10:30 am, Sun, Feb 12, 2023 - J G White / FBCA (Mtt 5:21-48)
Perfect. The word ‘perfect’ is
now rather common in day-to-day talk. We often don’t mean that something is completely
right with nothing wrong in it. We just mean ‘that’s fine.’ How many times in a
restaurant, when you order from the menu, does the waiter then say to you, ‘Perfect’?
Whew. I’m so glad I chose what I did
from the menu; I’d hate to pick any of the other things that were less than
perfect! 😉
Jesus makes perfect the path of
religion. As Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’ continues, today’s next section
starts: 7 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Then he starts into it: the six bits
six of us read just moments ago.
21 “You have heard that it was
said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ … (Of course they’d
heard it said; it’s right in the Ten Commandments!) 22 But I say to you that
if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and
if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if
you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.
Jesus is a dramatic Jewish
teacher. He said things in ways that got people’s attention, kept their
attention, had an impact, and were memorable. We still remember, today.
How Jesus deals with rules sounds…
challenging. He is going deeper than rules. Christ is talking about inner
transfor-mation. Becoming the sort of people who do the right things, automatically,
naturally, not because we are obeying every rule.
In this first bit, he takes the
commandment about no murder and gets at the inner issues: anger and contempt. As
we become more and more in the image of the God we worship, less and less we
will be angry and hateful to others.
Next, Jesus says, 27 “You have
heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you
that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery
with her in his heart. We might read this a few different ways translated into
English. The Greek text has Jesus speaking of looking at a person with the
purpose of desiring them. Even if you don’t manage to ‘sleep around,’ but
you make that your goal on the inside, there is a problem. When we desire to
desire, there is danger.
So, again, it is not about
breaking a rule of behaviour (about adultery), or even of inner thoughts. Jesus
is pointing to the possibility of being refreshed inside, so that our desires are
better. Psalm 37 sings: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you
the desires of your heart. God wants to give us the desires of our hearts. So,
God wants our desires to become wonderful and good.
Jesus goes on, again quoting
scripture (Deuteronomy): 31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife,
let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that anyone who
divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, causes her to
commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Jesus’ audience, when He spoke
this teaching, was quite different from our society today. Their ways of
marriage, and of divorce, were different from our societal norms. One thing
that happened then, to women, was that they had very little hope of any normal,
happy life, if they were divorced. It was brutal.
I have wondered how much of Jesus’
statements are simply acknowledging how people are permanently connected by
their life together, long after they are apart.
And remember, there may be real
intent and purpose in the order of this sermon on the mount. It may be
no accident that Jesus deals with divorce after having dealt with anger,
contempt and obsessive desire. Deal with anger and with despising someone in
your self, and deal with obsessive fantasies, and think how many divorces would
then occur? Life together could be much more possible.
What is the next step in Jesus’
series? 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient
times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to
the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you: Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it
is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool... This
is all about making vows and promises, not about cursing, bad language. ‘Yes’
and ‘no’ should suffice. Truly giving our word, and keeping our word, does
depend upon how we deal with anger, our desires, and being committed in our
relationships.
Jesus next quotation from
scripture is rather famous. 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you: Do not resist an
evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…
Perhaps this could be the slogan for a nonviolent image of Christ. His own
nonviolence reached its pinnacle at the Cross. There, Jesus did not resist
evildoers. As a gospel song says, He
could have called ten thousand angels,
To destroy the world, and set
Him free;
He could have called ten
thousand angels,
But He died alone for you and
me.
The last of Jesus’ six ‘You have
heard that is was said’ statements is: 43 …‘You shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you… The five previous times, Christ is quoting from the Law, the
Torah, our Old Testament. Here, it is not a Bible quotation, but a definite
attitude that is common, the usual: love neighbour / hate enemy. No brainer.
But the mind of Christ is
different. And the mind of Jesus is available to those who receive His
preaching. I keep believing that everything Christ proclaimed – or sometimes
whispered – was possible, and is possible, in our lives. To live a good
life, in all these amazing ways, is not the impossible. Well, we could call it mission
impossible – but with God all things are possible.
And the amazing life
happens, by the grace of God, in day-to-day, down-to-earth ways. Theologian and
author, Derek Flood, illustrates with an everyday example. The other day our
5-year-old daughter had a “meltdown.” She’s screaming, and I’m feeling
triggered. My amygdala has kicked in now, but I do my best to pull myself
together, and, taking her by the hand, I bring her to her room for a time-out.
When we get there, she screams at me hysterically, demanding I give her a hug.
Now mind you, I’m not feeling
compassion right then—I’m mad. In my head I’m rationalizing that emotion,
thinking, “I don’t want to reward this selfish behaviour with a hug!” So I feel
tempted to pull away from her, thinking it would be good for her to feel bad so
she could “learn her lesson.”
…But something in me knew—as
much as I didn’t feel like doing it at the time—that she really did need that
hug. So even though I did not feel like it, I put my arms around her and held
her. And when I did, a miniature miracle happened: All her distress, panic, and
rage just melted away. She was able to calm down, and able to listen as we
talked about what had happened…
This simple act of kindness
broke the hurtful dynamic my daughter and I were both caught in. That’s the
core working principle of enemy love: Do not be overcome by anger, but overcome
anger with kindness. (Flood,
2014, Disarming Scripture, pp. 183, 184) Sound
familiar? It’s echoed in Romans 12.
‘Love your enemies, and pray for
those who persecute you.’ This truly is perfecting the rules. Completing the
rules of religion that seem convoluted and sometimes oppressive. Being ‘perfect,’
in this life, is not a destination we arrive at, it is a direction we point to,
and we keep moving. Once, Jesus summed up the laws of His religion saying, love
God and love neighbour. And who is neighbour? Well, even the enemy.
Let us end this sermon with the
beginning of a prayer for critics and enemies, by Serbian Orthodox
Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic. This is but the beginning of a longer prayer.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even
I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace
more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth; enemies have loosed me
from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.
Enemies have made me a
stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world.
Just as a hunted animal finds
safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies,
found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Your tabernacle,
where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.
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