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What must a nation do to regain God’s favor. That’s no a bad question for Americans to answer today, but it was also a good question for the Nation of Israel to be asking in the time of Jesus. In fact, the sages spent a great deal of time pondering this question as we note from the Jerusalem Talmud. There, in Ta’anit 2:1, we read, “Rabbi Eleazar said: Three things annul [or mitigate] a harsh decree, and they are: Prayer (Tefillah), Charity/Almsgiving (Tzedakah), and Repentance (Teshuvah).” Jesus addressed all three in Matthew 6:1-8 & 16-18. And He did so with a theatrical theme.

While setting the stage in Matthew 6:1, Jesus mentions being “seen” by men. The Greek word translated as “seen” has its roots in the Greek word for theatre – theatron. In his opening statement Jesus is already telling the people that you don’t want to be just an actor on a stage. He then goes on to describe the people who do so by their rightful name – hypocrite – which, in Greek, meant an actor or a stage player.

He presents the juxtaposition of the hypocrites and those who do their good deeds – charity, prayer, and fasting – secretly with no fanfare nor public display. He further points out that by receiving the praise of people, the hypocrites have their reward in full. That’s all they get. Meanwhile, those who do their good deeds in secret are paid back by God Himself.

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.” (Matthew 6:1 – MSG)

TRANSCRIPT

The Cultural Context of Greco-Roman Theater

Theater was deeply embedded in the culture of first-century Israel. Influenced heavily by Greco-Roman traditions—particularly across cities like those of the Decapolis—amphitheaters were prominent cultural fixtures throughout Judea and Galilee. When Jesus taught, his audiences were intimately familiar with theatrical concepts. In Matthew 6:1, when Jesus warns against performing acts of righteousness “to be seen by men,” He uses the Greek verb theaomai (from the root theatron), which means to look intently or gaze upon someone as if watching a performer on a stage. Furthermore, His frequent warning against being “hypocrites” directly invokes the Greek word hypokritēs, meaning an actor or stage player. In ancient Greek theater, actors wore large masks with built-in megaphones to project dramatic expressions and amplify their voices to the crowd. Jesus used this vivid cultural imagery to challenge His followers: spiritual devotion is not meant to be a staged performance for human approval.

The “Big Three” Spiritual Disciplines

In Jewish tradition, three core practices—charity (tzadakah), prayer (tefillah), and repentance (teshuva, often expressed through fasting)—were emphasized as essential for seeking God’s favor and restoring right relationship with Him. This concept is reflected throughout Scripture, such as in 2 Chronicles 7:14, where humbling oneself, praying, and turning from wicked ways brings healing and restoration. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus systematically addresses each of these three disciplines, placing them against the backdrop of a theatrical play to contrast superficial public display with genuine, heart-centered devotion.

Giving, Praying, and Fasting in Secret

Addressing the first scene—charity—Jesus cautions against “sounding a trumpet” to draw attention to one’s generosity. Hypocrites perform acts of giving in synagogues and on street corners to gain public praise, but Jesus notes that such applause is their only reward—they are “paid in full” with no heavenly value remaining. Instead, He calls for quiet, humble generosity where the “left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.” Moving to the second scene—prayer—Jesus warns against praying publicly to be seen by others. True prayer is not about public performance or demanding one’s own will; it is an intimate connection with God. By entering an inner room and closing the door, believers seek God Himself rather than human admiration. Finally, in the third scene—fasting—Jesus instructs His followers not to adopt a gloomy appearance or neglect their grooming to show off their self-denial. Because fasting is an act of heartfelt repentance, it should be done discreetly before God, who sees what is done in secret and responds with His grace and restoration.

True Motivation in Kingdom Service

Ultimately, Jesus calls His followers away from grandstanding in religious life. Theater director Konstantin Stanislavski famously noted that actors must “love art, not oneself in art.” Adapted for faith, there is no place for grandstanding in God’s kingdom; believers must love God and His kingdom, rather than loving themselves in kingdom service. Good deeds, prayer, and discipline should never be performed for self-gratification or to gain social status. When acts of devotion are carried out purely out of love for God and obedience to His commands, believers step out of the spotlight of human approval and experience the true richness of kingdom living.

