In any circumstance a follower
of Jesus mustn’t need to swear to convince anyone any matter. His ‘yes’ must be
‘yes’ and ‘no’ must be ’no’. He must be a trustworthy person who abides his
words, means a person of integrity. He must not be like a ‘loincloth on line’, swaying
here and there according to the direction of wind. In any circumstance he must
not be away from truth. See the verses.
33 “Again you have heard that
it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to
the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at
all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool,
or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do
not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let
what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
A disciple of Jesus cannot
think about retaliation. There should not be the word ‘revenge’ in his
dictionary. Life of follower of Jesus is life of endurance. He should put up
with all hardship and persecutions because he has no right to retaliate against
any offence but God. Not only so but also his manners must be amicable, even to
his enemies. In behavior there should not be any kind of partiality. He should
consider everyone as his own brother or sister. Verses 46-48 make clear that
Bible and Jesus is against communalism because Jesus does not exhort to carry
out any activities against any other people who are not his followers but to
love them, even the enemies, as brothers. We will never see such a doctrine
anywhere in the world. Jesus’ doctrine and activities are completely non-violence-and-endurance-oriented.
Bible in general and Jesus’ teaching in particular is the need of the time, in
today’s international context. See the scripture below.
Retaliation
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I
say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the
right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if
anyone would sue you and take your tunic,8
let him have your cloak as
well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go
one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give
to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from
you.
Love Your
Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who
is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends
rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what
reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if
you greet only your brothers, what
more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You
therefore must be perfect, as yours heavenly Father is perfect.
In short, those are not ready to put up with
hardship or cannot lead a life of endurance cannot follow Jesus or they cannot
claim as his people. Jesus’ teaching is very hard to follow, every day somebody
should be along with us to train and take care without deviating from the
teaching. It is not a matter of cake walk.
When we read Gospels they may discourage us. We
may think who can obey these commands. That is the question of practice and
answer is the ‘Epistles’. Even apostles have asked this question to Jesus. God
looks into our heart and deeds to know whether we are trying to obey the
doctrine with all our heart and with all our soul. If it so, even though we
commit mistakes or we fall many times unintentionally, it doesn’t matter, his
grace will be along with us. Means our righteousness is nothing before God and
not because of our righteousness but because of his grace we justify. Apostles
clarify this in their epistles. But beware; grace is not a loop hole to deviate
from the doctrine.
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