You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, You shall not murder;

Transcription

1 (Sermon for Matthew 5:21-37, Sunday, February 16, 2014) Sermon In A Sentence: Jesus calls us to high standards standards befitting children of the Heavenly Father but makes it possible for us to be forgiven when we fail. Our Gospel lesson today is difficult difficult for more than one reason. For one thing, every congregation has divorced people who will tend to hear Jesus words about divorce as oppressive. For another thing, in these verses, Jesus seems to take Old Testament laws, which were difficult to keep, and ratchet them up to spectacularly tough levels. It reminds me of an Old Testament story about Rehoboam, King Solomon s son. Solomon had been a good king in some ways, but his spendthrift ways exacted a heavy toll on his people. When Solomon died and Rehoboam became king, people asked him to rule with a lighter hand. Listening to the advice of hotheaded advisors, Solomon replied: My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (1 Kings 12:14). Is that what Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount? Is he saying, The Old Testament law was tough, but I m going to make it tougher? You could certainly get that impression from our Gospel lesson today. Jesus said: You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, You shall not murder; and whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment. But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whoever shall say, You fool! shall be in danger of the fire of Gehenna (vv ).

2 When Jesus uses the word brother here or brother and sister he wasn t just talking about one s siblings. He was talking about Christian brothers and sisters fellow believers other members of the church. The truth is that most of us have been angry at someone in the church at some point. The more involved we are in the church, the more likely that we will feel strongly about this or that, and feel angry about someone who is leading the church in the wrong direction. There s lots of that kind of animosity in churches these days. Churches are being torn apart by conflict between liberals and conservatives. There seems to be no end to possibilities for anger, and for calling someone a fool. But Jesus warns that if we do that, we will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna. That seems extreme, doesn t it! Call someone a fool and end up in hell. Then Jesus said, You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery; but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart (vv ). That s another impossible standard isn t it! I won t ask you men to raise your hands if you ve ever looked at a woman with lust in your heart. And, I won t ask you women either! None of us is immune! Jimmy Carter made news many years ago by telling a Playboy interviewer, I ve looked on many women with lust. I ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me. The press had a heyday with that one, but Carter was right. He was acknowledging his human frailty, and his need of forgiveness, and he was also acknowledging God s willingness to forgive. Let me repeat that, because it goes to the heart of our Gospel lesson today. Carter was acknowledging his human frailty and his need of forgiveness and God s willingness to forgive. Tuck that away in your consciousness, because that principle applies to all parts of the Gospel reading we re struggling with this morning the part about anger, the part about adultery, the part about divorce, the part about false promises. We have sinned, and Christ has come to redeem us from our sins.

3 Jesus went on to say: If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna (v. 29). That gives us another important clue to understanding our Gospel lesson. Was Jesus advocating self-mutilation? NO! Let me be clear about that! Jesus was NOT advocating that people pluck out an eye, or cut off a hand. NO! I don t know any serious Biblical scholar who would suggest such a thing. This is instead an example of something we call hyperbole, exaggeration to make a point. We re familiar with hyperbole, even if we we re not familiar with that word. We ve all used hyperbole: We say, If I ve told you once, I ve told you a million times. Really! A million times? Probably not! We say, I m so hungry, I could eat a horse. If they served a horse, would we eat it? Probably not! Could we eat the whole thing? No! We say, This suitcase weighs a ton. Does it really weigh two thousand pounds? No! We don t intend for people to take our hyperbole literally. We don t expect anyone to believe that we actually told them a million times, or that we could really eat an entire horse. We use that kind of exaggerated language to make a point. So what point was Jesus trying to make when he talked about plucking out an eye to avoid temptation? Jesus was making the point that we need to treat the great tempters as potentially lifethreatening. He was making the point that we need to keep the great tempters at arm s length. We need to do that because the great tempters have the power to destroy us. I ve taken some time to talk about Jesus use of hyperbole when he talks about plucking out an eye, because I believe it gives us insight into this whole passage where Jesus talks about anger and adultery and divorce and vows and talks about them in ways that seem really harsh. But Jesus wasn t being harsh. He was calling us to live holy lives to live in accord with our status as God s children.

4 Let me also talk about Jimmy Carter s statement about committing adultery in his heart - and God knowing and being willing to forgive. Carter was acknowledging his human frailty and his need of forgiveness and God s willingness to forgive. In doing so, Carter gave us an important insight into Jesus comment that anyone who looks at a woman with lust in his heart has committed adultery. There are two ways to respond to that: One would be to throw up our hands and say, We re all doomed. We ve all looked at someone with lust in our hearts. But that can t be what Jesus intended. That would be bad news, and Jesus is Good News. When Jesus says that anyone who looks on a woman with lust in his heart is guilty of adultery, we need to take Jimmy Carter s approach. He said, I ve looked on many women with lust. I ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me. Carter s comment is consistent with scripture. He acknowledges that he has failed to live up to God s perfect standard. He acknowledges that he needs God s forgiveness and he is confident that God is willing to forgive him. Then he accepts God s forgiveness and moves on. We need to apply that principle to all the parts of this passage: the part about anger the part about adultery the part about divorce the part about vows. We need to acknowledge that we have failed to live up to God s perfect standard of holiness and that we need forgiveness and that God always stands ready to honor our repentance and to forgive our sins. If it were not so, our situation would be hopeless -but the Good News of the Gospel is that God does not leave us hopeless. But we also need to take seriously the fact that Christ does call us to a high standard of holiness. Take the matter of anger as an example. In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus says: If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (vv ).

5 In that example, Jesus was talking about a situation where our Christian brother or sister has something against us a situation where we have offended the other person. Jesus says, Don t wait for that person to come to you. Take the first step. Go to that person and try to work out the problem to reconcile. Let me end on a positive note. When I talked about Jimmy Carter looking at women with lust in his heart, I made it sound as if we re stuck in a cycle of trying to please God, failing, and being forgiven. That s part of life s journey, but only part. We need not feel that we re locked into eternal failure. I ve known people who have grown into Godliness to the point that they have become, in my mind, true saints. Most congregations have a few people like that. We have some here. They re kind, loving people who never have a bad word to say about anybody and who are always there to lend a helping hand. They go through the ups and downs of life with unwavering faith. We all derive strength from their presence. Often those saints are older people who have spent a lifetime walking with the Lord but not always. I ve known young people like that kind, generous, faithful young people whose lives put mine to shame. I mention that as a way of saying that, by the grace of God, we can become the holy people that God created us to be kind, loving people people who go through the ups and downs of life with unwavering faith. By the grace of God, we can get there. So when you feel that living a Godly life is beyond you, pray that God will give you strength for the day. As the days go by, you will be surprised what God can do. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers and know that you are in mine. Peace friends, Chuck