As If Your Life Depended On It
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Matthew 5:21-37
21“You have
heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and
‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But 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. 23So
when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother
or sister has something against you, 24leave your gift there before
the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come
and offer your gift. 25Come to terms quickly with your accuser while
you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the
judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26Truly
I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
27“You have
heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say
to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed
adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to
sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your
members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if
your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better
for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31“It
was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of
divorce.’ 32But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife,
except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever
marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33“Again,
you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear
falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I
say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it
is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for
you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be ‘Yes,
Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Jean Paul Sartre, the famous existentialist, is perhaps most
well known for his one-act play, “No Exit,” in which the three main characters
have been sentenced to hell. And
for Sartre, hell is not some hot place with devils and demons or lakes of
fire. Sartre’s version of hell is
spending all of eternity in a locked room with three incredibly annoying
people. Ever since I read that
play in high school, I have always found that scenario far more frightening
than hellfire and brimstone. And after some long family road trips when the kids were little, I feel as if I’ve
experienced it.
Sartre’s play has one very famous line: “Hell is other
people.” Now, even though Sartre
was a confirmed atheist, it seems like he might have some understanding of how
Jesus interprets Torah law. Because Jesus’ interpretation seems couched in the
clear recognition that one of the most difficult parts of being a human being
is having to deal with other human beings. Or, to use the line we always used to use back when I was in
advertising, “This would be such a great business if it weren’t for the
clients.” Or, as I have heard
church people say, “This would be such a nice church if it weren’t for the
people.” Of course, when you get
right down to it, even though healthy relationships seems to be the whole point
of being human, it’s easy to forget that when we run into the inevitable
conflicts of life together in families, in workplaces and in the church. Life together can be messy. And conflict can indeed, feel hellish.
So in today’s text, which is part of the Sermon on the
Mount, we hear Jesus’ interpretation of Torah law. Although we often think of the law or the 10 Commandments as
rules for right behavior, Jesus’ reinterpretation seems designed to get us
thinking about right relationships.
Even if the language about tearing out eyeballs and chopping off our
hands makes us uneasy, these are words that demand our attention because they
communicate how passionately God cares about our relationships with other human
beings.
These verses today from Matthew contain four of the six
“antitheses” used by Jesus to interpret the law. The structure is pretty consistent and it will probably
sound familiar to you. Here they are:
You have it heard it said, “You shall not murder.”
You have heard it said, “You shall not commit
adultery.”
You have heard it said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him
give her a certificate of divorce.”
You have heard it said, “You shall not swear falsely, but
carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.”
And then in verses 38-48 which come follow today’s
lectionary passage, there are two more antitheses:
You have heard it said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth.”
You have heard it said, “You shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.”
Jesus takes each of these laws and looks at the old ways in new
ways that were probably pretty stunning for his Jewish audience. He cuts
through the religious smog so that the light of truth can shine. Jesus doesn’t dispute the law, but he
does puts flesh on it, placing the laws in the context of our real lives and
our struggles to be honest in our relationships and in doing so, exposes
our fierce resistance to love.
“You have it heard it said, ‘You shall not murder.’” Jesus says that anger and bitterness
destroy relationships as surely as murder. I’m pretty sure that there are not a lot of murderers among
us today, but I would guess that most of us sitting here are currently ticked
off with at least one person.
And Jesus is having any of that, “Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never harm me” business.
Our words can injure as deeply as a knife or a bullet. Inflicting emotional harm by calling
someone names or refusing to forgive them is the same as inflicting physical
violence.
“You have heard it said, “You shall not commit
adultery.’” Jesus says that
looking at another person as a sexual object is the same as actually using that
person as a sexual object. And being
exploited in such a way was not merely a question of morality, but in fact a
dangerous situation for women in the first century. Women in Jesus’ time were dependent upon fathers or
husbands, and to be used and discarded for another’s sexual desires had
sometimes deadly repercussions. A woman who had been seduced brought great
shame upon her family. A woman who had been raped was considered damaged goods.
For young women, the ability to marry well would be jeopardized. For those who
were married, there would be the threat of divorce or worse.
You have heard it said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him
give her a certificate of divorce.”
Jesus says that divorce is a terrible idea because it puts women in a
vulnerable position. Wives in that time
could be cast aside for ridiculous reasons, including burning bread. Far from merely seeing women as
property to be coveted by men, Jesus’ teaching on adultery and divorce
reinforces the dignity of women and warns against a culture of male
privilege. I suspect that Jesus’
teaching warns us against treating any person as disposable. And when divorce is inevitable, as it
often is, we need to still honor one another and be certain that vulnerable
people are not harmed in the process, especially children.
You have heard it said, “You shall not swear falsely, but
carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” Jesus says, we should speak and act with such integrity that
we don’t need to make oaths at all.
Imagine that, politicians and lawyers.
