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13/2/11 Epiphany 6 Year A Matthew 5:21-37.

Last week we were reminded that Christians have to be salt & light. Salt, distinctive and purifying. Light, visible, especially by our good deeds in following God.  Today, we look at some of the ways we are to follow God's ways.

In Matthew 5 Jesus' contrasts his teaching with many common interpretations of the Mosaic Law held by the Pharisees. He begins, "You have heard that it was said . . . ," and then concludes, "But I tell you . . ." Jesus revealed the true intent of the Old Testament law, rather than its legalistic interpretations. In most cases Jesus looks at what is happening inside a person, rather than merely what they do.

21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.   23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

First Jesus draws a parallel between someone who is a murderer and someone who is angry with a fellow Christian. Jesus speaks of different kinds of abuse to drive his point home. He is not saying there are different degrees of punishment depending upon the term of abuse used.

Jesus is saying that anger is often at the root of murder and that a disciple is not righteous if he/she is angry, even though they have not killed the one whom they are angry with. Someone who is angry may well have the same low view of his victim as a murderer.

Often churches are not very good at dealing with conflict, perhaps pretending that it doesn't exist. However, spiritual growth and healing can flow from Christian protagonists meeting in an atmosphere of love and forgiveness.  Jesus says that Christians will be judged by their response to God's grace. If  they are unrighteous this can show that they are not true followers.

This does not mean that it is never right to be angry. Jesus was angry at injustice, sin, unbelief and the exploitation of others. His followers, however, are more likely to get angry at other things, such as personal insults, which is what Jesus is talking about here. We need to be very careful that we get angry for the right reasons. For example it is right to be angry at the way that the world's richest countries continue to uphold unfair trading conditions that oppress the developing world.

If we do get angry with another believer we need to be aware that we could be grieving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in every believers so, if we are angry with another believer this can hurt God.

Jesus uses two pictures to show the need for reconciliation.

Firstly in worship.

We should not worship God before ensuring that we are right with fellow Christians. We may think that we have done nothing wrong, but Jesus says that if we are aware a fellow Christian has a problem with us we are to go to them to try to be reconciled. When we exchange "The Peace" in our services, this is an expression of this.

This shows that we understand that the Christian faith is about reconciliation rather than empty ritual. Christianity involves the reconciliation of man to God and of man to man.

Secondly in the law courts.

In Jesus' day a debtor could be put in jail until what he owed was paid. Of course, whilst in jail he couldn't earn anything to pay off the debt. Therefore, he would be wise to reach an agreement with his creditor before things came to court.

Both of these illustrate the need for urgency in being reconciled with one another before God judges us.

Only one petition in the Lord's Prayer has any condition attached to it. It is the one for forgiveness. In the Lord's Prayer, which Jesus gave to his disciples soon after this teaching,  we say, 'forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us'. Our forgiveness of others shows that we understand the undeserved nature of our own forgiveness.

Disciples of Jesus are called to live righteous lives as a sign that they have truly received God's grace in Jesus. This involves not being angry with others. However, if we know that anyone has a problem with us we are to try to be reconciled with them as a matter of urgency.

27 "You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

At the time, adultery was seen as theft, stealing someone else's wife. The prohibition of coveting, actually deals with this.  Jesus looks to the motivation for adultery, which is lust prompted by the imagination.

The imagination can lead to all types of sin.  So, what feeds the imagination is of importance to the believer. The idea of cutting off or gouging out the cause of the sin is not meant to be taken literally. However, this led to the third century theologian Origen unnecessarily castrating himself so he could tutor women. A warning about the importance of getting your theology right!

This teaching does, however, illustrate the radical way in which we are to deal with anything that leads us from God's ways. So, if we see something that may tempt us, rather than poke out our eyes we should look elsewhere, or switch off the TV!

We can also remind ourselves of Jesus teaching and not to treat people as objects. This may be difficult, because we live at a time when image is seen as everything, and people are often judged by their appearance.

Having addressed adultery Jesus looks at marriage.

31 "It has been said, `Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

In Jesus' day divorce was the subject of great theological argument, with two opposing parties, one a lot stricter than the other.   

The OT ( Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ) said that a man could divorce his wife for "something indecent. He would have to give her a certificate of divorce. If she became another man's wife and was divorced again, the first man could not remarry her. This double restriction - the certificate and the prohibition of remarriage - discouraged hasty divorces. The Certificate also allowed the woman to remarry, which was, probably her only way of being supported.

This was interpreted by some in Jesus' day that, if a wife did anything her husband could find fault with, he only had to write a Certificate of divorce & they would both be free to remarry. I am sure you can imagine the ways in which this would be abused and go against God's ways.

Jesus goes back to the OT teaching, that marriage is a life long monogamous commitment between a woman and man that cannot be easily set aside, Gen. 2.24. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

Let us look at Jesus' teaching from a different perspective. A man and woman get married. They have become "one flesh", Gen. 2.24, united in God's sight until one of them dies.  Writing a Certificate of divorce will not break that union in God's sight.  Therefore, if either of them marry again, whilst it may be permissible according to human law, it is adulterous to God because, to him, they are still married to their first spouse.

The only exception that Jesus makes, here and in Chapter 19, is where the other spouse is unfaithful.  Only this frees someone to remarry. This teaching is clear, though the pastoral implications of this are immense.  Divorce can be very painful and many Christians, perhaps unaware of Jesus teaching, may have remarried where their first spouse did not commit adultery.

You could write a book on this issue alone, so it cannot be dealt with adequately as part of a sermon, here. However, we should remember we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and forgiveness for sin is available through trust in Jesus. This should not lead to the church departing from Jesus' teaching on marriage and adultery, though.

33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your `Yes' be `Yes,' and your `No,' `No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

The OT law wanted to encourage people to tell the truth & an oath made to God underlined the seriousness of someone's testimony.  However, there were different types of oaths & this was used in a legalistic way to deceive. So, swearing by heaven and earth was not binding, nor was swearing by Jerusalem, though swearing toward Jerusalem was.

Jesus is saying that, if oaths designed to encourage truthfulness lead to deceit, then abolish the oaths. He is also saying that, as his followers we should be honest and speak the truth without deceit.  This does not, however, mean that we should refuse to swear an oath, in court, on the Bible, to tell the truth.

We live in a world where, understandably, people want things to be easy. To be centred around their perceived desires. But Jesus calls his followers to a different and difficult route.  Matthew 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."  These verses are the key to understanding Jesus' teaching in Chapters 5 & 6.

Where do we want to go? If we want to go with God and be with God we should find forgiveness through Jesus, and determinedly follow his teaching in the power of the Holy Spirit.