It may seem rather like nitpicking, what we find both Elijah and Jesus doing in our readings today. All Elisha wants is to pause to give his parents a goodbye kiss. Why reject him outright for such an apparently reasonable request. And what is really so objectionable about swearing? Why does Jesus speak out so strongly against it, even to the extent of deeming it demonic? And yet, petty though his master's words may seem, through his actions, Elisha demonstrates that he is not without understanding. By quickly slaughtering and cooking his oxen, Elisha performs a symbolic act that expresses his wholehearted resolve to follow Elijah. There is no turning back. Likewise, Jesus has a similar reason for insisting that we either say yes or no and nothing more. For instead of increasing the weight of what we say, oaths tend to weaken our yeses. If we only wholeheartedly mean something that is said on oath, doesn't that imply a halfhearted affirmation when we fail to swear? What Elijah and Jesus are both emphasizing today is the importance, in the spiritual life, of a wholehearted response. Half-measures and subtle compromises will not do.