FIRST BE RECONCILED The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, Part 3. Matthew 5:21-37

Transcription

1 1 FIRST BE RECONCILED The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, Part 3 Matthew 5:21-37 [A sermon preached by the Rev. Stan Gockel at the Bellbrook Presbyterian Church on February 20, 2011] I There is an old legend about a New England town that was suffering through all manner of dissension and back-biting. The people were constantly involved in petty feuds pitting neighbor against neighbor. One day, the people came together and consulted a wise pastor as to how they could resolve their differences. The pastor agreed to think on the matter and send them a letter soon detailing his judgment. A few days later, the pastor sat down and wrote his letter to the people, full of advice on how to make peace in their town. He also sat down and wrote a letter to a farmer friend of his who was having trouble with a bull. Then the pastor called up two messengers, gave them the two letters, and sent them on their way. You can guess what happened. The pastor accidentally mixed up the letters. The message for the town got sent to the farmer friend. The message for the farmer friend got sent to the feuding town. Here is the message that the townspeople received: "You had better see that your fences are put up well in the first place. Plough your ground deep; and sort your seed; be careful not to sow foul seed; and take care of that great, ugly bull. I think you had better poke him. The rest I will tell you when I come." The townspeople sat in silence for a long time, contemplating the pastor's strange message. Finally, one man stood and attempted to interpret it. The putting up of fences must refer to the rules of discipline in the church. The people had neglected these rules of discipline for too long. And ploughing up the ground must be another way of saying the people need to open their hearts, to allow the good seed of brotherly love to be sown. The warning against foul seed was obvious: the citizens had an obligation to sort the truth from the untruth, and not believe every morsel of

2 2 gossip they heard. And the great, ugly bull could only symbolize the devil, who had come into their midst and stirred up so much strife among them. The people were so moved by the pastor's advice that they began confessing their sins and offering forgiveness to one another. They opened up their hearts to one another and prayed for each other. And peace reigned in the once-feuding town. II We are in the middle of a series of sermons from The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, which, of course, is the Sermon on the Mount. Up to this point in the sermon, we have encountered the source of True Blessedness, the Beatitudes and we have heard Jesus call to his followers to be the salt of the earth and the light in the world. Also in last week s reading we had these words of Jesus from Matthew 5:17-18: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. In today s lesson Jesus goes into detail about how he intends to fulfill the law and the prophets. He addresses six real world examples of conflict and heartache where what goes on inside a person is the key to what occurs on the outside of a person. Notice that all his examples have to do with relationships relationships within the community of faith, in the family, and in society. He begins with the question of murder and the anger that gives rise to it; that is where I want us to focus in today s sermon. You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, You shall not murder ; and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, You fool, you will be liable to the hell of fire.

3 3 Jesus teachings astounded the people who came to hear him. His teachings also deeply offended and angered the scribes and Pharisees. Over time the Pharisees had become more focused on the outward observance of the Law rather than its inward transformation. From the original Ten Commandments the Jewish rabbis had extrapolated 613 commandments that governed every aspect of daily living, in particular, how one was to keep the Sabbath. In contrast to the external focus on the keeping of commandments, Jesus teaches us that righteousness begins on the inside of a person. Six times Jesus either quotes from the Law or from the interpretation of the Law given by the Pharisees and the rabbis of that day. Then after quoting the Law, he gives his interpretation of what the Law really means. Five times he says "You have heard" but then he follows by saying "But I say." Now some people believe that Jesus is contradicting the teachings of Moses. But the contrast is not between the Law of Moses and the teachings of Jesus. The contrast is between the way the Law had been mishandled and misinterpreted by the legalistic Pharisees and what the Law really meant. In fact, when Jesus is quoting strictly from the Torah, he uses the words, "It is written." But when he introduces what the rabbis taught, he uses the words, "It was said" or "It has been said." In other words, Jesus is not denying what the Law taught; he is taking it to the next level

4 4 He is going beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. We see this in verses III The sixth commandment said, You shall not murder. Jesus says beware of the anger that gives rise to murder. Now all of us have times in life when we get angry anger is, after all, a normal human emotion. Sometimes we are angry about injustices done to us sometimes it is the realities of pain and suffering in the world sometimes it is injustices done to others. All kinds of things move us to anger. But part of human maturity is learning to recognize your anger and deal with it before it gets out of control. There is a sense here in which Jesus is suggesting that each of us is a murderer. Each of us is a killer of life and love when we harbor anger and contempt toward anyone. And Jesus makes it clear that the hard part of reconciliation must start with us with our decision to be reconciled to God and to neighbor. And we are to do this no matter who is at fault. Plato once imagined the spiritual journey as a chariot moving through the wilderness of life, with the soul as the charioteer trying to rein in two powerful horses: the horse of anger or passion, and the horse of reason or order. Plato understood that both passion and reason can be life-giving, but only when they are held in dynamic tension, only when each power neutralizes the potential destruction of the other.

