I Swear

A couple of nights ago, Bekkah and I were re-watching a TV show called Suits. For those of you not familiar with the show, it is a show about lawyers. In the episode we watched the other night, one of the main characters had to get one of his clients out of a promise he made. You see the client had been at a casino in one of those high stakes back rooms where he apparently bet his company so that he could have enough money to win the hand he felt he he couldn’t lose. Well guess what? He lost. The problem was that he signed a napkin and the guys who lent him the money knew all the elements that make for a valid contract: an offer - the one guy offered 3 million dollars in poker chips for the other guys company; acceptance - the guy with the company signed the napkin to agree to the exchange; consideration - both parties agree to exchange the things of value the poker chips and the company on the outcome of the poker hand.

The lawyer steps in and tries to argue that the contract wasn’t valid because the guy with the company was so drunk the night he was gambling that he wasn’t in a proper state of mind to realize what he was doing by signing the contract. The lawyer tries to pay the 3 million dollars plus the half a million he would have won on that bet to the other guy so that he gets his money with interest and his client gets to keep his company. Obviously it doesn’t go that easily for them or it wouldn’t make for a dramatic TV episode, but what it really gets at is this idea of the ways that we promise things to people and then we when we have to pay up, so to speak, we try to find ways to get out of it. We make excuses like in this episode, well there was no way I was going to lose, or I didn’t think you took me seriously, or how could you expect me to follow through with that?We says things and we make promises all the time and sometimes we make them when we shouldn’t have and we either have to follow through with them or be like this lawyer and try to find loopholes to get out of it.

This is the exact kind of thing that Jesus is addressing in Matthew’s gospel today. The things we promise or swear by or contracts we make and abiding by them. What we have to do though, is we have to read between the lines, or take a look at what was going on in the culture of the day that Jesus is saying that we shouldn’t swear by things. You see, when Jesus says to the crowds listening to him that we shouldn’t make false solemn pledges he is summarizing multiple passages in the Old Testament where the people of Israel are told that if you swear anything by God then you must follow through with it because if you don’t in one passage it says that if you don’t do it you are desecrating God’s name, and in another passage it says that if you even delay in doing it, meaning not doing it right away, then you are making yourself guilty in what you promised. So that is how scripture was informing people of Jesus’ time. Don’t swear by God’s name unless you absolutely plan on following through with it. However, people who were less than honest might do what Jesus was also warning against. People would swear by heaven, or earth, or by the temple, or Jerusalem in general and while those things sound like important things to swear on or by, they weren’t swearing on God’s holy name and so it wasn’t as legally binding as swearing by God.

So I might make a pinky promise like I talked about with the kids, or I might swear on my mother’s grave which sounds really serious, I might swear on my honor as a father, but if I didn’t sign a legal contract or if I didn’t say it in front of a bunch of people then I might be able to talk my way out of the promise I made. Maybe it’s now either something I don’t want to do or something I never thought I would actually be asked to do so I think of ways, loopholes to get out of the thing or things I said, I promised I would do. And if I didn’t swear by God that I would do something then I can figure out a way to get out of it.

However, Jesus has an answer for why swearing isn’t such a good idea. While the Old Testament shows the importance of the specific pledges to God and by using God’s name, Jesus points out that everything is God’s. Heaven is God’s domain, earth is God’s domain, Jerusalem is where the kings that God gave to the people rule and it’s God’s domain, and your own head is God’s domain because God formed you and created you. Look at Psalm 8 and we can see that God’s name is majestic throughout all the earth and that God’s glory is higher than the heavens. If we are the crown of God’s creation and all of us are created in God’s image and by God’s hands then we should honor God by following through with what it is that we have said that we are going to do. We should love our neighbor enough to follow through with what it is we have said we are going to do.

So when Jesus tells us not to make any kind of pledge or oath he isn’t talking about not signing contracts to buy a house or to promise to tell the truth in a court of law. No, Jesus is instructing us to be truth tellers. If my yes means yes, then I shouldn’t have to do any of this fancy twisting of words to tell you what you want to hear while knowing that through those words I can back out of it if it comes to it. If I truly love my neighbor and have my best interest aligned with their best interest then I should have no problem telling them yes when something is asked of me knowing that when I have to follow through with it, that I will indeed follow through with it. And there should be enough love through healthy boundaries and seeing each other as beloved children of God that we would want to be honest with our neighbors and respect them enough to be able to say what we mean. Yes I can help you. Or no, I’m not able to do that for or with you.

If that healthy relationship is there not just with you but also with the other person then the person who asked something of you will understand. They will respect your decision and know that if you were able to help you would, and that if you say know that you have a good reason to not do what it is they asked of you. The communication is open and honest and it is rooted in love and respect for one another. Which is one of the things that I see Paul talking about in his letter to the Philippians we heard earlier. In verse 5 we see Paul encourage people to be show gentleness with the way they treat all people. Gentleness can also mean kindness, and fairness u the Greek. If we are kind and fair to people then we would be willing to tell them the truth when we are engaging with them. Then Paul finishes up this section with these words from verses 8-9: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. Paul encourages them to look to all the ways that things are good and just and pure and to do those things and if they have learned any of those good things from Paul them keep on doing them.

Loving our neighbor isn’t about trying to find loopholes, whether it’s because of a drunken poker game or because you realize you just didn’t want to do the thing you said you would, loving your neighbor involves letting your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything else Jesus says comes from the the father of lies, the devil. Loving your self and loving your neighbor as yourself means that we engage them with the same respect, the same truth telling, the same loving relationship that we would want them to have with us. The same love that God extends to us. The same way that God shows us the the way, the truth, and the life by the ultimate truth teller, who is Jesus Christ our savior and Lord. Amen.