Friday of the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year II)
James 5:9-12 | Psalm 102:1-4, 8-9, 11-12 | Mark 10:1-12
Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth, or use any oaths at all. If you mean ‘yes’, you must say ‘yes’; if you mean ‘no’, say ‘no’. Otherwise you make yourselves liable to judgement. (James 5:12)
The juxtaposition of “oaths” and “judgement” in today’s reading prompted me to check what Singapore courts require of witnesses:
In the Witness Box
When you enter the witness box, a court official will ask you to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’. (If you are a Christian, you will be asked to swear on the Bible).
Hah, can swear on Bible meh?
Well, yes, in a way. Here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say on the subject:
2153. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained the second commandment: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all. . . . Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” Jesus teaches that every oath involves a reference to God and that God’s presence and his truth must be honored in all speech. Discretion in calling upon God is allied with a respectful awareness of his presence, which all our assertions either witness to or mock.
2154. Following St. Paul, the tradition of the Church has understood Jesus’ words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons (for example, in court). “An oath, that is the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice.”
2155. The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused. It must be refused when it is required for purposes contrary to the dignity of persons or to ecclesial communion.
So church tradition permits swearing on a Bible prior to giving testimony in court, provided your intent and action and the proceedings in question are in accordance with the truth. After all, you are solemnly swearing in the name of the Most High, on His Holy Word, to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. If you have no intention to do so, or cannot do so, or are ordered to swear thus in a “kangaroo court” or other situation in which you have no reasonable expectation of justice, you really shouldn’t swear at all, much less on a Bible.
Otherwise, as the traditional conclusion of that oath really means, “God help you.”
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We’re probably more familiar with a different aspect of swearing, the one along the lines of profanity and OH MY GOD HE’S SO CUTE!!! I keep telling people that casual name-of-God-dropping is a terrible form of evangelisation, simply because Western entertainment has overused it to the point of mundanity. That brings OMGushing to a screeching halt better than mentioning the 2nd Commandment, which just gets me branded as a old fuddy-duddy.
Lord, open our eyes to the ways in which we use and misuse Your Holy Name each day, and help us to always be mindful of You who deserve all our respect and love. Amen.