5 5 Jesus tells us that we must balance the passion of anger with the discipline and reason of love. And he tells us that the law of love can best be fulfilled, not through rules, but through relationships. The word that Jesus uses means a particular kind of anger. He is not talking about short bursts of annoyance or frustration. Rather he is talking about the brooding, pervasive kind of animosity that can eat away at us a kind of leprosy of the soul. This toxic poison destroys relationships and leads to malicious gossip, to character assassination, and to the destruction of lives and reputations. Now lest we are tempted to excuse ourselves from such ugly behavior, I ask you to reflect on your own lives for a minute. Who was the last person you gossiped about or maligned unfairly? How frequently do you label or stereotype others who may disagree with you? How willing are you to savor animosity and bitterness toward a friend or family member in order to hold onto your own hurt, your own self-righteousness, your own brokenness and pain? How easy it is to turn other people into a category, rather than seeing them as beloved children of God who just happen to see things differently than I do. IV So what is the solution to the problem of murderous anger? How can such anger be defused and prevented from spilling out into violence? Jesus tells us in verses 23 and 24:

6 6 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift Leave your gift at the altar and go find your brother or sister to make things right. First be reconciled, says Jesus, then come and offer your gift in worship. Here is the point I think Jesus is making throughout this passage: relationships matter more than precepts, commandments, and rituals. Live in such a way, says Jesus, day by day, that when you come to worship there is no anger between you and your neighbor, your brother or your sister. Healing can happen when we put aside our anger and seek reconciliation with those who have hurt us. We do it because this is how we can find God s peace. The great Presbyterian theologian Fred Buechner wrote: Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you. Listen: we don t forgive another person because it s good for them; we forgive because it s good for us. We don t seek to remove anger and bitterness from our lives in order to benefit the person who has harmed us.

7 7 We seek to remove anger and bitterness for the sake of our well-being. Seeking to be reconciled with those who have wronged us is hard work. But it is necessary if we are to find the true peace that Jesus wants to give us. Jesus tells us that if we cannot embody love and reconciliation in our personal lives, well, then, reconciliation in the world is doomed. V In the movie Gandhi, a Hindu leader appears at Gandhi's bedside to plead with him to end his fast. The emancipator of India has pledged to keep on fasting until the fighting between the Hindus and the Muslims came to an end. The Hindu leader was angered by Gandhi's resolve to continue his fast and vowed to continue the fight against the Muslims. To justify his behavior he related how his enemy took his young son and bashed his head against a wall. To seek revenge he captured a Muslim child and did the same thing to him. Then he paused and added sorrowfully, "I have been living in hell." Gandhi reflected for a few moments and then responded, "I think that I know a way out of hell. Go and find a boy similar to the son the Muslims killed, take him into the home as your son, and raise him as a Muslim." Our Lord taught that if we would worship him, we must first be reconciled with our enemies. Reconciliation involves three things: contrition, confession,

8 8 and satisfaction (to attempt to right the situation). Most of us stop after the first or, possibly, the second part of the act of reconciliation. In order for spiritual harmony to be completely restored, the reconciliation process must be completed. There is a true story about two farmers in Canada. One day the dog of one farmer got loose and mauled to death the two-yearold child of his neighbor. The devastated father cut off all relationship with his neighbor, and the two men lived in cold, defiant enmity for years. Then one day a fire devastated the property of the dog-owning farmer, destroying his barn and all his equipment. He was unable to plow and plant, and so his future appeared doomed. Except that the next morning he woke up and found all his fields plowed and ready for seed. Upon investigation, he discovered that his grieving neighbor had done this good deed. Humbly the rescued farmer approached his neighbor and asked him if he had plowed his fields -- and, if so, why. The answer was clear: "Aye," the former enemy said. "I plowed your fields so that God can live." VI My friends, hard-core Christian love is not about affection and friendship. It is about forgiveness and reconciliation. It is about a law deeper than litigation. It is about the law of grace and the power of resurrection. This day, if any of us feel estranged from God, it is not because God has moved away from us.

9 9 It is because we have moved away from God. We have become distanced by all the anger and brokenness and disappointment in the relationships of this world. T. S. Eliot writes: "And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well When... the fire and the rose are one." Yes, when... all manner of creatures are one. And all manner of Christians are one. And the broken and fearful world and its Creator are one. And the church and its Lord are one. First be reconciled then all shall be one in Jesus Christ. Amen. Sources: Susan Andrews, Embassy at 66011, sermon retrieved from Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, 117. King Duncan, Making Relationships Work, sermon retrieved from N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Vol. 1,