The
holy gospel according to Matthew (5:21-37)
Jesus
said:
21“You
have heard that it was said to those of ancient times,
‘You
shall not murder’;
and
‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’
22But
I say to you that if you are angry with a sibling,
you
will be liable to judgment;
and
if you insult a sibling,
you
will be liable to the council;
and
if you say, ‘You fool,’
you
will be liable to the hell of fire.
23So
when you are offering your gift at the altar,
if
you remember that your sibling has something against you,
24leave
your gift there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your sibling,
and
then come and offer your gift.
25Come
to terms quickly with your accuser
while
you are going together to court,
or
your accuser may hand you over to the judge,
and
the judge to the guard,
and
you will be thrown into prison.
26Truly
I tell you,
you
will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
27“You
have heard that it was said,
‘You
shall not commit adultery.’
28But
I say to you that every man who looks at a woman with lust
has
already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29If
your right eye causes you to sin,
tear
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.
30And
if your right hand causes you to sin,
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
was also said,
‘Whichever
man divorces his wife,
let
him give her a certificate of divorce.’
32But
I say to you that any man who divorces his wife,
except
on the ground of unchastity,
causes
her to commit adultery;
and
whichever man marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
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 Sovereign.’
34But
I say to you,
Do
not swear at all,
either
by heaven,
for
it is the throne of God,
35or
by the earth,
for
it is God’s footstool,
or
by Jerusalem,
for
it is the city of the great Sovereign.
36And
do not swear by your head,
for
you cannot make one hair white or black.
37Let
your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’;
anything
more than this comes from the evil one.”
The
gospel of the Lord.
-----
Well,
today’s gospel has quite a lot packed into it—and a lot that, on the surface
can seem pretty clear and condemning—two characteristics I don’t usually
attribute to Jesus, though the hyperbole of cutting off hands and eyes are more
his style in getting his point across.
Understanding
the historical context of the gospels is especially helpful today—not to make excuses
for Jesus’ words, but to give some context that might help us understand what
he’s saying and why.
First
let’s go back a bit to verse 17 from last week where Jesus said, “Do not think
that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to
abolish, but to fulfill.” Here
there’s a distinction that we sometimes miss. Jesus is not talking about just following the law, which is the first five books of the Bible, or
Torah, as it commonly called in Judaism, but fulfilling it.
Following
the law meant not murdering, not committing adultery, not breaking promises you
make. If you were a man—who had
the power and agency and economic access in 1st century Palestine—it
meant giving your wife a certificate of divorce when you wanted to get rid of
her like the property that she was.
But
following is not what Jesus came to do either, because there is more at work
than just obeying or abolishing.
Fulfilling
the law meant not only not murdering, but not seeking any kind of harm, or as
Martin Luther said in his explanation of the 5th commandment, “You
shall not murder”: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm
the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life's
needs.”
Fulfilling
the law meant not only not killing or harming, but instead actively seeking
good for others. It meant working
towards reconciliation before offering sacrifices at that time. It’s why we communally confess our sins
and receive God’s forgiveness at the beginning of worship and then share signs
of peace with each other before we collect tithes and offerings or receive
communion each week.
Fulfilling
the law in the case of adultery meant taking into account the ways power,
gender, and economic opportunity impacted marriage, independence, and the
ability to survive.
Because
in Jesus’ day, women were still considered property. They couldn’t work to support themselves and didn’t have
much say in who they married, and no say in divorce.
Fulfilling
the law meant that men couldn’t just abandon women on a whim. Men couldn’t blame women for their own
actions—if a man lusted after, or coveted, a woman, it was his fault, not
hers—no matter how she dressed or acted.
If a man wanted a divorce, fulfilling the law meant he couldn’t just
leave a woman destitute—if we’re thinking about it in today’s terms, we might
equate it not with divorce, but with not paying child support—it leaves the
other person destitute, with an undue economic burden.
As
for promises and swearing, how many of you have ever broken a promise?
Me
too. It is not fun and if we think
about the 10 commandments and not taking God’s name in vain, how could we ever
swear to God about something? Are
we ever sure enough to make that promise?
My
dad used to tell me to never bet more than I was willing to lose, so if he and
I ever disagree on something and he’s really sure he’s right, he’ll bet me a
nickel. Because how sure can you
ever really be?
That’s
the tough part of all this.
Following the law, worrying about not killing, not harming, lying,
stealing—not messing up, is hard and when that’s what we’re trying to do—when
that’s our focus, it’s a pretty pessimistic take on life.
There
is no way for us to do it all.
When it is up to us, we fail.
We fail so badly, in fact, that we crucify Jesus. After all, the crucifixion followed the
law. The law was that Jesus was to
die and die he did. The
crucifixion didn’t, however, fulfill the law—that came 3 days later.
Somebody
once asked “what is the first step to resurrection?”
The
answer: “Death.”
Resurrection—everlasting
life—cannot happen without death happening first. Once we die to sin—defeated by the law in baptism—then God
frees us in the resurrection to new life.
And
then our focus shifts from following the law, to Jesus, who fulfills the Torah.
Then
there is hope. Our focus becomes
the spirit of the Torah, a spirit of compassion, concern for the vulnerable,
accountability for the powerful.
We can stop wondering how to avoid negative consequences and instead focus
on how to contribute to the positives.
Not
because we have to, but because we have already been killed with Jesus. We no longer need to be afraid of the
law. In baptism we are joined to
Christ in a death like his—a death to the law, so that we are free to live a
resurrected life with him here and now.
Christ frees us to respond to God’s love—to respond to God’s outreach to
us. To live into the fulfillment
of the law, the spirit of the Torah.
Christ frees us from the fear and anxiety of following the letter of the
law and frees us to fulfill the love that is the foundation of the Torah,
fulfilled in Christ.
Thanks
be to God.
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