You have heard it said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth.” Jesus says, turn the
other cheek, give up your coat and your cloak, go the extra mile, and give to
everyone and don’t refuse to lend to anyone who asks. So much for the military and banks.
You have heard it said, “You shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.” Jesus says,
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Well, Jesus has pretty much gotten all
of us on that one, hasn’t he?
And then the rest of it – about tearing out our eyeballs, or
cutting off our hand and burning in hell – all of that hyperbole reinforces
God’s deep interest in how we conduct our relationships. They matter to God more than we
realize. Because the way in which
we treat one another has quite a lot to do not just with where we will end up
in the next. The quality of our
relationships determine how well we live the life we are in right now.
Jesus’ interpretation invites us to imagine what it would be
like to live in a world where we honor each and every person as blessed and
beloved of God. And I believe that
most people really do want to live in a world where people treat one another
with gentleness and respect. The
big question is given where we are, how do we get to that place that seems so
very far away?
At our presbytery meeting this week, a group of pastors
attempted to guide a conversation about racism among the elders and ministers
gathered for the meeting. In that
large suburban sanctuary filled with mostly white Christians, you could just
feel the tension in the air almost instantly. Talking about race in public is not something we do well as
Americans, and we sure don’t do it very well or very comfortably as white
mainline Presbyterians. As our
presbytery’s general minister Sheldon Sorge pointed out, not much has changed
in our churches since Martin Luther King, Jr. observed that Sunday morning at
11 a.m. is the most segregated hour of the week in American. A half-century later, the majority of
Presbyterian churches do not come close to resembling King’s “beloved
community” or John’s vision in Revelations of people “from every tribe and
nation” united in chorus around the throne of God. And the church is very far away from fulfilling our constant
prayer of, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Sheldon suggested conversations about race are hard for us
because they require us to confess our own brokenness, embrace people we’ve
been taught to keep at arm’s length, and trust people who we have been
conditioned to see as our enemy.
It is so much easier to not have those conversations and I suspect that
the majority of people at the presbytery meeting would have been much more
comfortable to talk about property or money for an hour instead.
If we want to participate in the kingdom building work of
Jesus Christ, I think we have got to take seriously what Jesus is teaching in
Matthew and begin the incredibly hard work of having difficult conversations
about how we can get better at loving our brothers and sisters as if our own
lives depended on it. Jesus
suggests that this is serious, life-saving business. Loving one another is the primary mission of Christ’s
church. In fact, love is the only
mission of the church. Our mission
is not to protect ourselves or maintain our institutions. Not to save our own lives, but to lay
down our lives for one another. To
outdo each other in honoring and lifting up one another.
Loving as if our life depends upon it means we stand up not
just for the prevention of murder, but for the dignity, health and well-being
of all God’s children. It means
that we strive to seek understanding instead of giving in to anger. It means that we stop holding onto
grudges that we secretly enjoy holding, but are in fact poison to our souls.
Loving as if our life depends upon it means that are
faithful to the covenants that we have make, particularly in our most intimate
relationships. It means that we
teach our children about the God’s incredible gift of sexuality and the awesome
responsibility that comes with it.
It means that we should reject those who objectify and exploit other
people, and call out sexism that demeans people.
But loving as if our life depends upon it also means we
honor the institution of marriage and family without turning it into an
idol. It means that we acknowledge
the reality that some brokenness that cannot be repaired. Relationships sometimes must come to an
end and do come to an end, but they must end in a manner that provides
wholeness and healing for everyone involved, especially the most
vulnerable.
Loving as if our life depends upon it means that we must say
what we mean and mean what we say.
We must strive to be honest.
Trustworthy. Transparent in
our dealings. Our yes must mean
yes, but our no must also mean no.
Loving as if our life depends upon it means that we have to
be ridiculously generous.
Ridiculously forgiving.
Ridiculously kind.
Ridiculously vulnerable.
And we have to do all of this as if our lives depend upon it.
Jesus won’t let us keep our religious lives in one box and
our real lives in another. God
requires our whole lives. Not our
actions alone, but our thoughts, our intentions, our words, our very
being.
In our text from Deuteronomy this morning, Moses knows he is
about to die. The Israelites are
at the Jordon River about to enter the promised land. In his final words to the people he has led through the
wilderness, Moses lays out their future:
“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life
so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the Lord your God,
obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you.”
We choose life when we choose to love. To forgive. To let go of anger. To fight for justice. To care for the hurting. To treat others fairly. To celebrate sex with the one we honor
and cherish. To sleep well at
night because we have chosen truthfulness. And to wake up each morning feeling blessed again by our
hunger and thirst for righteousness, which are gifts of the Spirit for us as
God’s chosen people.
Wow. You know
what that sounds like? Not just a
good life, but a little bit of heaven on earth. May it be so for you, for me, for all creation.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
