You Have Heard It Was Said…Part III

by Elaine Poproski

Did you know there’s a provincial election coming up? How could we not know…the ad campaigns and news stories and social media posts remind us all the time. I take my responsibility as a voter seriously. I want to be informed. I want to vote for the person I believe will make good decisions for our province. I want them to share at least some of my values. But here’s the thing: I have become overwhelmingly cynical about my ability to be informed. Whether it’s outright lying or just putting the best possible spin on things, I have almost 0% confidence in our political parties’ honesty about their intentions, their priorities, or their ability to follow through on what they promise. Why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this because it’s directly relevant to the Scripture we’ll be reading together and thinking about on Sunday.

The big word in the Sermon on the Mount these past couple of weeks has been righteousness. Jesus is really clear that the expectation of His disciples is one of perfect, godly righteousness (which means to be right with God, sinless, holy like He is holy). Over and over again He says, “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” Using this formula, He’s drawing attention to all the ways legalism has superseded the Law. A couple weeks ago it was all about anger and insulting people. This past Sunday you heard Brian talk about adultery and divorce. This coming Sunday is about lying and being faithful to our word.

On the face of it, this piece of the Sermon seems pretty easy. How hard is it, really, for us to be honest and truthful? Could anyone possibly suggest that as a Christian lying is o.k. or failing to follow through on a promise is o.k.? At first, I wondered why Jesus would include something so basic amongst these other, much more difficult mandates. But the more I dig into it, the more I realize (as I often do when I spend time with Scripture rather than just reading something over so I can say I read it) that this thing about lying and oath-taking is just as important and just as easily abused or minimized as are injunctions against killing, divorce, and adultery.

So, as you prepare for Sunday, take some time to read Matthew 5:17–19 to remind yourself what Jesus had to say about righteousness, and then Matthew 5:33 – 37. Read the words out loud, slowly and deliberately. Ask God to reveal if He has something for you in these words. Ask yourself if you’re willing to hear what God might say. After all, lying and failing to follow through on promises isn’t just about our relationships with other people. Sometimes our worst offenses are the lies we tell ourselves or the broken promises we’ve made to ourselves.