Matthew 5:21-37
Something I noticed for the first time while preparing for last week’s Wednesday Bible Study and for this morning’s sermon has really impacted me and how I’ve been hearing Jesus this week. For several weeks now we’ve been hearing passages from the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s Gospel. This is Jesus’s stump speech of sorts, likely a sermon he gave everywhere he went or a combination of his most impactful and well-known sermons and teachings. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount in an elevated place with large crowds all around that have traveled for miles to hear him and be healed by him. But Matthew is very clear that Jesus’s primary audience is not the crowds. No, the Sermon on the Mount is given to the disciples, the ones he has called by name and who have been with him all along the way. We join the crowds surrounding them, overhearing Our Lord as he teaches those who will one day take up his teachings and share them with the world. Jesus is talking to his disciples about the kind of world they’re signing up for, and the way they’ll need to live in order for the Good News to be heard by those who need it most.
In today’s lessons, we hear from Jesus on interpersonal conflict, relationships, and oath-making. As he walks through the Commandments and Laws of his people, Jesus urges us to take a wider view, to look deeper and hold ourselves to a higher standard than even that of our ancestors.
First, Jesus urges his disciples to work things out together, face to face and with haste. Reason things out, come to those against whom you’ve done wrong and reconcile with one another. Put your reconciliation first, even before coming to the altar. Do not speak ill of one another, or harbor anger or nurse grudges. For a fledgling movement that would endure persecution and oppression, this was life-saving advice. It continues to be important wisdom for us today. Can you imagine how our community might look different if we addressed conflict with our siblings in Christ with the same reverence and urgency with which we approach the altar rail? When we meet with someone we’ve hurt, or hear the apology of someone who has hurt us, reconciliation is only possible because God works through us, opening our hearts and making us brave enough to apologize, to forgive, to make amends and unburden one another wherever possible.
Next, Jesus insists that his disciples must pay attention to what is in their hearts, and the patterns of thought and behavior that they keep returning to. Do not make objects of one another, even within the confines of your mind. Someone who spends time and energy lusting after another person outside of their marriage is much more likely to succumb to that temptation at the first opportunity than someone who has healthy boundaries and looks at other people with respect. If some part of us keeps going back to that habit or pattern of sin, that part is causing damage to the whole, like a virus or a parasite. Sometimes something in us must die or be laid aside in order to allow us to grow and flourish and return to health. Jesus challenges his disciples to be self-aware and hold themselves accountable, not just for their actions but for the patters of thought that pull their attention away from their responsibilities.
Marriage relationships are not immune from Jesus’s teachings. Jesus here speaks to the question of whether it was right for a man to leave his wife vulnerable in a society that rarely heeded women’s voices. This teaching of Jesus has been used like a cudgel against divorced and remarried people, and has been brandished to discourage many divorces. Those uses of this passage are abusive, and unloving, and inaccurate. Modern marriage and ancient marriage have very little in common- the same is true of modern and ancient divorce. I could teach an entire class, or give an entire sermon, just on the chasm between biblical marriage and the theology of marriage our church has held for generations now. But for now I’ll say this. Divorce is painful, and grief-filled, even when it’s right and faithful and the most loving choice for all parties. When two people take vows before God to become one family, something really happens at that moment. And so it is a death, if it ends. But we have been shown again and again what God can do with death. The dry bones can live. Lazarus comes out of the grave. The tomb will be empty come Easter morning. Modern remarriage has a lot in common with resurrection, if you think about it. So does an individual doing the work to get reacquainted with themselves after a long partnership ends. And two people taking the brave first step into a counselor’s office, to seek support as they discern what the next season of their life will look like. And a community raising up children together, and single parents accepting the care of extended family and friends. These are visions of the kind of family Jesus claimed for himself in his messy, eclectic, beautiful found family of followers, supporters, relatives, and friends.
At the end of our lesson for today, Jesus turns toward the swearing of oaths. For once, he’s pretty clear and straightforward on this one. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Jesus teaches his disciples to know who they are and be unapologetically and consistently themselves at all times. No one will ever need to challenge you or ask you to swear any oaths if you live authentically, because your way of being in the world speaks for you. Again, with the knowledge that Jesus is preparing these young followers for a life of testimony in the face of persecution and disbelief, it makes a lot of sense that he would encourage them to be as honest and authentic as possible. As our dear Quaker friend said in Bible study this week, “You don’t need to swear to tell the whole truth if you never lie.”
In this Sermon on the Mount, which we will spend time with for one more Sunday, Jesus does not give us a rulebook or a checklist that allows us to be perfect in the eyes of God. Much of this section of Jesus’s famous sermon is about following the law not just to the letter but to its intent, which is always to remain in right relationship with God, one another, and self. As always, this life with Jesus is a life of active transformation. Transforming anger through reconciliation and peacemaking. Transforming dangerous patterns of thought through self-reflection and boundaries. Transforming broken relationship through integrity and responsibility, prioritizing the needs of the vulnerable.
All this transformation points us toward God’s intent for humanity from the beginning of creation. Mutual care, mutual trust, mutual responsibility and peace. Jesus taught our ancestors that anything that goes against this divine intention for humanity must be examined, challenged, reconciled. Jesus was trying to teach the disciples what the kingdom of God looks like, and that same vision has been entrusted to us. We have overheard alongside the crowds, and have ourselves been made disciples of Jesus. This is what we’ve signed up for. Let our yes be yes.
Mother A Writes 