NOTES for Mat 5:33-41

The Lord says to us today: do not swear at all. What kind of oaths are being discussed here? Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is Herod's seemingly innocent oath (Mark 6:6-14), which turned out to be so terribly sinister when it was carried out. But is that all that is meant here?

Let us turn to the parallel passage from the book of Numbers. "If anyone makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath, binding himself by a pledge, he must not break his word, but must do everything that has come out of his mouth" (Num. 30:3). Here, on the contrary, the subject is a pious custom. And what about us? Do we also have similar "pious customs"?

Of course we do, even though more than 2,000 years have passed since Christ forbade us to do this. Very often today one can read, even in texts by contemporary hierarchs, that for Great Lent, for example, in addition to bodily abstinence, one should take on various pledges: not to watch television, to reread the Four Gospels, to be more affectionate with one's parents, and so on. All of this is a lie offered to oneself and to God. Every day must be lived as if the aorta could rupture; every day can become the last both for you and for the whole world, and that does not depend on whether the day falls during Great Lent or during the Easter season. Against that background, all vows and pledges are foolish.

Father Georgy Chistyakov, rector of the Church of the Protection at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital, once recalled how he came to his ministry. "And at some point I understood: since none of the priests had begun working here regularly, then I must be the one to do it. I cannot say now exactly when it became clear to me that I had to be involved in this. I did not make any vow, I did not experience any illumination. It happened very simply, naturally, one might say without my participation, without the participation of our parishioners, my friends - everything happened apart from us."

Christ's commandment in the Sermon on the Mount calls us to rid ourselves of dividedness, to become inwardly whole, and to be at peace with ourselves. By dying for us, Christ changes our life, which ceases to be a process of dying. We become new people; sin and division no longer rule within us or in our relationships with God and our neighbors. Reconciliation takes place, our life is filled with peace, and our soul blesses God and His world (Ps 102).

Christ's words about love for enemies provoke perhaps more debate and more attempts at interpretation than anything else. Some reject them, defending their right to revenge and hatred of the enemy, while others, on the contrary, respond with the ideology of pacifism and nonresistance. But it seems that in both cases the driving force is the desire to secure oneself, to establish one's own invulnerability before the enemy - either by force or by indifference. The Gospel offers precisely a behavior built not on the pursuit of one's own safety, not on withdrawal into oneself, but on an active response to the offender: "bless, do good, pray..." And the point, it seems, is not pacifism and not the ability to endure pain and bear insults, but a far more difficult art - the ability to love.

Before us is a classic example of a passage from the Bible that provokes protest in many who read it. These words offend both believers and especially those who do not acknowledge God. Unfortunately, these very words sometimes become what keeps the latter from turning to the Lord. Very often, in the eyes of such people, Christians appear as weak-willed pushovers who are unable to stand up for themselves...

In addition, these words are another proof that one must not tear lines out of context and rely on only one thing while ignoring everything else said in the Bible. You and I know that Christ has an absolutely unambiguous attitude toward sin, evil, and hatred: they are contrary to God and His nature. It is enough to recall His action in the Temple, when Jesus stops the trading (see Matt. 21:12-13). After that, no one will say that Jesus is One who indulges evil, will they? The words "do not resist the evil one" mean a warning against similar "evil" behavior. After all, revenge or a concrete response to evil by the same kinds of actions is also evil, because it only increases anger, irritation, and sin in the world. And only forgiveness in love can stop this chain. Like water stilling the ripples from a stone that has fallen into it...

It is hard to take in what is said here. Here we are given the very commandments that opponents of Christianity have been used to mocking for centuries. Let us not deny that Christians themselves also find them hard to take in.

But let us note that Christ nowhere speaks of nonresistance to evil. After all, He Himself, in the wilderness not long before this, resisted temptations, that is, the same evil. What is being discussed here is nonresistance to the evil one, that is, to a person possessed by evil. But evil is the disease with which all of us are infected, and from which Christ wants to heal us.

In ordinary perception, the words about turning the right cheek have for too long seemed like another name for weakness and surrender. But for some reason few people notice that in many situations turning the cheek requires courage. For example, we may rightly say that a person who goes unarmed to meet enemies, whether a negotiator trying to enter talks about a ceasefire or someone going to take the place of captured hostages, is turning the other cheek for the sake of saving people. And in general, anyone who tries to stop hostility, especially deep-rooted hostility, risks being beaten by both sides. Yet such attempts do not cease.

If we think about it, we are offered here the most normal rules of behavior: not to be fixated on ourselves, not to be greedy, to forgive offenses. But these commandments are strengthened by the call not to divide people into ours and enemies. In essence, the Lord calls us to begin ending hostility and hatred.

And here Jesus reveals to us the height to which we are called to rise. He calls the disciples not simply to keeping the commandments or to piety; that is not enough. We must become perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

Of course, we are used to considering ourselves weak sinners, but neither sins nor weaknesses should rule over us, because Christ came precisely to free us from them.

What Christ offers us here still seems impossible to most people. But if we want to do only what is within our power, we will not have enough strength even for that.

Today's passage shows how seriously God takes us. Here Jesus speaks about what He would like us to be, without making any allowances for our weakness or infirmity. And as we honestly read these words, all we can do is be crushed: "I cannot do this. And I cannot do that. And I cannot do this either." So we read all the way to the last, forty-eighth verse, and almost with relief exhale: "Well, there, I told you I cannot!"

But, of course, here is also the answer to all our "I cannot." Only God can be perfect, and Christ's whole call to us is this: "Make room for God in your life, and it will become perfect!"

“Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees”—these words were probably received like a proposal to drink the sea or leap higher than one’s own head. The scribes and Pharisees were precisely the people who paid special attention to righteousness: they tried to fulfill every religious prescription so as to please, by their life and conduct, the God who had given people the Law. Yet these words were addressed to Jesus’ disciples, among whom were people of limited understanding, weak people, people of doubtful reputation—in a word, sinners. And they were supposed to live more righteously than the “specialists” in right living! Perhaps this obvious moral dead end was meant to transform fundamentally His listeners’ whole understanding of the world. God cannot be pleased by our wretched righteousness; in His eyes, irritation or a lustful look at another man’s wife is as much a crime as murder or adultery. He does not count our sins and good deeds—it is useless, because a relationship with Him is not a trade. Clearly, Christ’s disciples must live differently, in a new way, as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. They must become a place of God’s presence on earth.