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What must a nation do to regain God’s favor. That’s no a bad question for Americans to answer today, but it was also a good question for the Nation of Israel to be asking in the time of Jesus. In fact, the sages spent a great deal of time pondering this question as we note from the Jerusalem Talmud. There, in Ta’anit 2:1, we read, “Rabbi Eleazar said: Three things annul [or mitigate] a harsh decree, and they are: Prayer (Tefillah), Charity/Almsgiving (Tzedakah), and Repentance (Teshuvah).” Jesus addressed all three in Matthew 6:1-8 & 16-18. And He did so with a theatrical theme.

While setting the stage in Matthew 6:1, Jesus mentions being “seen” by men. The Greek word translated as “seen” has its roots in the Greek word for theatre – theatron. In his opening statement Jesus is already telling the people that you don’t want to be just an actor on a stage. He then goes on to describe the people who do so by their rightful name – hypocrite – which, in Greek, meant an actor or a stage player.

He presents the juxtaposition of the hypocrites and those who do their good deeds – charity, prayer, and fasting – secretly with no fanfare nor public display. He further points out that by receiving the praise of people, the hypocrites have their reward in full. That’s all they get. Meanwhile, those who do their good deeds in secret are paid back by God Himself.

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.” (Matthew 6:1 – MSG)

Transcript:

Pip: From The Back Porch, where Bob has a way of making ancient Greek theater feel like it was written specifically to embarrass your Sunday morning Instagram post.

Mara: This episode follows one extended teaching — working through Matthew 6, the theatrical language Jesus uses, and what it means to do righteous acts without an audience. Let’s start with the play itself.

The Play’s the Thing: Righteousness Without an Audience

Pip: The question framing this whole teaching is almost uncomfortably current — what does a nation, or a person, do to get back into right standing with God? And the answer turns out to run straight through the theater district.

Mara: The setup draws from the Jerusalem Talmud, Ta’anit 2:1, before landing on Jesus in Matthew 6. And the translation chosen here makes the stakes plain: “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.”

Pip: So the applause you get from the crowd is the applause you get, full stop. That’s not a metaphor — the teaching is specific that the reward is paid in full, and God’s account stays at zero.

Mara: Right, and the linguistic groundwork matters here. The Greek word translated “seen” in Matthew 6:1 roots back to theatron — theater. So when Jesus calls the showboaters hypocrites, he’s using the Greek word for stage actor, the person behind the mask. The theatrical frame isn’t decorative; it’s the whole architecture of the argument.

Pip: Which means Jesus is essentially staging a three-act play about people who are staging a three-act play. There’s a certain poetry in that.

Mara: The three scenes map directly onto the Jewish “big three” for restoring God’s favor — charity, prayer, and fasting. Each scene follows the same structure: here’s how the hypocrite does it publicly, here’s what they receive, and here’s the alternative done in secret with God as the only audience.

Pip: And the word “reward” does real work in that structure. The hypocrite’s version means paid in full — total, complete, nothing remaining. The secret-keeper’s version points toward being repaid by God, which the teaching connects to “given to you, pressed down, shaken together.”

Mara: The teaching closes by borrowing from Stanislavski — “One must love art and not oneself in art” — and modifying it: in God’s kingdom, one must love God and His kingdom and not oneself in kingdom service. It’s a pointed warning against the prosperity-gospel current running through a lot of contemporary church culture.

Pip: Grandstanding with a theological justification is still grandstanding.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is integrity between the inner life and the outer act — doing the right thing when no one creditable is watching.

Pip: Next time, we’ll see where the series goes from here. The Sermon on the Mount still has a lot of stage left.

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In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus continues His expansion of Jewish law by addressing the issue of vows and oaths as seen in Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. He reminds His listeners that it was said to the ancients that they were not to swear falsely and to always fulfill their oaths to the Lord. Then, in keeping with His previous discourses, He proceeded to expand what was said in the Law, by saying to not make any oath at all.

In the legal discussions that became the Midrash, Mishnah, and eventually the Talmud, the issue shifted from the vow itself to the manner in which it was presented and the guarantees of fulfillment offered up by the person making the vow. Swearing by heaven (instead of G_D) or swearing by earth (instead of G_D) or even swearing by your own life (instead of G_D) became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” Anything more was unnecessary, and actually evil, because hedging your bets with some form of oath sullied the purity of truth demanded by the One Who is truth Himself.

