Scripture Readings:
First Reading: Sirach 15:15-20
Psalm Reading: Ps 118
Second Reading: Col 3:1-4
Gospel: John 20:1-9
First Reading Sir 15:15-20
A reading from the Book of Sirach
No one does he command to act unjustly.
If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;
if you trust in God, you too shall live;
he has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.
Before man are life and death, good and evil,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.
Immense is the wisdom of the Lord;
he is mighty in power, and all-seeing.
The eyes of God are on those who fear him;
he understands man’s every deed.
No one does he command to act unjustly,
to none does he give license to sin.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
(R.) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
(R.) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
(R.) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Be good to your servant, that I may live
and keep your words.
Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
(R.) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes,
that I may exactly observe them.
Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
(R.) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Second Reading 1 Cor 2:6-10
A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians
God predestined wisdom before the ages for our glory.
Brothers and sisters:
We speak a wisdom to those who are mature,
not a wisdom of this age,
nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.
Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden,
which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,
and which none of the rulers of this age knew;
for, if they had known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written:
What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him,
this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Gospel Mt 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
So it was said to your ancestors; but now I say this to you.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you,
whoever is angry with brother
will be liable to judgment.
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’
Anything more is from the evil one.”
Discipleship Questions:
1. Today’s Lectionary readings focus on the Law and their reinterpretation by Jesus Christ in our Gospel reading. Read Matt 5:33-37 and answer the following question: After reading those verses do you believe that Christians should take oaths?
2. Please read the following and discuss: Jesus never swore an oath. When He was challenged by the High Priest to swear by the living God whether He was the Christ, Jesus simply replied: “The words are your,” refusing to invoke the living God. Aren’t we meant to imitate God?
The early Church took this prohibition extremely seriously. In fact, St. James put it at the top of the list of practices to avoid. Apparently, it was only when the Church and State because entwined three hundred years later that policy changed. The Church preferred to avoid tension with the political authority which required oaths as a supposed guarantee of truthful speaking.
One Commentator by the name of Michael Tate put it this way,
“It’s clear that our Lord was establishing a new sort of society – The Kingdom of God – within which truth-telling was of paramount importance, where there is no two tiered way of speaking the truth. Straightforward, unadorned language will do. Truth telling should issue simply from the character of the person – the truthful person ‘truthes.’”
I love that last phrase “The truthful person ‘truths.’” Ha! Fr. Michael Tate is an Australian. Australians love to invent new “silly but truthful” words!
This prohibition explicitly commands us not to make oaths but to let our yes be yes and our no be no!
“Will you love your wife and honor her until death separates you” Yes or No!
Will you serve the Church of God on earth? Yes or no!
You see - an honorable man or woman’s “yes” is “yes” from a redeemed and transformed heart! I need to add “most of the time!”
3. Please read the following and discuss: How many of us lie – not only to others but to ourselves. Do you know that there is not a “Liars Anonymous” in existence! It think that’s a little silly or perhaps it’s tact recognition that in this world “lying” is the way of life and were we to eradicate it the superstructure of our culture would begin to break apart.
Think about it – what makes one man richer than another? Yes, hard work, but what he knows and the other doesn’t. Were I to go to such a man and ask him to tell me what I don’t know about a certain stock or a certain business deal. Do you honestly think he will tell me?
No way! He might hedge or just simply tell me a lie but the fact is that I won’t leave him any more enlightened!
But in the Kingdom of God there are no secrets and no lies! All the dead cat are up on the table!
Can you imagine such a world?
Can you imagine this working in your family? . . . day in and day out from this moment on?
That’s the standard that you and I are walking towards if our Christianity isn’t a sham.
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your King? Yes, or No?
And He’s not going to ask you to make an oath to Him! He knows that your Yes will be yes and your no will be no. Or sadly He may know that your yes is a “maybe yes” and your no is a “maybe no.”
How many of us have learnt from bad parenting and poor subsequent behavior that “Yes” can more often than not MEAN “No?” and “No” has no meaning at all behind it?
What terrible consequences bad spiritual formation has on us and our society!
4. Please read the following and discuss: Now let’s get personal! Is your “yes” yes and your “no” no?
Now let me clarify that question a bit. I’m not asking you if you’re always absolutely integritious – always absolutely truthful! No . . . but I am asking you this question, “Are you always trying to tell the truth” no matter the consequences and when you don’t do you feel very very bad and seek to put it right in the end. So that, even in the end, your yes is yes and your no is no?
Another way to getting at this is to ask this question,
“Have you become comfortable with equivocation?” or more specifically, “Have you become comfortable with untruth or lies in any area of your life?”
In you answer yes to these questions then you are cooperating with the devil.
Let me read the last verse of our Gospel reading:
Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matt 5:37
But if you are striving to make your “yes” truly “yes” and your “No” truly ‘no” then what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in chapter 6 verse 9 is true for you:
No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
We who are trying with all of hearts, minds, souls and strength to reveal our true love for God by making our yeses “YES” and no noes “NO!”
