The Truth

 

[Jesus said] “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for tit 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. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:33-37 ESV).

 

A handshake bond is of very little value in a culture that has relegated oath-making to a caricature in their culture. Our culture is such a society. We live in a world that prizes misinformation and deception. We have seen it flourish even when the ability to fact-check virtually everything yields instant results. I recognize that seems a bit extreme, but my experience has proven it to be correct. I do wonder if we will ever get to a time when a handshake actually means something. Jesus’ culture had similar issues and He addresses it in our reading today.

 

You may be thinking that you have always told the truth. Perhaps you are one of the small minority of those for which that is true. But there are countless others who might have simply “bent the truth” a bit. Perhaps you took a “sick day” from work when you were not sick. This little white lie has become so common in the workplace that “sick” days have been exchanged for “personal days.” There are many of these examples that prove our society values personal desire much more than truth spoken with grace.

 

We bend and stretch the truth all the time. Pastor Tim Mackie of the Bible Project calls this “airbrushing” the truth. Just as a photo studio might airbrush a person’s photo to remove blemishes or wrinkles, so we tend to “airbrush” the boring, inconvenient, or incriminating parts of our lives to make ourselves look better.

 

Often, we do this out of our insecurity. We don’t trust that we will be liked and accepted the way we are—with all our faults, inconsistencies, and boring stories. But Jesus is clear in our reading. Our yes should be yes. And our no should be no. As God’s distinct people in the world—as salt and light—we know that our words are part of our witness. Jesus is calling us to be people of integrity, knowing that we are secure in God’s love for us as his children. We should always be graceful in telling the truth, but the truth should be a part of the foundation of our lives.