We do the same thing today when we say things like, “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “I swear on my Mother’s grave” or “As God is my witness” or “Cross my heart and hope to die.” We often say these things in jest, but that attitude in itself is more of an affront to God. At least the 1^st Century Jews were trying to honor G_D in their statements. We just are flippant in our cute little oaths – nothing more than pretty little liars.

The solution? If you can’t speak the truth in love, don’t speak. In other words, if you can’t speak the truth – keep your mouth shut. “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.” (Deuteronomy 23:22 – NKJ)

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in My word, because then you are truly My disciples. (John 8:31b-32)

Transcript

Boys and girls, today not an inconvenient truth, an incontrovertible truth. Okay, do you know what incontrovertible means? It’s absolutely true. But not only that, it is undeniably you cannot refute it. You cannot dispute it. You cannot prove it false. What’s going on here?

Being sworn in as president. Lyndon Baines Johnson being sworn in as president. Where is he?

He’s on Air Force One in Dallas, Texas. Okay. Um, do you know who any of the other people are that are around him?

Jackie Onasses Kennedy or Jackie Kennedy Onasis. Oops. Jackie Kennedy is to his left. Ladybird Johnson is to his right looking over his shoulder wondering why Jackie’s up there so close. Did I say that out? I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it was the first thought that popped into my mind when I looked at this picture here. Anybody else? You know any of these other people? Okay. You don’t know who the uh the judge is?

No, it’s not. It was a district judge. It wasn’t a a Supreme Court justice. Okay. It was a a district court judge, I think. Uh Sarah Hughes. Sarah Hughes was her name. Okay. How about the lurch back there on the left? No. No. Wonderful guess. Good guess, but incorrect. Okay. You probably won’t remember him. I had to actually look it up and make sure that I I knew I knew who he was in the sense of what he did, but I couldn’t remember his name. Uh that’s Thomas, Albert Thomas, US representative here in Texas. I mean he was a from Texas representative from Texas and the guy over there the other one is another representative. Um the reason Thomas I knew who or I knew the connection there. It’s a little piece of history. We have the space center in Houston because of him. Okay. And no doubt the connection that he had uh he he made that happen. I thought that was kind of cool. Interesting. So uh he’s he’s taking the oath, the oath of office, right?

Does he close the oath of office with so help me God?

Do what? You think so? Is that phrase in the Constitution as part of the oath that the president must swear to? No. No, it is not. says, “I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office president of the United States and will do the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Full stop. However,

presidents for decades have always said at the end, “So help me God.” They’ve been asked to say it. I mean the whoever was administering the oath has said it. Hughes the lady who is giving the oath, she was of course handed a piece of paper, right? She was handed a piece of paper said here’s what you’re supposed to get him to say. Here’s the oath. And so she got to the end and she had the oath as it is in the Constitution. But she got to the end the Constitution of the United States. Constitution of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. He said it. She volunteered it. She just thought given the circumstances it was appropriate. Okay. So what’s his left hand on? Okay. So did he say Yes, he Yes, he said it. Yes, he said it. Every president I want to say hang on. No. Did I write that down? I don’t think I did. And it’s every I know every president since Truman has said so help me God. But the the process of saying so help me God started back in the 1800s. But I don’t know that all of them said it. I just know okay. Uh is his hand on a Bible.

Looks like it. Yeah. That’s what the aids thought too.

They were scrambling around looking for a Bible, right? What they found was a book that belonged to JFK that was filled with prayers. Okay. A missive. Okay. It had a cross on the front. His aid said good enough. Snatched it up. So he put his hand on on the missive, if you will, and uh took the oath of office. The oath was made. The oath was made. Right? We’re talking today about oaths. We’re talking about swearing oaths.

We’re in Matthew 5:33-37.

There Jesus begins with commands concerning vows from both numbers 30 chap 30 chapter of Numbers and Deuteronomy 23. He then moves in into a discussion of what I’m calling loopholes and then solemn oaths and impregatory oaths.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that some of you don’t know what impregatory is. Okay, I used one in the next statement.

