Saturday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, June 12, 2021

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.”

“Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you owe.”  In teaching on oaths, the Lord Jesus teaches on personal integrity.  A person unknown to society or whose character is unknown or suspect may not be considered trustworthy for loans or to testify to the truth of something he has seen without an oath of some kind.  Even a person whose character is well-respected may be required to take an oath or make a solemn promise on occasion.  We cause people to take oaths because we are aware of human nature and of our tendency to look out for ourselves in preference to others, and to treat the property of others with less respect than we would our own.  The Lord speaks of the commandment forbidding false oaths, and then goes further and tells his followers, “Do not swear at all.”  There are two ways to look at this.  One, is to understand what he says in a literal sense.  But doing so would exclude his followers from obtaining loans or acting as a witnesses in a trial, among other things.  One could conclude, of course, that this is precisely what the Lord wants: his followers must live outside of society.  On the other hand, this could be understood as hyperbole: the Lord is demanding that his followers live lives of such integrity that no one would think of asking them to take an oath.  This would seem confirmed when the Lord says, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean “No’.”  The honor of the Christian ought to suffice, but if necessary, one can take an oath as long as it is not overly elaborate and is kept quite simple like a solemn promise.  In ancient times oaths tended to be quite complex affairs that often involved religious ceremonies such as offering sacrifice and on some occasions even shedding one’s blood or mixing it with that of another person.  The community might be called to witness it, or religious authorities.  We glimpse some of the things Jews swore by in the Lord’s day: heaven, earth, Jerusalem, and one’s head.  Some people even today swear by their mother’s graves (whatever that means).  

As virtuous Christians we take our promises very seriously.  Our religious practices are full of such oaths and promises.  A man and a woman promise to be faithful to each other till death do them part, when they are married.  Parents promise to raise their children as Catholics, at the time of their baptism.  Adults to be brought into the Church renounce Satan and promise to follow the commandments of Christ and his Church.  Men and women who go to confession promise God and his Church that with the help of divine grace they will sin no more.  Those to be ordained priests or to be received into religious orders make promises or vows that include celibacy and obedience to the superior.  And implicit in the reception of Holy Communion is the promise to live as Christ lived.  These promises, oaths, and vows are God’s gifts to us.  They help us to know the seriousness of what we are doing or are about to do, and they are complimented by blessings and the imparting of grace so that we can keep them.