[AI translation] As you know, on the last Sunday of last month, we deviated from the usual order of preaching in our congregation. It was the Sunday of the Dead, and the sermon was about the hope of eternal life. So the explanation of the next part of the Sermon on the Mount was omitted. I would now like to make up for it and that is why I have chosen as the basis for today's sermon, if not the next part, which we will return to on the last Sunday in January, but afterwards, the serious words of Jesus about human speech as you heard them in the sermon that was read. Thus Jesus says: "Swear not absolutely... But let your word be your own: So and so, no; and that which is above these things is of the evil one" (Mt 5:34-37).What does this mean? Have we ever wondered what an unspeakably great thing it is that we can speak at all? That we can put into words, into sentences, our thoughts, our feelings, our intentions, our joys, our sorrows. It is a great, great thing! It is what makes us humans different from all other living beings and things. No other creature can speak. Not even animals, not even nature, not even mountains, not even the seas are silent, even though they are in a perpetual roar with their constant undulations.
But you, you can speak. You can put your thoughts into words. You don't even realize that you are creating a connection between you and the other person. Words break through your loneliness. You can exchange your thoughts with others. Speaking makes you think new thoughts again. You notice that you understand yourself better through talking. Things become clearer in you. You give things a name, and they become enlightened. That's why it's so good when someone is able to express themselves well, to tell you everything that frightens them, that upsets them, that is incomprehensible to them. Almost immediately these things lose their frightening character. You can see the problems more clearly, things are sorted out. Talking: what a great thing! Everybody talks. We talk all the time. Seriously, jokingly, calmly, passionately, with difficulty, easily, gently, lightly, publicly, privately, crying, laughing. We talk. We talk all the time. We talk from morning till night. No wonder, then, that Jesus specifically addresses the problems of our speech. Jesus is quite astonishingly serious about the holiness of our spoken words. He says that every yes and every no we say is spoken directly to the living God. God hears it. And that every single word we say - including our hand gestures, our inflections, which sometimes say even more than the word itself - every single word we say is so extraordinarily important that it will be dealt with at the last judgment, its weight, its content, its credibility will be weighed.
Jesus once said, in a debate with the Pharisees, "For every ostentatious word that men speak, they will be held accountable on the day of judgment." (Mt 12:36) It is astonishing. So easily we utter a word, so quickly a sentence is finished, so recklessly the words flow from our mouths! Is it not an exaggeration to think that all these words will be preserved on a heavenly tape recorder and will be found again in eternity? May the importance of words and speech be taken so pathetically, so fearfully seriously? The reason Jesus takes our speech so deadly seriously is because no one knows better than Him the power, the authority of the spoken word.
Remember what He did with His mere word? For example, He said to a man who was helpless and totally paralysed, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk" (John 5:8). For the word was not only a theoretical teaching, not only a sound vibration, but also a powerful, healing action. For where Jesus speaks, something always happens. There the word shapes a person's destiny, there the word can untie or bind, the word can mean life or death. Yes, Jesus knew very well the power of the word, the dynamic tension inherent in speech. And not just in Jesus' word, in ours too. Even if not to the same extent, our word has power too. Terrifying power. Everyone knows what a single word from a doctor to a patient can mean: please, you are incurably ill. The consequence of such a statement can be that the patient loses all hope, all will to live, and may soon die. But if you say: you are ill, but we will do our best to cure you - this may result in the same patient being alive for years to come. What power the word has!
A word full of good humour can turn an uncomfortable conversation into a good one. The fact that we can speak is a tremendous responsibility! Because our words can be both a blessing and a curse. Who can't remember a word that has made a difference in a problem, or soothed or brought peace to the soul? Or a word that caused a sore arrowhead to pierce into your life and still scratches your soul today? Oh, how much trouble and pain we can cause with words! Words: words passed on in a low, whispering voice. You can't stop it. It goes on by word of mouth. People believe it, and the damage is irreparable. Family ties are broken, friends are separated, marriages are dissolved, lives are ruined... What power the word has! Blessings and joy are spread where a word is spoken. And what is behind the family storm, the quarrel, the hatred? Words, words, words again and again, poisonous words, coiled like snakes, bringing death. Speech. Yes, words are not only sound, not only vapour that evaporates, but words are power. The gates of hell open on words and close on words. Blessing and cursing, life and death are in words, like some mysterious vessels.