Cross my heart and hope to

to what? To die. An impregatory oath is swearing on your death. Okay, it’s saying, “May I die if I’m lying?” Okay, and then he concludes with the kiss principle. Yes or no? Keep it simple, stupid. Don’t need to embellish that, right? So, let’s take us let’s take a look at it in a little bit more depth. Making a vow to God. Jesus starts off. This is verse 33. Again, you have heard it said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your vows to the Lord.” Specifically, this is what he was referring to. Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. Okay, the wording is is a, you know, you kind of put them together to to come up with what Jesus was saying, but that’s part of the reason it’s it goes back to that midrash thing. They’re discussing this and they’re saying, “What does it really mean to make a vow, okay? They’re trying to nail it down because they want to make every they want to make sure that they’re doing everything according to the law. According to the law, want to, you know, dot every eye, cross every tea. I want to take care. I want to make sure I’m doing.” So, they go back and they start reviewing this stuff. Jesus says, “You’ve heard it said, you shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths.” And basically, that’s what that’s what we find here, right? Can you see that in in those statements? Yeah. Okay. A man makes a vow to the Lord, swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it. For the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you if you didn’t fulfill it. If you didn’t pay the, you know, or do whatever it is that you said you’re going to do. Okay. But what does Jesus do with all of these basic statements? He says, “This is what was said.” And then what does he say next? But I say to you, But I say to you, But I say to you, But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his foottool, by nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. You shall not, nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. Now you’re thinking, what? Yeah, those were some of the loopholes they were coming up with. You want to swear by God, that’s a big deal. If you’re going to go if you’re going to go to that link, that’s a big deal. And they said, “We need we need to kind of uh soften this a little bit.” So, they came up with some uh look at Isaiah 66, verse one. Look at Isaiah 66.

you there? Yeah. Isaiah 66 verse one. Heaven is my throne and the earth is the foottool of my feet. So you can swear by heaven. Why? That’s where God is. But it’s not as serious as swearing by God.

You can even swear by his foottool. I mean, guys, I know you think it’s it sounds crazy, but some of these rabbis were sitting around coming up with this stuff, saying you can swear by his foottool. That’s even a little bit lower down on the totem pole. You know, that’s not even swearing by the throne, which by the way, you could also do.

They had all of these loopholes built in. built in uh Psalm 48:2. Psalm 48:2,

it’s swear by Mount Zion, the city of the great king, Jerusalem. You see that they had all of these things built in and then they decided to put in you could swear on your life. That’s what the last one means. You could swear by your own life. Only he used the word head. When he in the scripture says head, that’s a loophole. Because if you’re swearing by your head, you lose your head.

You’re dead, right?

Loopholes. Very common common practice in the Middle East to swear by all of these different all of these different things. kind of makes sense that he would say all of that, doesn’t it? In light of the fact that those are the discussions that are taking place and and he’s saying you’re you’re pondering that stuff. You is wasting pers. If that’s what you’re pondering, that’s just a waste of ponders right there. So, do we ever do this?

You ever hear any of these? A stack of Bibles because one isn’t good enough.

I mean, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. You can swear on a Bible. You give me I swear on a Bible. No, no, no. Give me a stack of Bibles. I don’t swear on a stack of Bibles, guys. I don’t know whether y’all have heard any of these. I have literally heard all of these.

If I’m dying, if I’m lying, I’m dying. Actually, I’ve said that one.

And we do it kind of with a wink and a nod and a nudge nudge. You know what I’m saying? We, you know, it’s not like we’re saying we’re not late, but some people are really serious about it.

It’s common, isn’t it? It’s common. Those things those things are so common. It makes me kind of shudder because we take God so lightly.

Do you understand? Swear on a stack of Bibles. I’m with you, John. You know,

swear on my mother’s grave. I swear by all that’s holy.

I mean, come on. Come on, guys. But we do it. We do it. And we shouldn’t. And Jesus Jesus says, “Nope. You know what you need to say is let your yes be yes.” and you know be known for whatever you do above and beyond that that’s just from the evil one. You say that’s a little harsh, isn’t it? From the evil one. No, it’s true. And it has to do with truth. It has to do with integrity. It has to do with the purity that is the very nature of God.

Absolute truth.

You’ve you’ve heard these phrases before, I’m sure, too. You might not have heard this one. Actually, I just found this one. But I thought it was so good I just had to share it with you. But you’ve heard your word as your bond. Isn’t it you? Don’t you you know man is only as good as his word, right? I’ve told this story, but it’s been a while. So those of you that have heard it, go ahead and take a nap. Um, back when we were living down on Lake Houston, we had to have one pier on our pier and beam house fixed. Okay. So, I was calling up foundation people and getting bids and all this kind of stuff, you know, get that thing jacked up and leveled and all that kind of stuff and all of this. And I had had a couple of companies come out and they had given me their written bids with all of the details with all of the stuff, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Woo. And then I had one more house moving company that was going to come out and and give me a bid. Okay. And so I’m waiting for them, sitting out on the front porch, waiting for them to show up. Here they came in an old raggedy flatbed truck.

