The Law of Love Written on Our Hearts

March 21, 2021 
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:20-33[1]

Peace to this house.

I saw a bumper sticker once that read: “When Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies,’ I’m pretty sure he meant ‘Don’t kill them.’”

You’re familiar, I’m sure with the greatest commandment. Jesus was asked by a lawyer:

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, ”’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”[2]

Jesus didn’t make this up, though he makes it clear for us.  This command to love your neighbor can be found in the Torah, the books of the law.  In Leviticus we read: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”[3]  Rabbi Hillel, a Jewish leader from the first century BCE, summed up Jewish law like this: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.”[4]

The Prophet Jeremiah told of a new covenant that God would make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The law of God, the law of love, was to be put within them, written on their hearts. As their spiritual descendants, we too have the law of God written on our hearts. The Lord is our God; we are God’s people. Our iniquity and sins are forgiven. Our commandment is to live in community with others guided by love.

Okay, that’s easy enough.  My neighbors are fellow Israelites, right?  I can love them; they’re just like me!  As long as I can hate my enemies, I’m fine.  That’s in the scriptures too, isn’t it?  In Psalm 139 it says: “Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.”[5] Okay, hold on there. Let’s think about that.

Jesus doesn’t leave it there.  Loving your neighbor as yourself is not enough.  Jesus gives an even greater challenge: “Love your enemies.”[6]  This too comes from the Torah: “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”[7]  Luke records the familiar parable of the “Good Samaritan,” in which Jesus tells us that the enemies of the Israelites, the aliens that resided with them – the Samaritans – are precisely the ones that should count as neighbors.

Whoa!  Love my neighbor and my enemy?  That’s a lot to ask.  I mean, really, my enemies?  Those guys are out to get me!  I suppose if we were stuck in an elevator, I could tolerate them, but love them?  That’s fine for Jesus, he’s like, God, or the Son of God, or something.  He can do anything.  I’m just an average person.

Well, who was Jesus?  We believe that Jesus was the Son of God, or God in a body. John refers to him as the Son of Man. Jesus was also a human being like the rest of us.  He lived, breathed, ate, slept, had friends, laughed, cried, sang, prayed, and learned the scriptures.  Only a few people knew about him before he was baptized and began to preach and teach.  In a way, he was a typical person with an above average understanding of God.  He understood, in a way that most of us struggle with, how much God loves us, and what that means.  And he tried to show us that we too are children of God, with the law of God’s love written on our hearts.

Now, as we near the end, with the palms of Jerusalem waving in the air and the shadow of Golgotha on the horizon, Jesus begins to talk about the kind of death he was to die.  “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.”[8]  The crucifixion, the violent murder of the child of God, the embodiment of the law of love, would bring judgement against this world.  That which would be driven out, the ruler of this world, is the power of domination, violence, and death.

One way of understanding what happened in the death of Jesus is to see the phrase “this world” not as synonymous with the earth as created by God, but rather as the System that seeks to control human life and hold us captive to the ways of death.  This world, this System rules using domination, violence, and death to destroy the children of God who should be ruled by love.  It is this System which is exposed by the cross for what it is, a System opposed to the ways of God.[9]

We are all caught up in the System.  We might see it in consumerism, an economy that depends upon the continual making, selling, buying, using, and disposing of things to mark the value of life.  My value in the System depends on how much work I contribute and how much product I consume.  In this sense, a human life can be reduced to hours of labor and net worth.

We are also caught up in domination, where the value of a person is determined by where they fall in the hierarchy of winner and losers, insiders and outsiders.  Our place in society is locked in by categories of race, sex, age, nationality, and affluence.  We are each placed in a box, and the boxes are stacked in order of value.  God help you if you don’t fit neatly into your box, or try to move to a different one.

The most pernicious trap in this System is violence.  Our society seems to believe that the way to deal with threats is to violently eliminate them.  Those who threaten what we believe to be the “natural order of things” must be seen as enemies to be dehumanized and destroyed.  There can be no compromise, no negotiating with the other side.  Stand your ground or those others will get you.  We’ve watched violence be used in protest and against protesters.  And we’ve seen violence against Asian-Americans increase as they are blamed for the coronavirus.

