go back to the root of the law on making vows.

According to the Mosaic Law, “If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath: he shall not make his word void but shall fulfill all that he promised” (Numbers 30, 3).  The Law clearly allows for vows.  But the Law also speaks of two circumstances for doing so: vows to the Lord, and bonding oneself with an oath.  An example of a vow made to the Lord is the vow that Hannah, the mother of Samuel, made: “And she made a vow, saying: O Lord of hosts, if you will look down, and will be mindful of me, and not forget your handmaid, and will give to your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head” (1 Samuel 1, 11).  An example of a personal vow would be that which Ruth made to Naomi after Naomi’s sons died and she wanted to return to Israel: “The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if anything but death part me and you” (Ruth 1, 17).  We see how simple these vows are.  There is nothing here of swearing by heaven, the earth, or one’s own head.  We also should note the solemnity of the vows.  There is nothing trivial or frivolous about them.  

We see the Lord speaking of vows later on in the Gospel of Matthew, during his last week on earth.  He is speaking to the Pharisees: “Woe to you, blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the Temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the Temple is a debtor. Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gold or the Temple that sanctifies the gold?(Matthew 23, 16-17).  This gives us an idea of the style of vow that the Lord is prohibiting and also the reason he is prohibiting it.  This free and easy use of sacred things in swearing oaths degrades them, making them less sacred in the minds of those making the vows as well as in the minds of those belonging to the society in which this is seen as normal.

The Lord wants us to live lives of such integrity, in imitation of him, that no one would think to doubt our words.