Oaths, or what we swear by

After Matthew 5:33-37 

Oaths, those words we speak

to intone, solemnly, the truth

of what will usher forth

from our mouths, pose 

a problem: they’re facilitated

by those organs of artifice

and falsehood, otherwise 

known as tongues.

 

We utter oaths to God,

Under God, as God is

our witness, and with

help from God. But then,

here he’s saying no

to oaths sworn to heaven,

no to oaths sworn to earth

(one’s a throne, the other’s

a footstool), and no to oaths

sworn on the basis of our own

self-described credibility and

expert opinion. 

 

Instead, consider the idea 

of no spoken oaths; let yes 

be yes and no be no. And 

instead, part two: live 

your life so that you’re

a living oath, a living testimony,

and no one needs to question

how truthful you are, or aren’t.

 

Photograph by Anna Sullivan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

An elegy for oaths

After Matthew 5:33-37

 

Continuing the successions

of “you have heard it said,”

he now turns to the subject

of oaths. It sounds confusing,

at first; one wonders if

all oaths are to be set aside.

The “you have heard it said”

refers to the familiar practice

of sworn testimony; how could

it not be among the contentious

and litigious? But it’s more

than that. Oaths, in fact, are

not about words. And how can

that be? An oath is spoken;

of course it’s about words. 

But consider that it may not be

about words at all, or shouldn’t

be. What if it’s about actions, 

about what you do? What if

your life is to be lived as

an oath, a testimony that

stands on its own, without

the need for words? What if

an oath is what you do, not

what you say?

 

Photograph by David Veksler via Unsplash. Used with permission.

You ask, we answer

After Acts 4:1-14

There’s the question, tossed

lightly but landing with

a rather loud thud, asking

what power or name or

authority that the man is’

healed, that man crippled 

from birth, and that’s it,

the elephant in the room,

the asking powerful

surrounding the answering

insignificant. And the answer:

we heal in his name, you know, 

him, the one you crucified.

And if our words are lacking,

the healed man stands with us, 

a witness no one can refute.

Nothing can be done, they

mutter quietly to each other,

we’ll start a riot if we deny

the reality of what the people

see, so we come to this, 

a warning to stop the spread

of this contagion, already

afflicting thousands. 

They speak the warning,

looking into the eyes

of the future.

Photograph by Artem Maltsev via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The powers (earthly)

After Acts 4:1-14

We speak to the people,

telling them what we know

and experienced, explaining

the news (good). We say

nothing about priests or council

or rulers or elites, but words

strip away pretense, and there’s

the man, healed, the lame man,

the man hopping and jumping,

the man everyone knows

from birth, the man who never

walked, and there he is,

a living (walking) testimony

that what we say is true. It’s

annoying, and threatening,

because they know who we are,

the ones who were with him, 

the ones called disciples of that man,

that man they crucified. 

We have become an inconvenient

truth. 

Photograph by Sushil Nash via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Spirit, water, blood

After I John 5:6-21

The text says he came

by water and blood,

and that they testify

with the Spirit, providing

unassailable evidence.

Spirit, water, blood –

these are beyond

the testimony of the court,

beyond the oath we take:

the blood giving life

the water sustaining life

the Spirit infusing life

Photograph by Seth Macey via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Real

After I John 1:1-4

I listened I heard I heeded

I walked I saw I watched

I traveled with him I walked

dusty roads and dusty streets

and dusty hills and mountaintops

I felt the storm in the waves

beneath our boat, the smell

of fish so omnipresent

it seemed we were swimming

in schools and caught in nets

which we were, actually.

He was real and because of that

I have no choice but to speak

to write to tell the truth

and truth be told

I want no other choice.

Photograph by Grant Ritchie via Unsplash. Used with permission.