FRIDAY, April 30

Matthew 5:27-37. Let your word be "Yes, Yes" or "No, No"; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

If people are going to lie, they're going to lie, no matter how fervently they swear on a stack of Bibles that they will tell nothing but the truth. It is better, then, to have done with the whole business of swearing on stacks of Bibles and everything like it.

Let our words be true and let them be few. This is what our Lord is saying.

We of the modern West are not so much given to elaborate oath-taking as were the ancient Easterners, but we are still tempted, as all people are, to use words to conceal what we mean rather than to say what we mean. Somebody dies, and we say that he "passed away." Instead of saying, "When I die," we say, "If anything happens to me." Somebody sins, and we say that she "made a mistake." Such words are deceitful. Their purpose is to conceal some unwelcome truth. And we all know people who will not be frank and open with us, but pour forth torrents of palaver. How easily we can do it, too, saying that we only want to be polite.

"Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes' or ‘No, No,'?" says our Lord. (1959)

PRAY for the Diocese of Central Tanganyika (Tanzania)

Ps 40, 54 * 51; Exodus 34:18-35; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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Clerk, Worcester (MA) Friends Meeting

Apr 30, 2010 at 7:42 am

Written by Clarence Burley,

And so the Quakers have a long tradition of not taking oaths, with the idea that taking an oath su*gests that they do not speak the truth always.

...

Apr 30, 2010 at 10:01 am

Written by Mary kier,

I have never seen this verse and just loved the meditation! Reality is scary. We can try to make it sound better. But no matter how frightening or daunting reality is. God is there.

...

Apr 30, 2010 at 10:28 am

Written by Andrea,

While I acknowledge the power of words, I am not sure the sense of this passage is to beware of euphemisms like "passed away." There are some euphemisms that are dangerous - such as "collateral damage," which hides the true and ugly fact that civilians have been killed. And avoiding those kinds of euphemisms certainly makes sense. But it almost seems to me that "passed away" or "passed on" signals our Christian belief that there is more to life than this earthly part of our existence. It doesn't to me hide the reality of death so much as it points to a greater reality.

...

Apr 30, 2010 at 10:42 am

Written by Lois C.,

I wonder if people in our Lord's time were making idle oaths like, "I swear by the heads of my children" as casually as we say things to add drama and emphasis for effect. I dislike it myself. In common parlance we hardly bring God into it at all. I'm not sure which is most offensive. I wish I meant it prayerfully when I say, "Oh, my God" in response to this or that news that surprises me or better yet omitted that from my language altogether.

I notice in many of the quotations of the words of Jesus the phrase, "truly I tell you" perhaps setting the example of the appropriate way to emphaize a teaching.

...

May 01, 2010 at 12:14 am

Written by Steve Doutt,

In today's Gospel Christ is calling me to be honest with God, myself and others; and, to keep it simple.

Mary, I also hadn't noticed this verse. The meditation helped it stand out for me. Andrea, I too was put off by the writer expressing that "passing away" was a euphemism for dying; especially because I believe that we do pass on.

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