The System of violence, domination, consumerism, and other ways of diminishing the humanity of others, is the System which crucified Jesus.  On his journey through Galilee and Judea, and most especially through Jerusalem toward the cross, Jesus refused to comply with the demands of the System.  Jesus resisted the devaluing of people, offering healing and hope to all who asked it of him.  Jesus broke the rules that separated people, welcoming women and men, rich and poor, lepers and tax collectors to join him.  Jesus rejected the violence of the Romans, responding to Pilate, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”[10]

Jesus on the cross exposes this world, this System, for what it is: not divine but evil, opposed to God, leading not to life, but to death.  The execution of love, peace, and faith exposes the ruler of this world and drives out the System of death.  Once we have seen the System for what it is, we can be free from captivity, free to live as whole, valued children of God, able to live in peace with one another.

This is “the kind of death he was to die,”[11] death within the System in order to break the System and set us all free from its dominion.  We are free to be valued simply as children of God, and not for our productivity.  We are free to love and be loved just as we are, not based on which category we’re enclosed in.  We are free to be at peace with one another, and not seek to destroy the other.  We are free to live with the law of love written on our hearts, to resist the System that destroys life.  As Christ is raised up, we are drawn to eternal life, and the honor of God.  Amen.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] Matthew 22:36-39.

[3] Leviticus 19:18.

[4] Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

[5] Psalm 139:21-22.

[6] Matthew 5:44.

[7] Leviticus 19:34.

[8] John 12:31.

[9] This interpretation of kosmos, “the world,” as “the System” is used by Charles L. Campbell in his “Homiletical Perspective on John 12:20-33” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, General Editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), p. 141 ff.

[10] John 18:36, italics mine.

[11] John 12:33.

The Law, a Prophet, and a Vineyard

October 4, 2020

St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Exodus 20:1-20; Matthew 21:33-46[1]

The Israelites, set free from slavery in Egypt, begin to establish a new culture. In the wilderness they discover their identity as God’s people.  Having set the people free, God gives them the means to remain free.  The law, beginning with the Ten Commandments, sets this people apart as the people of God – the Lord God who brought them out of slavery to freedom.  And the people of God worship and honor God by obeying God’s laws.

The law is not meant to be a punishment, a burden, or an obstacle to freedom.  True freedom requires responsibility.  Freedom without responsibility, without limits, is the mob rule, freedom for the strong and the powerful, but slavery for the weak and defenseless.

In order to be a free people, we must be at peace with one another, able to trust one another, responsible for the well-being of one another.  And God, by giving the commandments, by setting the boundaries, has provided the means for the people to remain free.  If the people worship God, resist temptation, and take responsibility for one another, they will prosper and remain a free people.  The law would shape the life and identity of the people of God, and be a force that would preserve it against every threat. Through the giving of the commandments God fulfills a promise made earlier in Exodus: “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God.”[1]

God is in a relationship with the people, not unlike the relationship parents have with children. God sets the rules, not so that we can’t have any fun, or have to check off a list of good behavior in order for God to love us. Rather, God show us love in giving the law as the means to have a good and happy relationship with one another and with God. In this sense obedience becomes a loving, grateful response to all that God has done and continues to do. God has given us the commandments to help us to be good people, good neighbors, good citizens even. Without the rules, all of our relationships – with our neighbors, with God, even with our selves – are endangered.

Long before this list of rules, God gave us some work to do. What was the first job that God gave human beings? God made us the gardeners in Eden, and after that bad business about disobedience, we became farmers. Most people throughout history have been farmers or have belonged to agrarian societies. So, it was natural that when Jesus came along, he used agrarian imagery such as the vineyard in our story to talk about the Kingdom of God. Jesus taught people about God’s desires for us using stories that connected with the experiences of the people, so in this story Jesus puts us in a vineyard.

If you work in the vineyard, you are expected to do your job, care for the growth of the vines, and provide the owner with the harvest. You’re also expected to remember that it’s not your vineyard. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, seeing all that the wicked tenants have done, what will the owner do to those tenants?

In Matthew’s story, the answer they gave to Jesus was, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time” (v. 41). Who is Jesus talking to? There is the crowd, of course, and the disciples, but they seem to be mostly spectators. It is the chief priests and scribes who answer Jesus’ question. And his response turns the tables on them.

