Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 16, 2018 - Saturday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 19:19-21 and Matt 5:33-37]"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 you 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one. [Matthew]
These words from the Sermon on the Mount should be printed on the walls of every government building, especially in the committee hearing rooms! But those are not the only places where lying under oath has become routine. That is simply the occasion for legal consequences for the lying. Perhaps we should ask ourselves about the practice in our own lives. Are there "little white lies?" "Innocent fibs?" The swearing that Jesus means here is to invoke some greater power as witness to what we are saying, but he is telling us simply to tell the truth and forget about the swearing.
I might hear the reply, "Father, if I told the truth all the time, my life wouldn't be worth a plugged nickel!" Jesus is asking us to wonder if a life of lies is worth living, especially if it will cost us a greater life at the end of time? Once more, the Sermon on the Mount (Christianity 101) has challenging material. The homework is known as "an examination of conscience." AMEN