Text: Matthew 5:21-37Revised Standard Version (RSV)
Concerning Anger
21 “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother[a] shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults[b] his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell[c] of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; 26 truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.
Concerning Adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.[d] 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.[e]
Concerning Divorce
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Concerning Oaths
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 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, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.[f]
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
I don’t think there’s anybody here today who doesn’t feel a little scorched by these words. What Jesus says in this passage from the Sermon on the Mount covers all the bases – there’s something here for everybody, it seems. Or, to put it another way, none of us comes away unscathed. When we hear these words of Jesus, we might also think of the Apostle Paul’s words to us in his letter to the Romans (3:23), “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
As shocking as these words might be to us, though, to those who first heard them, they were positively scandalous. Here was this country rabbi, Jesus, from some backwater town called Nazareth, standing there and telling them that what he was saying to them superseded the decrees of Moses and the Law!
It’s actually pretty hard for us to truly understand just how scandalous this was. As Barclay tells us, “To the Jews, the law was absolutely holy and absolutely divine; it is impossible to exaggerate the place that the law had in their reverence. The Jewish document The Letter of Aristeas says: ‘The law is holy and has been given by God.’ ‘Only Moses’ decrees,’ said Philo, ‘are everlasting, unchangeable and unshakable, as signed by nature herself with her seal.’ The Rabbis said: ‘Those who deny that the law is from heaven have no part in the world to come.’ They said: ‘Even if one says that the law is from God with the exception of this or that verse, which Moses, not God, spoke from his own mouth, then there applies to him the judgment. He has despised the word of the Lord: he has shown the irreverence which merits the destruction of the soul.’”[1]
Yet here is Jesus doing exactly that. No one had ever heard anything like this before. No one had done anything like this before. It was just plain stunning. “Who is this guy,” they possibly asked themselves, “who says these things, who changes the law, on no one’s authority but his own?”
Authority. That’s a word they knew, and we know it, too. The Greek word used here, “exousia” (ἐξουσία) which we translate as “authority,” was defined as “the power to add and the power to take away at will.”[2] Jesus, in his divine authority, modifies the ancient law of Moses and gives his disciples a new way to live.
And that’s really what it’s all about. Jesus addresses the age-old question that has beset humankind since the very beginning of time, namely, “how are we to live together?” Every human society, every law ever passed, has this basic question at its heart. By his presence, Jesus tells us that this is not just a fundamentally important question for us, but also for God – because God created us to have a relationship with him; and we can’t have a relationship with God if we don’t have one with each other.
It’s about, not just how we treat each other, but about how we think about each other.
The concept of God that Jesus taught – that God was a loving Father who loves us, wants the best for us, and desires nothing more fervently than to have a relationship with us – this was, and still is, a radical concept of God. To the Greek philosophers, God was the dispassionate Mover of the Universe. The thoughts and motivations of mere mortals were completely unimportant. In fact, the ancient Greeks believed that their gods considered human beings to be nothing more than toys, playthings to be manipulated for their amusement.
In other cultures, God was nothing more than a spiritual guide, or the director of divine karma.
But – a God who actually cares about how we treat each other? Unheard of! Unthinkable!
And because God loves us so much, how we treat each other matters, and matters deeply. Jesus broadened the understanding of the Law among those who heard him:
- It’s not enough just to refrain from committing murder. I think it’s pretty unlikely that any one of us will ever be guilty of that particular crime. But there’s murder in the physical sense of violently ending the life of another, and then there are those other very subtle ways in which people do much the same thing – by murdering others’ hopes, by murdering their self-esteem, by murdering their efforts and their chances to live a fuller life. That might seem like a stretch; but I would be willing to be that every one of us has, at some point in our lives, experienced such a “murder.” Often that murderous act begins with a lack of respect – every one of us faces the problem every single day of how we should also treat each other with respect; and that means, among other things, not speaking hateful words, either to someone or about By refraining from speaking those hateful words, we show respect; and that is how we also gain respect.
- It is not enough to avoid physically committing adultery. Rather, we also need to resist turning other persons into objects by seeing them as a means to satisfy an end. Note here that the “adultery” means much more than the narrow meaning we have assigned to it. The word “adultery,” literally means to make something impure, to adulterate it, to pollute it. How often do we allow jealously or ambition or selfishness to pollute, to adulterate, our relationships?
- It is not enough to follow the letter of the law regarding divorce. We need to be clear that Jesus is not saying that people who might find themselves in an irretrievably broken relationship must remain in that state of misery. That runs counter to everything we know about the graciousness and forgiving love of God. But what Jesus is driving at – and which is very important for us to grasp – is that we should not treat people as disposable objects and we should make sure that the most vulnerable among us – and in our culture as in his culture that often meant women and children – are provided for.
- It is not enough to keep ourselves from swearing falsely or lying to others. We should speak and act truthfully in all of our dealings so that we don’t need to make oaths at all.
As one Fr. Almquist of the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge tells us, this is “Jesus’ powerful commentary on what it means to live as a citizen of God’s Kingdom. Our Lord speaks about the importance of making peace with those around us and not allowing conflict to define us or to get out of hand. He addresses the danger of unbridled personal hungers that can easily lead us in a direction that is personally harmful and generally destructive to the welfare of those around us.”[3]
Finally, consider this: What if God isn’t as interested in us keeping the law for the law’s sake, but in following it for our sake? All parents make rules for their kids, and the kids invariably think that most of these rules are harsh, arbitrary, and unfair. But as they grow older they begin to realize that these rules were really meant to help and protect them; that, in fact, their parents made these rules because they loved them.
This week, I’d like to invite you to think of the relationships you have with others. Think of one of the relationships most important to you, one that is good, healthy, and sustaining. Think about what makes that such a good relationship. Give God thanks for it.
Then think of another relationship you have, one that is also very important, but which has been strained. Think about why that relationship has become strained. Offer that broken relationship to God in prayer. Pray for healing.
Treat each other with respect. Don’t use others as just a means to an end. Don’t treat others as objects. Speak and act truthfully and with integrity.
If we do that, Sisters and Brothers, we will truly go a long way toward being the people Jesus knows we become!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Barclay, William, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One, The New Daily Study Bible, Louisville, KY, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, pp. 154-155
[2] Ibid., p. 155
[3] Almquist, the Rev. Roy, “How Ought We To Live?”, Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge, PA, February 13th, 2011