Thoughts going in, Sunday Feb 13th

21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to that person; then come and offer your gift. 25 "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. 27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 31 "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. 33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.' 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Continuing with the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus now begins talking about individual issues/commands.

To begin with, two things pop out at me right away from this passage. The first is that Jesus (and by extension The Church) calls us to support the IDEAL godly life. We talk a lot about grace, forgiveness, and the fact that God is the God of “second chances.” This is good. Wonderful. In our sinful condition, we need this to be true, otherwise we would despair. However, just because God is the God of second chances doesn’t mean that God has thrown in the towel on the ideal. This is probably most clearly illustrated in our day by what Jesus has to say on divorce.

In our day divorce has become so widespread that—with the exception of Roman Catholics and a few others—it seems hardly even considered to be a sin anymore. It’s just one of life’s little hickups along the way. We trade in our vehicles all the time, so now we also trade in our spouses. This attitude may make life seem easier, but it’s difficult to reconcile with what Jesus says in Matthew 5. Without demonizing either party (or both) in a modern divorce scenario, I think it is safe to say that if SIN=BROKENNESS, then divorce is the **result of sin. Certainly there were broken dreams, broken expectations, broken hopes and broken promises along the way—to say nothing of other potential examples of brokenness. The point I’m trying to make is that it is still possible (even commanded) to apply Jesus’ ideal view about marriage/divorce to our setting today EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN DIVORCED. The ideal is expressed by Jesus. Perhaps that didn’t work out for you the first time. We are, after all, broken people tainted by the brokenness of sin. Regardless, the call then is to devote yourself to the ideal of making the second marriage (or third, etc.) work. In other words, the fact that God is the God of second chances does NOT negate the fact that we are called to support God’s ideal …and not trivialize that which God has declared to be very important.

The second thing that pops out at me in this passage is very similar to the first, and that is that there is both a LETTER and a SPIRIT of the law, and God is much more concerned about the SPIRIT of the law—as that’s a matter of the heart.
This comes out most clearly in what Jesus has to say about murder/anger and adultery/lust. The point that Jesus is making here is that God is not fooled by mere outward compliance to the rules. I may THINK that I can be a “good Christian” AND nurse a hateful grudge against someone else, but Jesus corrects that thinking. Just as murder is the ultimate breaking of a relationship, hatred is relationship-killing, and Jesus came to HEAL BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS (first between us & God, and second, between each other). Just as adultery most often breaks the marital relationship, lust burning in the heart breaks the bond of affection that should exist between spouses.
In the end, this is much more than simply a compliance issue. This is not God, the Big Brother, telling us that in addition to expecting full compliance to the rules He also constitutes the Divine Thought Police. Rather, what he is saying is that we cannot be WHOLE individuals by mere outward compliance. Wholeness comes when the outward compliance emanates from a CHANGED HEART; a heart that doesn’t want to commit adultery because it’s not lusting; a heart that would never condone murder because it has hatred under control.

cheers,

TM