They’re getting out. They all have beards down to here, long hair, overalls, and all of them barefoot.

I call them the mountain men because they were mountain men. You understand? They got out and at first I’m sitting there waiting and I’m thought, “Oh man, I hope these guys don’t take long. I’ve got to hit and see my the people they’re coming to bid on.” It was them. They were coming to to make me a bid, right? And uh so they uh they got busy and all three of them crawled up under the house. All three of them crawled up into the house, looked around, came out, and about it was it was less than 10 minutes, I know that they were there. And they said, “So, what we’re going to do, we’re going to take we’re going to jack this up right here. We’re going to put this down here in the ground. We’re going to set this footing down here. And then we’re going to put that post in there. We’re going to solid it up. And then we’re going to pump underneath it. We’re going to pump some stuff, some concrete and stuff like that. We’re going to get it all set. It’s going to be all nice and level.” And he gave me a price.

It was a fourth of the lowest bid I had received.

And I said, “You know what?” I was impressed. I mean, they knew what they were talking about, right? I said, “You know what? I think we got us a deal.” I stuck my hand out and shook that man’s hand and he said, “We’ll be here on Monday.” And I said, ‘W wait, don’t you have some kind of contract or something like that we need to sign here? And he said, ‘We just shook on it, didn’t we? I said, yes, sir, we did. And he said, see you Monday.

But isn’t that a nice phrase right there? To keep your word is to weave a thread of gold into the fabric of your reputation. That’s what we’re That’s what That’s what we want, right? We want that reputation. But unfortunately, we’re a nation of pretty little liars. I had to ask Pam what that show is about. I’ve heard that the name of that show and apparently it’s about some mean girls in school. Yeah. Really pretty little liars. But the fact is we as a nation uh we are pretty little liars in general. Well, how often do you tell lies, including the small ones? Where do you fit in there? Look at that.

Several times a day. Well,

I love it. They get down to a certain point and it’s almost like they gave them an out. They give them several times, once a day, few times a week, few times a month. Less often than that. Yeah, less often than that. Gave him an out. Compared with most other people, do you think you tell lies more often or less often? Now you’re thinking about other people. You think you tell lies more often than other people or less often? Oh, you think you tell lies less often than most people? Right? You realize that all the rest of those people are putting you in that same category because they say I tell lies less than

right. I just thought that was kind of interesting. In other words, look, we look at ourselves, we say, “Nah, not me. Not me. Not me.” How about this one? Compared with most other people, do you think you are better or worse at telling lies? Oo, why are we obsessed with comparison? If you claim, this was a good safe answer there, but if you claim I’m better at it. I can I can beat them off. I’m better than most people. Yeah. When I tell a lie, it works, right? Okay. Telling someone the truth might hurt their feelings. Which would you be more likely to do? Ooh. You’re going to tell them the truth, but it’s going to hurt their feelings. Tell them the truth. about half the people and then they’re split here on what they’re going to do. But here’s the other one. Here’s the other one. If being told the truth might hurt your feelings, which would you prefer someone to do? Probably already know what the truth is. You probably already know. 82%. And yet that previous one we’re saying, I don’t know. I don’t know. When most people say, “Yeah, I’d really rather know.” Last one. In general, do you think telling small lies to try to spare someone’s feelings makes the relationship better or worse? It all depends. Really, here’s the thing. You tell that little lie thinking it’s going to make things better. They find out about it. All of a sudden, it’s a whole lot worse. It’s a whole lot worse. The thing is, folks, we are a nation of liars. We don’t believe politicians at all. I’m serious. I I I don’t When I hear a politician say something, I’m thinking, how did he just word that so that he could say that? Do you understand what I’m saying? How did he how did he phrase that so that he could get away with saying that? Jesus says just say yes or or no. Just say yes or no. Okay? No need to lie. And if you if you don’t take it from Jesus, take it from Proverbs. This all comes out of the same chapter. As a matter of fact, there’s one verse in the middle of it that I pulled out because it didn’t specifically mention liars. But the one that pulled that I pulled out was no harm comes to the godly, but the wicked have their fill of trouble. Well, if you lie, you’re going to have your fill of trouble. But here, he who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness deceit. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes help. The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the way, is that is that phrase still used in courts of law? It is. Okay. Are you required to swear on a Bible in a court of law? Not anymore. Not anymore. Okay. But you are required to tell the truth.

