A Simple “Yes” or “No”

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

James 5:12

James, the half-brother of Jesus says almost the exact same thing that Jesus himself says on the Sermon on the Mount. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:37 or “the evil one.”) I don’t know where it started but when I was a young kid someone would promise something then break his promise saying, “I had my fingers crossed,” which meant he wasn’t obligated to do what he had just promised. The religious people of Jesus’ day had come up with elaborate ways to get out of promises they had made. Earlier Jesus warned them, “But I say to you, ‘Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.’” (Matthew 5:34-36)

They would make an oath, but because they had not invoked the Lord’s name specifically, the oath was not binding. They would make vows by heaven or the earth but then renege on their promise because they had not mentioned God. Swearing or making a vow means, “To make a solemn declaration or statement with an appeal to God or a superhuman being, or to some sacred object, in confirmation of what is said.” (Shorter Oxford Dictionary) Jesus nor James was talking about saying an oath in a court of law or some other required situation. He was saying that an oath shouldn’t be necessary in our regular dealings with others. If we are people of our word, we shouldn’t have to make an oath. If we feel the necessity to make an oath, that reveals that when we don’t, we are thought to be less than honest.

I jokingly say that the scariest passage in the Bible is Matthew 12:36-37. Jesus states, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Jesus reveals that every stray comment and flippant statements that we say off the top of our head or as a throwaway line matter to God. If we understood the full import of these verses alone, we would run to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness for how often do we say things without even thinking?

The most challenging situation is when we give our word to do something, but we did not fully count the cost before making the statement. In our culture today, lawyers are experts of finding loopholes to get people out of commitments that are not longer to their advantage. In sports, a multi-year contract is made then the player outperforms the team’s expectations. Often the player will sit out to force the team to renegotiate the terms of his contract. In Psalm 15 David writes of the one who shall dwell with the Lord. One of the characteristics is a person, “…who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” (Psalm 15:4) Often we make promises or commitments then later realize that it is going to cost us more time, energy, effort, or money than we anticipated. He made a commitment but later realizes, “this is going to cost me.” God places a high priority on the one who says what he means and means what he says and follows through regardless of the cost.

If we promise the children that we will take them to the park if they finish their homework, even if we are tired and just want to veg out, we take them to the park without grumbling or complaining. If we make an agreement to help someone fix his car then we are offered tickets to the big game, we turn down the tickets and help our friend without making him feel guilty for our “sacrifice.” The religious leaders became expert wordsmiths to seemingly make promises but allow themselves loopholes if it became too costly. We should be people of our word who never have to make elaborate promises, but just because we have said it, people believe it will be so.