LIFE SCRIPTS

“How terrible for you, blind guides! You teach, ‘If someone swears by the Temple, he isn’t bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gold in the Temple, he is bound.’ Blind fools! Which is more important, the gold or the Temple which makes the gold holy? You also teach, ‘If someone swears by the altar, he isn’t bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gift on the altar, he is bound.’ How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy? So then, when a person swears by the altar, he is swearing by it and by all the gifts on it; and when he swears by the Temple, he is swearing by it and by God, who lives there; and when someone swears by heaven, he is swearing by God’s throne and by him who sits on it.
Matthew 23:16‭-‬22 GNBDC

Christ taught before about the dangers of swearing. He said that let your yes be yes and your no be no. However, here He takes His lesson beyond just swearing. Inasmuch as swearing is wrong and sinful, He points us to the object of our swearing. The situation had reached such a critical point that people swore not by the temple (because what the temple symbolised was valueless in their eyes) but by the gold in the temple. People swore not by the altar but by the gifts on the altar. God made less sense than possessions. However Christ warns us that those who swear by the altar swear by the altar and all on it. Likewise for those who swear by the temple or by Heaven. In short, He’s informing us not to swear but to keep our word. Secondly, He reminds us that God is the author of all things. If we swear by things He’s made, we’re swearing also by Him. For we cannot create anything. God alone is the Creator.