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Sorry for the Delay . . .
You may already know from Facebook that Brigitte's Mom, Corinne Sandoval, passed away on March 16th. She was 87 years old, and living in Albuquerque. Corinne's health had taken a turn for the worse last year. She was diagnosed with kidney failure in the first half of 2011, and went through cancer later in the year. When we saw her at Thanksgiving she seemed very frail. Brigitte had just spent a week with her Mom from March 3-10, and kept telling me how much Corinne had weakened since November. Three days after Brigitte returned home Corinne fell in her apartment. Fortunately some family was with her and they took her to the ER. The doctors decided to keep her in the hospital, and two nights later she passed. So, we packed up the kids and the van, and drove to New Mexico for the funeral.
Thank you to those who prayed. Everything went smoothly and we could see God's hand in many ways. But Brigitte is in a state of complete exhaustion. Please keep her in your prayers.
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Does Jesus have a problem with oaths?
Why Jesus was so strong in forbidding all kinds of oaths in Matthew 5:33-37? This is a case where knowledge of the first-century world really helps our understanding. My research found that casual overuse of swearing, and the manipulation of oaths were rampant in Jesus day. Both Peter (Matt 26:72-74) and Herod (Matt 14:3-12) made rash oaths and came to regret them. Philo characterizes people as "thinking that by the frequency and number of their uninterrupted oaths they will attain to the object which they desire." Similarly the Mishnah (Jewish Law) is filled with confusing rules that gave certain people the opportunity to escape the consequences of their oath or vow. I even found one example where a husband could be released from a vow to his wife by simply stating, "Now if I had ever known that things were so, I should never have taken such a vow!" (Maybe I'll try that one next time a football game is on!)
This is what leads to a heated conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees in Matt 15:3-6. Similarly, Jesus was angry at the abuse of oaths in Matt 23:16-22. The command in the Old Testament was to swear by God's name. However, by Jesus' day that name could not be pronounced, so it was common to use a substitute. But Jesus' point is that the overriding principle should be truthfulness in all one's dealings; not seeking public acclaim for actions one has no intention of following though on. People should be able to trust your word. Christians in the early church did use oaths (sparingly), and it seems Jesus responded when put under oath in Matt 26:63-65. In Matt 5 he is using hyperbole--making an absolute, "black and white," statement to make his point emphatically. Truthfulness matters.
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