Do not swear, either by heaven or earth or with any other oath…rather let your YES be yes and your NO be no. James, in today’s passage, addresses something which might have been considered as a non-issue in his community: swearing. James might have witnessed the alarming frequency with which the members of his community were swearing and decided to dissuade them from doing it. Swearing involves making conditional promises aimed at convincing a person or persons. Part of the conditional promising always involves a “collateral”- usually part of one’s body, property, relatives, or even heaven and earth. The “collateral” is always invoked to prove the certainty/authenticity of one’s promise. With the understanding that if the promise falls short then the collateral fills the shortfall, we begin to understand why James would advise his community to avoid swearing. What if one had sworn with what does not belong to him/her such as heaven? Swearing can easily lead to sin. To avoid such an occasion for sin, James tell his brothers and sisters to always be honest and to mean what they say. Jesus had already cautioned on swearing using a “collateral” (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) because none of the things we swear by belongs to us. When swearing, one offers as “collateral” what one has, but since we do not own even the clothes that we wear, swearing by them becomes a lie. Furthermore, swearing presumes that we are in control and that we can dictate the outcome of things. This makes us liars (because we do not have control over the outcome of events) and makes us assume the place of God (not even the Son knows about tomorrow [cf. Mark 13:32]).
Rather, let your NO mean no… Humility is our little greatness, yet not many would espouse this noble virtue. Saying NO is neither easy nor comfortable, especially if it means losing a bid or friendship, or even a face! Saying NO is almost equal to admitting to one’s failures. Not many would take this route. We always want to be on the right, to be on the winning team (even if it involves cheating), and to be on everybody’s good side. The only one on whose side we would rather be on is God, and being on his side requires being true (authentic), something that requires the virtue of humility. If God is on my side, I should not fear saying no, because even if I lose face before my friends, I shall have escaped condemnation.