Words Matter

25 August 2025  Matthew 23:13-22

“One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it….”

Matthew 23:20

Jesus did not think the Scribes and Pharisees were too obsessive about the matter of swearing oaths and religious speech. He thought they were not obsessive enough.

It is too easy to dismiss the Scribes and Pharisees as obnoxious busybodies and control freaks who were ignorant and unconcerned about true religion. That’s the cartoon version of the New Testament world. In fact, the Scribes and Pharisees were decent and faithful men who were trying to help people live healthy and righteous lives. Jesus argued with them as much as He did not because He opposed what they were trying to do, but because He supported so much of it. They had so much in common, and Jesus was frustrated that He couldn’t persuade more of them. Among other things, the Scribes and Pharisees were concerned about the matter of truth-telling, and they really listened to the way people talked about the things they were obliged to do. People would swear to do things in casual conversation much the same way we do. Some oaths were casual and not taken particularly seriously – the way we say things like “Scout’s honor,” or “Cross my heart.” Other oaths were more serious – like the user agreements that we sign to use computer applications, or honor codes that students sign at schools and colleges. Violation of those oaths can cost us money, or get students suspended, even expelled. Then there are the really serious oaths people take when they are testifying in a legal proceeding. Violation of that oath constitutes the crime of perjury, and can result in jail time. The Scribes and Pharisees wanted people to use great care in the way they talked about obligations, and to make distinctions about obligations that made sense.Jesus wanted the same thing.

The most important oaths the Jews swore invoked holy things, like the altar or the temple, and it was here that Jesus thought the Scribes and Pharisees were terribly sloppy. The Scribes and Pharisees allowed people to make distinctions between the temple and the gold of the temple, between the altar and the gifts on the altar. Jesus didn’t think this was just pettifogging hairsplitting, but utter blasphemy: “Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?” (Matthew 23:19). Jesus was outraged that people were being permitted to invoke religious things, even the name of God, and not have to follow through. Temples and altars are holy places – they are not holy in themselves, but because they embody the holiness of God, and when it came to the holiness of God Jesus didn’t mess around. Loose talk about God, and the service we owe God, was not just sloppy, but a terrible pollution that needed to be cleansed. He horsewhipped people who didn’t understand that (see John 2:13-17, Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-48).

The holiness of God was something you didn’t trifle with under any circumstances. Jesus was more serious about that than the Scribes and Pharisees. He thought what the Scribes and Pharisees were doing amounted to taking the Lord’s name in vain, and they should have known better.

Catholics believe that we receive in our hands the holiness of God at every Mass, and therefore we carry the holiness of God around with us everywhere we go. In that sense, every place we go is a temple because we are “temples of the Holy Spirit” (cf. I Corinthians 6:19). So, we should be more careful about religious speech than anybody else. “Oh my God” is something we should only ever say in prayer. We should never use the Lord’s name when we are merely angry or frustrated, and should wince when others do it. Every oath or promise we make that mentions or even implies God is the most serious speech we utter. “But I tell you that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36).

Words matter. God is listening.

Cross my heart.