Month: March 2013

Red Letter Year: 3/19

Matthew 5:33-48

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Comments

Imagine telling the truth and refusing to take oaths. That might seem innocuous at first, but think about it, think about all the oaths you take and imagine not taking them. Think of all the times people in our culture takes oaths to testify truthfully, only to tell obvious lies. Think about following Jesus’ command here and taking a stand for truth telling.

Imagine turning the other cheek. Not the same as taking a punch and not responding. Here you confront the assailant, not with a counter attack, but with an invitation. This is basis for nonviolent resistance which an approach steeped in the teaching and practice of Jesus and one of the most effective forms of social change ever seen.

Love your enemies. Pray for your enemies. Praying for them means thinking about them, considering what they need and want, then asking God to bless them. It means considering them as fellow humans, not just enemies. Loving them means just that (we can’t give some special meaning here that makes doing this easier). We live in a war culture, an adversarial culture. Our economies are founded on the production of machines that bring death to large quantities of people. We live in a culture of hate, a culture of death. Into this culture, the followers of Jesus must go as ones who love enemies, who pray for the light of the Son and the rain of the Spirit to descend on us and them together as children of the heavenly Father.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 3/18

Matthew 5:21-32

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.

You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, 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. And if your hand—even your stronger 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 be thrown into hell.

You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.”

Comments

Interesting that this is our Red Letter Year reading on the same day my other post is about God not being about rules the way religion is. I promise I didn’t plan that out. I wrote the other one first before even looking at today’s passage (probably should cross check beforehand next time). But perhaps it is fitting because this passage has been overused quite a bit in the rule production racket. The last one here on divorce has especially been used against people when they are already suffering. Hard to imagine Jesus wanting us to use his teaching to kick a person while they’re down. So what are we to do with these commands?

I find it interesting that very conservative, religious folks want to post copies of the Ten Commandments all over the place. I never hear of anyone wanting to post The Sermon on the Mount up instead. I think that’s because the Ten Commandments come off as kind of easy. Don’t kill anyone? Okay, I can do that. Don’t steal? Got it. Don’t bear false witness? You mean like officially, don’t say untrue things that get people in legal trouble? Sure, I can handle that. I’m not saying I have kept them all perfectly my whole life, but I probably have good stretches where none of the Ten gets broken. You probably do better than me.

But this stuff, what Jesus says here? No way. I can’t do this stuff. It’s March Madness, I know for a fact before it’s over, some ref is getting called names by me (whether out loud or in my head – same thing, Jesus goes inside the head!). Gouging out eyes and cutting off hands? What? And that’s just the point Jesus is making. We reduce the commands of God to things we can keep ourselves. We often apply uneven standards, harder on some, easier on others, but for the most part we interpret them in ways that guarantee we can adhere to them. So Jesus explains just how far we really are from keeping them at all, how utterly dependent we are on him to save us from our sinful condition and enable us to obey God in a real, meaningful way. We want to make it so we aren’t dependent on the Holy Spirit to obey, but Jesus won’t let us have that because He knows our own efforts at making an keeping laws always end up in slavery and suffering. Only obedience on his terms leads to freedom and joy.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.