Right? So when Jesus says this, he highlights the deceitfulness of swearing an oath or making a vow and the foolishness of such efforts. That’s why it’s called that’s that’s why it says right here uh for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Come on guys, that’s evil. You don’t need to do that. You don’t need to do that. In Deuteronomy 23, you remember we looked at Deuteronomy 23 earlier. That’s one of the places where Jesus was quoting. He didn’t quote this verse, but Deuteronomy 23:22 is the very next verse. And it says, “But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be a sin to you.” In other words, Jesus in the in the law in the Deuteronomy law, the law itself says don’t vow or if you do, make sure you vow and and follow through. The next verse says, “But if you abstain from vowing, it won’t be sin.” Well, hello. Jesus is saying something very similar, isn’t he? He’s saying, “You want to avoid sin, don’t make the vow, don’t swear.” Okay, going to wrap it up real quick here.

In other words, can’t speak the truth, just keep your mouth shut. Again, Proverbs echoes this over and over and over again. He who guards his mouth preserves life, but he who opens his lips shall have destruction. Whoever guards his mouth and keeps his tongue from keeps his soul from trouble. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive. It’s kind of that take on Abraham Lincoln’s thing. Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, right? I mean, this is biblical, people. Keep your mouth shut. You don’t need to go on and on and on and on and on and say, “But I got to prove I got to prove to you that I’m right. I got to prove to you that I’m right.” No, you don’t. You don’t got to prove nothing.

Many people could not handle the truth that Jesus told. Uh, look at John 8. Go ahead and look at John 8. I’d like for you to have it open. I’m going to give you some of the verses up here, but I’d like for you to just have the whole thing open. In John 8,

Jesus is talking with a group of people who take exception to some of the things that he says. Okay.

The first one I want to point out is this. He says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Do you see that? It’s in verses 31 and 32. 31B and 32. However, is mine different than yours? I flipped the order. Yes, I flipped the order. Why did I do that? Because we love to say the truth will set you free, but we never say what comes before that. Another way of saying what Jesus said in those two verses is you will know the truth. The truth will make you free if you abide in my word because then you are truly my disciples. See, that’s not what it says. Is it you will know the truth and the truth will make you free is what we hear all the time. I mean you say that all the time. You’ll know the truth and the truth. I said it to my kids. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. But the thing is we are ignoring the fact that the truth Jesus is talking about is himself.

The truth that Jesus is referencing is the truth, the way, the life. Right. It’s not just, yeah, you’re going to know the truth about, you know, whether or not the Cowboys or the the Texans are going to win today. You’re going to know the truth about that. No, that that don’t mean nothing, man. That don’t mean nothing. Well, the Texans are going to win, but still that don’t mean nothing. You understand? No. What means something is Jesus is the truth. And if you know him, if you are his disciple, ooh, then you’re set free because he sets you free. That’s the whole thing about what he was saying here. If you if you drop down to verses 37 and 38, what he said was then you’re going to be free. And they came back and they said, “Well, we’re free. We’re Abraham’s kids and we ain’t never been enslaved.” Which was a lie to begin with. I mean, they were enslaved in Egypt. I mean, do they not even know what happened back then? You know, but they say, “We have never been enslaved.” He said, “No, no, no, no, no. I know that you’re Abraham’s seed. Yet, you are seeking to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things that you have heard from your father, like trying to kill me for speaking the truth. Wow. Wow.

And then he says, you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language.

That’s his native tongue right there. For he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, you don’t believe me.

Guys, the fact is when Jack Nicholson said truth, you can’t handle the truth. Now, there’s a lot of this world that can’t handle the truth. There’s a lot of this world that can’t handle the truth. But the fact But the fact is that if we know Jesus, we not only can handle the truth, we know the truth. Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right? Take that, Jack.