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?[2]

“Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom” (vs. 42-43). Matthew ends this passage by telling us that “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet” (v. 45).

The parable is a test of leadership. Whose vineyard is it? God planted the vineyard. God is the owner. As the people most responsible for leading the Jewish people at that time, the chief priests are the tenants. The grapes, by the way, are the people to be tended and harvested for the Kingdom of God. We expect good tenants to pay the rent, to do the work that is expected, and to turn over the harvest to the owner. But these are wicked tenants. As one commentary on Matthew’s Gospel tells us, the wicked tenants are those who (1) do not want to give fruit to the owner (or perhaps are unwilling to produce the proper fruit); (2) reject the owner’s authority; and (3) work for themselves.[3]

By rejecting the authority of the messengers, the tenants reject the authority of the owner as well. The tenants see these messengers as a threat to their own prosperity. They have it pretty good in the vineyard, and they’ve worked hard. They expect to keep the profit for themselves. I mean, who needs the owner, right? We’ll just kill his son, the heir, and then the vineyard will be ours! The owner, he’s never around. Who needs him?

The fruit of the vineyard is the grapes, and in this story, we might see ourselves as the grapes meant to be harvested. The wicked tenants want to keep the harvest for themselves. In other words, they want to keep the people, God’s people, for their own purposes. Those in authority want to exploit us. They have taken the first commandment and put themselves in the place of God. How do you think that turned out?

The warning that Jesus gives to the chief priests is that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom” (v. 43). At the time that Matthew wrote his Gospel, war had swept through Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed. The priests of the Temple, with all their power and authority, essentially disappeared from history. Those who had tended the vines and had the responsibility of leading the people were gone.

Leadership of God’s people moved from the Temple in Jerusalem to synagogues and churches. The high priests and Pharisees were replaced by rabbis and ministers. There are new tenants in the vineyard, new caretakers, and we hope that they produce the fruits of the kingdom.

If we pull this analogy up to the current time, those we have put in power are not always the best caretakers. There are those who make a big deal of noise about laws and rules like the Ten Commandments, but only as they apply to people other than themselves. There are those who put on a big show of working for the owner of the vineyard while intending to keep the harvest for themselves. There are those who have forgotten, if they ever really knew, that we are all in relationship with each other, and the well-being of each of us matters for the well-being of all of us.

Perhaps the grapes should reclaim the vineyard. The grapes know how important it is to stick together, to hold each other up, to be thankful for the sun and the rain. I think it is important, no matter who the tenants are, for the grapes to remember who the vineyard belongs to. Whether you fancy yourself a Pinot Noir, a Chardonnay, or a Riesling, we’re all just grapes, and we all need the vine.

The vine is what connects us all. Jesus said, “I am the vine.”[4] Christ is the vine that holds together the grapes; whether we are Catholic, Baptist, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, or Congregational, we are united as the Church of Jesus Christ. Other vines grow with us, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and many others; and they also need responsible care from the tenants.

We must recognize that there are rules that must be kept, laws that hold the authority of commandments, which allow us to live in peace with one another. We must also recognize the purpose of the laws, which is to set us free from slavery, to give us the freedom to live in respectful relationship with one another, with our planet, and in good relationship with God.

There are special celebrations happening around this time of year in many religions. For Protestant churches such as ours, this is World Communion Sunday. On this day Christians around the world will celebrate the Last Supper of Jesus, symbolically seeking unity with one another. Now, more than ever, it is time to seek peace with one another, peace with the earth, and peace with our Creator. May God’s vineyard bear much fruit for the Kingdom. Amen.

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[1] Exodus 6:7.

[2] Psalm 118:22.

[3] Daniel Patte, The Gospel According to Matthew: A Structural Commentary on Matthew's Faith, pp. 298-299.

[4] John 15:5.

Is It Lawful to Cure on the Sabbath?

