Matthew 5:21-37
Jesus comes to us as a hardline preacher of the law in our reading today from the Sermon on the Mount.
- If we really pay attention to what he said it makes us uncomfortable because he speaks against things that we all do.
- He condemns anger and resentment against other people…quarreling…uncontrolled sexual desire and disruption of marriages…lying and all the games we play with the truth.
- All of those are against God’s law…he says.
- And it doesn’t end there.
- If we read beyond today’s reading…
- We hear Jesus speaking against retaliation for injuries and telling us to love our enemies as well as our friends.
We usually think of Moses as the Bible’s lawgiver.
- But Jesus digs even deeper than Moses…
- And denounces wrong thoughts and desires as well as actions.
- Jesus is more Mosesy than Moses.
- These words of Jesus zero in on who we really are.
- Unmasking our pretenses of righteousness and revealing the sinners behind the masks.
Sin is a cancer that goes deep.
- It infects our hearts and minds.
- It is so embedded in who we are that we may not notice it.
- Sin is the way we picture ourselves as righteous…even at the expense of others.
- Sin is the games we play using lies to make them seem true.
- Sin finally separates us from God.
- Jesus calls it “the hell of fire” which reminded his hearers of the smoldering fires of Jerusalem’s garbage dump.
- Oh my…this is bad news…but we need to hear it.
- Jesus did not pretty it up…not one bit.
OK then…here’s what Pastor Chip says:
- I don’t kill people or sleep with other people’s spouses or steal from my neighbors…
- And I speak the truth as accurately as I can.
- So why does Jesus have to call my attention to all my little picky infractions of the rules?
Most of us have had the experience of deciding that we need to clean up some area where we live or work: apartment…office…kitchen…
garage.
- Things we work with get scattered.
- Important papers get mixed with ones that should go to recycling.
- And there are those odd items that you might need someday.
- So those things go in the miscellaneous folder or drawer or closet.
- But if we are not careful…the clutter will get out of hand.
- And we may even become a hoarder.
- There’s a principle here called the law of increasing disorder.
- That is…the total disorder in the universe is always growing.
- Some degree of order is necessary for living things.
- So…life is a continual struggle against disorder.
- Likewise…our spiritual life is a continual struggle against spiritual disorder.
If we are comfortable using some relatively mild judgments against people we disagree with…the habit may grow.
- And we find ourselves using dehumanizing language about people who simply have different opinions or customs or language.
- It may be only a short way from there to the commission of hate crimes.
- Here’s the thing…little things matter.
OK then…Jesus laid down the law in that part of his sermon.
- A few chapters later we will hear Jesus speaking quite differently.
- He will say: “Come to me…all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens…and I will give you rest.”
- But notice…and this is important…he does not say:
- “Come to me and forget about those demands of the law.”
- It is precisely those who had heard the demands of the law…
- Who took them seriously and felt convicted by them…
- Who are offered relief: “I will give you rest.”
As we read through the gospels…we are struck that Jesus is so often associated with sinners.
- The close contacts that Jewish tax collectors had to have with gentiles made it difficult for them to follow the strict demands of the Mosaic law.
- They were widely seen as dishonest by their fellow Jews.
- But Jesus called a tax collector to follow him and to be his disciple.
- Jesus had dinner with tax collectors and sinners.
The scribes and Pharisees…the morality police…were offended by his behavior and his low-life friends…and demanded:
- “Why do you eat with people like that?”
- But Jesus said: “I’ve come to heal the sick…not those who think that they are already healthy.”
Jesus’ mission then?
- Is to save people who have failed to keep the law.
- Which is all of us.
- St Paul said: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
From here we see Jesus moving toward the cross.
- Ironically Jesus will be condemned as a breaker of the law.
- He who is perfect will be condemned a sinner.
- And rejected as one of the unrighteous.
- Accepting the consequences of human sin.
The death sentence upon lawbreakers is carried out upon the one who gave the law.
- God becomes a participant in our story.
- Not as a judge or an executioner but as one of us.
- Taking our place and paying the penalty for our sin.
What Jesus has done by his life and death and resurrection is more than just a legal transaction though.
- By proclaiming God’s love for us through the sharing of our life and dying our death…
- Jesus has shown us that God is indeed to be trusted…in life and in death.
- And it is our faith and trust in God that is the true mending in our relationship with our creator.