One thing that really bothers me is when people tell you they’re going to do something, but then they don’t do it. They tell you they’re going to call you back, but they don’t. They tell you they’ll be there, but they’re not. They say they’ll take care of it, but they don’t. That really bothers me. And don’t worry, those of you that know me – I’m not thinking of any one particular incident. It’s just a problem in our culture, even in our Christian culture. Our words don’t mean anything. We make promises and then break them. We exaggerate and shade the truth. We think that if we say, “I swear,” people will be more apt to believe us. We are not people of our word. But Jesus said, “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t’” (Matt. 5:33-37). The problem in Jesus’ day was similar to ours: people would make vows lightly and then break them. The rabbi’s would distinguish between types of oaths depending on by whom or what you swore. Oaths made “by the Lord” – you couldn’t break those. But oaths made “by heaven,” “earth,” or “Jerusalem” – you could break those. Jesus’ contemporaries had a problem with truthfulness. And so do we. Dave Bing won the Detroit mayoral election even though he couldn’t get straight whether or not he had a business degree. We do make promises and then break them. We “swear to God” but often to hide an exaggeration or untruth. We shade the truth and color the story in order to makes us look a little better. Jesus’ prohibition of oaths is not really about whether oaths are right or wrong, it’s about keeping your word, speaking the truth. Not all oaths are wrong (e.g. oaths taken in court of law), but not keeping your word is. Don’t invoke God’s name to strengthen your point. Don’t curse or swear to emphasize what you’re saying. Be a man of your word, speak the truth. Dietrich Bonfoeffer wrote, “…every word [Jesus’ disciples] utter is spoken in [God’s] presence, not only those words which are accompanied by an oath.” We need to do what we say we will do. We need to be careful about making promises about the future; we are not the lords of our own future. We should be lovingly honest to each other. We need to quit trying to project an image. Jesus demands truthfulness of His disciples.
Your “yes” must mean “yes” and your “no,” “no.” So if you tell me you’re going to call me, call me. If you tell me you’ll do something, do it. And if you tell me you’ll take care of it, take care of it.