“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the LORD.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. Matthew 5:33-34 NLT
On the surface, this paragraph (Matt 5:33-37) seems out of place. Jesus has been explaining the true meaning of the Mosaic commandments and he has preceded this discussion with three matters that are clearly pretty weighty: Don’t murder; don’t commit adultery; don’t divorce. That is: don’t hold people in contempt; don’t make them objects of desire; don’t treat them as disposable. Then there is this one, which doesn’t seem weighty at all.
But as Dallas Willard showed in his fine book, The Divine Conspiracy, the point in this paragraph fits in very well with the train of thought that Jesus is developing. He is saying that the commands are only fulfilled when we give up our “right” to use others for our own ends. What are oaths about? Using God’s power and authority to convince others of our veracity or integrity, or whatever. In short, we must not only give up our right to use others, we must also give up any attempt to use God to manipulate the attitudes of others toward us.
That leads directly to Jesus’s final point. Beyond using others, or trying to use God to manipulate others, we must love others unselfishly, as God does. The law, which seeks to establish equal punishment for equal sin, had been used to justify retaliation (5:38). Jesus says that not only does God not retaliate, but he goes beyond that, and gives what is not deserved. We may too, if we will.
I wonder if there are times when I attempt to use God, and maybe the mantle of godliness, to try to get people to appreciate me? Do you? Let us rather choose to love them unselfishly, self-forgetfully.
Called To Be Transformed 