Matthew 5:33-37
Silence and stillness before God (2 minutes)
Scripture reading
Scripture reading:
Matthew 5:33-37
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Devotional
Jesus is teaching his hearers how to live in the kingdom of the heavens. Truth is the bedrock of the kingdom. Jesus himself is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus says, the truth will set you free. The fourth way Jesus contrasts the older rightness with the rightness of the kingdom is regarding the practice of giving oaths or swearing by something of importance, especially God himself, in order to lend weight to a statement. This is a teaching about being a truthful person from the inside out. And accepting the limitation’s of your own humanity.
People take oaths by something greater than themselves, and have done since the very beginning of human societies, but what are they really doing? In an older world, this was genuinely a way of signing off on something. Much like a signature is a formal record of commitment on a document or a firm handshake has been in the past. Jesus says, the way of the master simply requires a yes or a no.
Jesus knows all too well that people commonly swear oaths for the sake of impressing others with their sincerity in order to gain acceptance for what they are saying. It’s basically a way of getting what they want, a device of manipulation to lend weight to their words.
Jesus with his relentless commitment to treating people justly and with God given worth, says, don’t use words which have the power of life and death, which God used to create the universe, to cleverly twist people’s thinking for your benefit. Words are immensely important and should be treated as such. On top of this, we’re not to use the Lord’s name in vain. His name is above every other name and not to be trivialised as a tool for personal gain.
The way of the master involves followers of Jesus becoming the sort of people on the inside who live out God’s law on the outside. The type of people who are good and clean on the inside of the dish are the type of people who’s words you can trust. Their yes simply means yes, their no simply means no. Not to mention the fact that none of us have control of the future. We can’t make our hair grow out a different colour, what makes us think we can swear about the future on the name of our God.
Question to consider
What do you need to say yes to today and what do you need to say no?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for setting the example of assertive, loving communication. Your yes was yes and your no was no. Forgive me Lord, when I have twisted the truth in order to manipulate others. Please help me by your grace to be a person of absolute truth, living for the approval of an audience of one, you. Amen.
Conclude with silence (2 minutes)
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