July 5, 2020

St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Matthew 12:1-14[1]

The sabbath is a gift from God. For the newly forming Israelite community, it must have seemed incredibly wonderful. After long years of slavery in Egypt, to have a day dedicated to rest on which no work was to be done was a treasure. Over time, it became a signature characteristic of Jewish people, that they didn’t work on the sabbath. Taking a break from the routine, taking time to worship God and be with their families was, and still is for most, part of their identity. In the list of the commandments in Exodus 20 we read:

Remember the sabbath day and treat it as holy. Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.[2]

This idea of getting a day off from work, and taking time to worship God, is precious. Certainly, this was important to a people who had just been enslaved. This precious gift from God must be protected. And so, later in Exodus, the Lord gives Moses instructions for keeping the sabbath, and says:

Keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who violates the sabbath will be put to death. Whoever does any work on the sabbath, that person will be cut off from the people.[3]

This is serious business. God really wants you to take a break. This is reiterated, with a more positive spin, in Isaiah 58:

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth.[4]

Keeping sabbath, and keeping it holy, is a really big deal. Bad things happen when you work on the sabbath, and good things happen when you rest. This is why the Pharisees are so upset by what Jesus does. The disciples are hungry, so they pick some grain to eat. That’s work. Better that they should go hungry. Jesus tries to point out that this isn’t worth getting worked up about. After all, even David, the great King, broke the rules when necessary. The temple priests break the rules when necessary. What’s more important, following the letter of the law, or compassion and mercy?

The Pharisees response isn’t recorded, but they probably walked away grumbling to each other. The sabbath day is precious. If Jesus starts working on the sabbath, then his followers will start doing work on the sabbath, and pretty soon no one will get a day off ever again! Madness!

Later, they try to make their point again, this time in the synagogue where there is a man with a withered hand. “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” they ask. Surely this man can wait. Jesus responds with a sheep fallen into a pit, and declares “How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!” The Pharisees don’t like this answer either. The question is, do we?

Do we always value the human being more than we do our pets, or livestock, or property? Do we value compassion and mercy more than the rules? This is a larger question than just whether it is lawful to do good on the sabbath. This is greater than the temple and the rules of purity and holiness. The question raised here is whether we value mercy more than laying blame and guilt. The question is whether we value people more than we value the laws meant to control us.

I don’t think Jesus meant these stories to be a license to break any law or ignore any rule that we find inconvenient. I do think he meant to show that there is a higher law, the law of love, mercy, and compassion.

Now, I am not the most merciful or compassionate person around. I admit that I cast a lot of judgement on my neighbor who kept having parties when we were supposed to be in quarantine. I have given the stink eye to people not wearing a mask in the store. And there was that night I yelled at someone shooting off fireworks close to my house which woke up my young children. I could stand to be more compassionate and merciful. And I pray that God will make me more kind and loving.

There are good reasons for the rules and laws that we have. Laws and rules of behavior allow us to have a peaceful, civil society. They give us a standard set of expectations that help us all to live together and enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and keep us from harming one another. The commandment to keep the sabbath holy is a good law, and I’m sure under most circumstances Jesus would advocate for observing the sabbath.

But there are times when human need supersedes the rules. If my child is rushed to the hospital, I’m not going to wait for traffic lights. I will probably be ticketed, justifiably so, but it would be worth the cost to be at the side of one I love in time of great need.

It is a question at least as old as Socrates, whether there are circumstances when it is right to break the law. When does the moral supersede the legal? What goal justifies breaking the rules?

This is not a simple question, nor one that can be answered in a twenty-minute sermon. The goals of those who would disobey the law have to reach into the heart of morality before we can say that they are right to do so. This question bears on current events, and there are no easy answers. Is the moral cause more important than the law? Is the human being of more value than the sheep? Is it the right thing to do to cure on the sabbath?

For Jesus, the man with the withered hand was the right choice. Curing him would add to the charges against him, but mercy said “stretch out your hand.” The Pharisees conspired about how to destroy him, yet the Son of Man would continue to pursue love, compassion, hope, and forgiveness all the way to the end.

Enjoy your sabbath day. Seek rest, take delight in the Lord, and share love and peace. If you have to do a little work, or commit an act of kindness, I am pretty sure God will understand.  Amen.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] Exodus 20:8-11.

[3] Exodus 31:14.

[4] Isaiah 58:13-14a.

A Bigger Perspective

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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[1] Congressman Adam Schiff, speaking to the United States Senate, January 23, 2020.