February 16, 2020
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew5:21-37
One day Abraham invited a beggar to his tent for a meal.
When grace was being said, the man began to curse God, declaring that he could
not bear to hear God’s name. Seized with indignation, Abraham drove the
blasphemer away.
When he was at his prayers that night, God said to Abraham,
“This man has cursed and reviled me for fifty years, and yet I have given him
food to eat every day. Could you not put up with him for a single meal?”
Sometimes we’re like Abraham. The things that people say and
do make us so mad we could just spit. We don’t watch the news on TV in my
house, mostly because we don’t want to go to bed angry. But I do read news
stories during the day, on the internet mostly, and I try to process what I am
reading productively, in a way that doesn’t burn me up with anger.
Sometimes, whether we admit it or not, we’re like the
beggar. We say and do things that make others angry with us. And sometimes we
purposely stoke the flames to get a rise out of the other person. “Don’t poke
the bear” is a phrase that helps me refrain from intentionally egging on
another.
God knows it’s hard to live with other people. Sometimes
they just make us angry. Trust gets betrayed, we abandon one another, and we
play fast and loose with the truth. It is so easy to break relationships, and
so much work to build or repair them. But God also knows we need one another.
We need support from others, and we need to offer support to others. We need
family, friends, partners, people we can trust.
So God gave us some rules. God spoke through Moses and gave
the Hebrews the Law, the commandments recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, and
Deuteronomy. And as long as the people obeyed, as long as they loved God and
walked in the ways of God, they were blessed. Over time, the people disobeyed
and broke trust with God, so God sent prophets to remind them of the choice
between blessings and curses.
Then Jesus came, speaking to the crowds as the one who came
to fulfill the law and the prophets. He took on some of the more contentious
issues of his day and reinterpreted them. “You have heard that it was said… but
I say…” The law and the prophets have only gotten us so far. If you want to
know the kingdom of heaven, something more is needed. Following the letter of
the law is not enough. Righteousness is to be found in the spirit of the law, the
purpose behind the law, which is the building up of relationships based on
compassion and love.
If you would be righteous, you must understand that when
anger enters your relationships, you have the opportunity to choose between the
path that leads to life, and the path that leads to death. You have the
opportunity to seek out the other person and try to reconcile. You are given
the choice between a relationship restored and a relationship destroyed.
Jesus takes the commandment against murder and directs our
view to the anger that drives us toward punishment, retribution, and revenge.
You have heard it said, “You shall not murder.” But I say, “What is it that
drove you to the point of violence in the first place? It is anger which has
gotten out of control.” Jesus doesn’t say that anger is wrong; anger is an
emotion that all people feel. Rather, you will be judged by how you behave in
your anger. Do you lash out, seeking a violent solution to your problems? If
so, you are headed down the path that ends in murder. Do you seek to restore
peace and harmony, and do the hard work of reconciling differences? Then you
will be blessed with life.
Anger can also murder relationships. Insults are meant to
cause pain. Differences left un-reconciled eat away at us causing divisions
that widen into chasms. Jesus wants us to build bridges and fill in the valleys
between us before it is too late, before the relationship has died. It is hard
work. It takes tremendous humility and courage to approach someone when there
is anger between us. But Jesus knows that love and compassion are more powerful
than anger. Jesus tells us to be brave, when we remember that there is a break
in our relationships, and do what is necessary to heal them. “Come to terms
with your accuser” and you may be offered forgiveness.
Adultery is the betrayal of a relationship that should be
based on mutual trust and support. Marriage is a bond that can keep us together
in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, for better or for worse. But
there are forces out there that seek to tear us apart. The betrayal may begin
with lust, with the desire for another based not on love and mutual care, but
on sexual desire. The betrayal may begin with neglect, when we stop trying to
meet the needs of one another, or perhaps stop even asking what the other
person needs. In biblical times, adultery was much more dangerous for women
than for men. What were they going to do in that story from John’s Gospel to
the woman caught in adultery? They were going to stone her to death. What were
they going to do to the man caught in adultery? Leviticus outlines the punishment
for both, but in the story in John, well, that part didn’t come up.
God knows that we cannot control every thought that enters
our mind. But we can, however, choose where we focus our attention, and we can
control how we respond to our impulses. Jesus knows that it can be hard to
resist temptation, but it is easier if we separate ourselves from those things
which cause us to sin. I think it is better to not take verses 29 and 30
literally, tearing out our eyes and cutting off our hands, lest we all go
around blind and hand-less. But maybe we should click on another web page, find
another part of the store to shop in, or seek the support of those who can help
us to resist our temptations.
In ancient times, women were often considered more like
property than people. The marriage laws allowed for the man to write a
certificate of divorce dismissing his wife. The wife had no such right, by the
way. A divorced woman was then left without legal protections. She would return
to her father’s house – in other words, ownership of her returned from her
husband to her father. She lost any personal property she may have had, and she
lost her children as well, who were the property of the husband. And it would
be much more difficult for the woman to remarry.
God knows it can be difficult to live with each other. But
ending a marriage is often even more difficult. Now, if you have been through
divorce, or know someone who has, you know the pain, the shame, and the turmoil
it brings with it. I don’t want to cause you any more hurt than you have
already experienced. There are situations, of course, such as an abusive
relationship, when divorce is the only good option. But, I think what Jesus is
talking about here is divorce done for frivolous, or lustful, reasons. This was
much more common in that society. This was particularly true among the Romans,
but it was common among Jewish and early Christian people as well.
God knows that marriage is supposed to be a life-long
commitment, a relationship based on mutual care and trust, a rock that
withstands the storms of life. Jesus points out here one consequence of
treating marriage as a commodity rather than a relationship. A relationship
which is meant to bring stability, trust, and support should not be treated
carelessly. “If your heart turns away… you shall not live long in the land.”
Make the effort to repent of your sins and forgive one another. Make the effort
to treat one another as worthy of love. Your relationships deserve your best
effort.
Integrity is the final topic Jesus covers in this passage.
And Jesus knows we need help these days to speak the truth and deal honestly
with one another. How can a society survive if “Yes” does not mean yes, and
“No” does not mean no? If we are to live with one another, there has to be some
honesty in our speech. Trust cannot be built on deception, broken vows, and
false witness. It doesn’t matter what you swear by if you don’t mean it. Don’t
swear by heaven, or Jerusalem, or even by the Bible. Just do what you say
you’ll do, and mean what you say. “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No.’” As
someone said recently “Right matters, and truth matters. Otherwise, we are
lost.”[1]
If we are to live with one another, Jesus tells us that we
must learn to live into the spirit of the law, rather than looking for
loopholes. We must live with love and respect toward one another, and treat
each other as worthy of our compassion and care.
God, help us to do the hard work of loving each other, even
when we’re as angry as Abraham, or as anger inducing as the beggar. Teach us
the kind of love that is promised in your kingdom, love that goes beyond
following the rules and becomes a part of us, love that drives us to seek
reconciliation and peaceful solutions to our problems, love that keeps us
focused on our relationships of trust and mutual care, love that resists
selfishness and does the hard work of forgiveness, love that speaks truth and
values integrity, love that chooses life. Make us love others as you have loved
us. Amen.
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