13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. [14 ] 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’ 17 Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’ 19 You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; 21 one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; 22 one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it. (Matt 23:13-22)
PROMISES
Some of the talks that I give begin with the following fill-in-the blank question that seeks a chorus answer from the audience: “Promises…” and the audience would cheer, “… are made to be broken!” Then everyone laughs as I chide them for their answer. Do we still make promises? I proceed asking them whether promises are necessary—“Do we need to make promises?” Then they affirm that, yes, promises—and oaths and vows—do have their value. The Jews hold oaths and vows to be sacred. Ex 30:3 reads: “When a man makes a vow to the Lord or binds himself under oath to a pledge, he shall not violate his word, but must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered.”
Our activities all involve oaths, pledges and promises—before taking public office, at the beginning of sports meets, at the beginning of each day in schools in allegiance to the country. We make more solemn vows—baptism, religious profession, marriage.
Why do we need to make promises? For the Jews, the oath was important, absolutely binding and in order to make it so, God’s name is used, so that he is a witness. There was a need to do this because of a general mistrust in mere human words. However, the truly religious man will never make a promise with the deliberate intention of breaking it. We do make promises because we trust in the power of the human word. We make promises to assure the other person of the veracity of our word, that what we say is the truth or would be confirmed in our actions. We make promises because there are many levels of discourse and that this is one is to be taken seriously by both parties. The promise is a commitment that the one making will keep his word and this reinforces trust.
The promise, oath or vow is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to his word.
RELECTION QUESTIONS
1. What are the promises that I have made in life? Have I been faithful to them?
2. Do I still make promises? Why do I make promises?
Lord, make me true to my word.
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