It is understandable, then, that Jesus should be so serious about speech, about the purity, the holiness, the truth of our words. Its freedom from all hypocrisy, ambiguity, falsehood. Because the word is power. The true word is power, and the lying word is power. In the true word heavenly powers are at work, but in the lying word evil powers, satanic, hellish fires burn. That is why Jesus says, "Let your word be your word: So, so; no, not so; but that which is above these things is of the evil one." (Mt 5,37) It is as if he were saying: be careful what you say, do not play lightly with words, for everything you say God hears. Every word you speak, God is witness to it. Therefore, every oath, every word of honour is useless. God hears your words not only when you solemnly ask Him to be your witness, but also when you do not think of God while you are speaking. It is indeed surprising that Jesus not only forbids perjury. Not only does he say: Beware lest anyone swear falsely - but the oath itself. "For the fact that sometimes truthfulness must be proved by solemn oaths shows in itself that our words are not always so credible. The oath means that now I am really telling the truth! Now. So the oath is based on the assumption that I do not always tell the truth. This is an exception, I am telling the truth. In exceptional cases it is said: I swear by the living God, or God is my witness. Well, that means that only in exceptional cases do they expect, they think, that their word is spoken in the presence of God, otherwise not. So their unsworn word does not have the same degree of seriousness and reliability as the word that is spoken with an oath. I also try to artificially raise the special weight of my words by means of the oath, and it is in this way that I acknowledge that the word does not otherwise have that special weight, so that under normal circumstances I am also swimming in the stream of general chatter.
I give you my word of honour. What does it mean? It means that I'm all in on the word, so much so that I stand or fall on the word I'm about to say. But the fact that I have to emphasise it explicitly tells you that I am not normally in my words, but that I am rolling my tongue in a careless and reckless way. The very fact that we sometimes have to swear an oath or a word of honour to confirm the credibility of our words shows, exposes, how full of lies our speech is! We have become so used to it that we don't even take it seriously when we simply say no instead of yes, or yes instead of no. 'I'm busy now,' you say to someone, but it's not true, because you could, you just don't want to sacrifice your peace of mind. My parents are not home," the child announces into the phone at the parents' behest, as they watch the television comfortably a few steps away. "I love you, I can't live without you", the boy whispers in the ear of an inexperienced girl, and she believes him, even though he doesn't love her, he doesn't even know what it means to love someone, he's just hungry for a fleeting adventure. So much hypocrisy, so many lies, so many frivolous games with explosive words. And yet all lies, from the little lies of necessity, from the conventional lies of fidelity to one's spouse, to the lying propaganda that drives people to world destruction, are all, as Jesus says, "from the evil one". It is satanic. In every word that is not true, there is the destructive power of hell. With every false word, hellish forces are unleashed.
And this world is indeed full of all kinds of lies! Like seaweed, lies are woven throughout life. That's why people distrust each other, don't really believe each other. They already assume that words mean something, that things are not really as they say, that the truth is hiding somewhere behind the words. It has become so commonplace to tell lies and fibs in everyday life that we think we might not be able to live without them. Can we get out of this seaweed? Is it even possible to do what Jesus says, "Let your word be your word: So be it; no, not so"? (Mt 5,37a)
Well, this is why it is such an unspeakable gain that at the centre of our Christian faith is One, Jesus Christ, Who is crystal clear and absolutely true, Whose soul we can look into and find nothing but 100 per cent honesty, uprightness and truth. Whose every word we speak we can lay our lives on, not only this earthly one, but the eternal one too. He is the only One Who is above all lies, Who is the source, the guardian, the validator of truth, Who is the truth itself. Who has come into human life precisely so that we who are dragged down, held captive by that certain seaweed, can cling by faith to the truth made flesh, so that we can grasp, like Peter sinking among the waves, the divine hand of salvation extended to us, and let Him, ask Him, to rescue us from the lie, to lift us above all lies into the truth.
It is not a matter of heroically confronting the whole world of lies, but of loving it, of clinging to the One who has already conquered this world of lies, and then He will see to it that He includes us in His victory, so that we ourselves may triumph over all lies. If anything, this is where the difference between believers and non-believers must necessarily show itself. For he who belongs to Christ dares to take on - together with Christ - unconditional honesty, uprightness and truth. His word is truly so, so, no, no, and there is nothing to hide behind it. And do you know what happens once someone dares to break out of the territory of lies? He notices that the people around him begin to appreciate him a lot more than they used to. Trust in him increases, much more than he had tried to secure for himself with the lies of necessity. He notices how much people yearn for the truth, how much they themselves want to be free of the web of lies.
When one does not use the otherwise perfectly normal, almost legal, weapon of the lie of necessity to justify oneself, one is giving a more powerful testimony to God than if one were to scientifically expound the Christian worldview. Those who have been set free under the Lordship of Christ to truth, honesty, and uprightness, can have confidence in the promise that those who leave themselves to the Lord will not be put to shame. They will not be ashamed.
Therefore hear me say, not I, but Jesus. Therefore, 'Let your word be your word: (Mt 5,37)
Amen
Date: 15 December 1963.
Lesson
Jak 3,1-10