You can’t handle the truth. Father, we thank you that you have given us your truth that supersedes all of the the silly notions that we we proclaim as truth. Father, thank you that in your wisdom we can know the truth, even your son, Jesus Christ. And we can know the truth of your gospel. We can know the truth of your salvation. We can know the truth of your love. And Father, help us to rightly handle that truth. So many don’t know it. So much of the world does not know the truth. So many of our friends, co-workers, neighbors, relatives, so many people do not know the truth. Help us, Father, to proclaim the truth that is Jesus Christ. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

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In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus continues His expansion of Jewish law by addressing the issue of vows and oaths as seen in Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. He reminds His listeners that it was said to the ancients that they were not to swear falsely and to always fulfill their oaths to the Lord. Then, in keeping with His previous discourses, He proceeded to expand what was said in the Law, by saying to not make any oath at all.

In the legal discussions that became the Midrash, Mishnah, and eventually the Talmud, the issue shifted from the vow itself to the manner in which it was presented and the guarantees of fulfillment offered up by the person making the vow. Swearing by heaven (instead of G_D) or swearing by earth (instead of G_D) or even swearing by your own life (instead of G_D) became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” Anything more was unnecessary, and actually evil, because hedging your bets with some form of oath sullied the purity of truth demanded by the One Who is truth Himself.

We do the same thing today when we say things like, “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “I swear on my Mother’s grave” or “As God is my witness” or “Cross my heart and hope to die.” We often say these things in jest, but that attitude in itself is more of an affront to God. At least the 1^st Century Jews were trying to honor G_D in their statements. We just are flippant in our cute little oaths – nothing more than pretty little liars.

The solution? If you can’t speak the truth in love, don’t speak. In other words, if you can’t speak the truth – keep your mouth shut. “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.” (Deuteronomy 23:22 – NKJ)

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in My word, because then you are truly My disciples. (John 8:31b-32)

Transcript

Pip: From The Back Porch, where the porch light is on and the truth is apparently non-negotiable — which, as Bob points out, is a higher standard than most of us are meeting.

Mara: This episode follows a Bible study on oaths, vows, and why Jesus told his listeners to drop the elaborate swearing rituals and just say what they mean.

Pip: Simple instruction. Apparently not simple enough.

Mara: Let’s start with what Matthew 5 actually says about all of it.

When Yes Means Yes and No Means No

Pip: The setup here is Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, picking up where Jewish law left on vows — and then pushing past it entirely. The question the post is really asking is why we keep reaching for bigger, louder oaths when a plain yes or no should be enough.

Mara: The post frames it this way: “Swearing by heaven or swearing by earth or even swearing by your own life became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your yes be yes and your no be no.”

Pip: So the rabbinical tradition had essentially built an elaborate escape hatch system — swear by the throne, not the one sitting on it — and Jesus called the whole architecture unnecessary.

Mara: Right. And the post connects that ancient workaround directly to modern habit. “I swear on a stack of Bibles,” “cross my heart and hope to die,” “as God is my witness” — the post names these as the same impulse dressed in contemporary clothing.

Pip: We’ve upgraded the loopholes, kept the dishonesty.

Mara: The post cites survey data on this. Most people rate themselves as lying less often than other people — which is a statistical impossibility, and the post notes the irony plainly.

Pip: Everyone is below average at lying, apparently.

Mara: The post also makes a careful distinction about a verse that often gets quoted in isolation. The full passage from John 8:31b-32 reads: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in my word, because then you are truly my disciples.”

Pip: The point being that “the truth will set you free” is everywhere — bumper stickers, courtrooms, graduation speeches — but the conditional clause usually gets left in the parking lot.

Mara: Exactly. The post argues the truth Jesus is referencing is not factual accuracy in general but Jesus himself — and that stripping the verse of its subject changes its meaning entirely.

Pip: And the practical conclusion is almost blunt in its simplicity: if you cannot speak the truth, the post says, keep your mouth shut. Deuteronomy 23:22 is cited directly — “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.”

Mara: Which the post frames as the law itself offering the cleaner path. Don’t make the vow at all rather than make one you’ll hedge or break.

Pip: Less oath-taking, more actual truth-telling. The Sermon on the Mount as a call for plain speech in a culture that has made an art form of the technically-not-a-lie.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is integrity — not as an abstract virtue but as the daily practice of meaning what you say.

Pip: Say yes, say no, stop swearing on things. Turns out the incontrovertible truth is pretty short.