The Heart is the Foundation of Our Actions—Lectionary Reflection for Epiphany 6A (Matthew 5)
Matthew 5:21-37 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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.’ 22 But 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. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come 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. 26 Truly 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.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If 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. 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 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.’ 32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, 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.’ 34 But I say to you: Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 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 one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
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Matthew
has taken us to a mountaintop, where Jesus gathers a group, perhaps a crowd, of
followers and enquirers. He speaks to this group as the new Moses the Lawgiver.
This is the third week that we’ve spent in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, a
three-chapter exposition of Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. We’ve heard
him offer a set of blessings, the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), and a call for the
people to be salt and light, as well as letting them know that God expects the
people to follow the Law and the Prophets, which Jesus had no intention of
abrogating. He does, however, tell them that “unless your righteousness exceeds
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:13-20). In other words, Jesus
sets a high bar for those who seek to enter God’s realm.
Now
that Jesus has laid the foundations for his vision of what it means to live in
God’s realm, he’s ready to address several specific concerns. In doing so,
Jesus focuses not on external actions but on internal motivations. It’s not
that the actions are unimportant, but that Jesus wants us to know that actions
follow where the heart leads. While we often focus on Jesus the merciful one,
in this sermon we hear Jesus not only embracing the Torah but intensifying its
observance. He has a reason for doing this. That reason is that he expects his
followers, those who represent the realm of God, to be salt and light
(Matthew 5:13-16). To be salt and light, Jesus’ followers must understand
that their relationship with God is predicated on their relationship with their
neighbors.
Jesus
speaks to the crowd as the new Moses, offering his own inspired interpretation of
the Torah. He offers six antitheses in all, four of which appear in the
lectionary reading. He addresses anger, adultery, divorce, and oaths. The other
two declarations concern retaliation (eye for an eye) and love of one’s enemies
(Mt. 5:38-48). If we follow the six antitheses to the end of chapter 5, we hear
Jesus declare that we should be perfect as the Father is perfect (Mt. 5:38).
These verses are taken up when the season after Epiphany extends to seven
Sundays. Each antithesis is introduced with a formula that begins: “You have
heard that it was said ....” Then, Jesus responds to the traditional
understanding with the words: “But I say ....” In each case, he moves
from external to internal motivation.
Jesus
begins with the commandment that prohibits murder. Most of us would agree that
murder is wrong, which is why very few of us kill others. Jesus acknowledges
this truth but then moves beyond it in his attempt to get to the question of
motive. While we would all agree that murder is wrong, Jesus brings into the
conversation anger. What Jesus wants us to catch is that murder starts in the
heart. He wants to address the motive for murder. Jesus adds that not only is
murder wrong, but so is name-calling. He suggests that to call someone a fool
(haven’t we all done this. We might not have called someone a fool, but we have
all insulted others). According to Jesus, such an act deserves the same
punishment as is given to someone who commits murder. Back then the death
penalty would be in order. Those of us who haven’t taken a life now have the
finger of judgment pointing at us, and that should make us feel a bit
uncomfortable.
This
word about anger is challenging because it’s a primal emotion. We all
experience it. The question is what we do with our anger. This word asks us to
consider whether our anger is destructive even if it doesn’t end up taking a
life. While insulting a person or calling them names might not seem as violent
as actual murder, it too can prove destructive. Jesus understands that murder
is simply the final expression of something horrific churning deep within a
person’s heart. With all the mass shootings in recent years, it is clear
that something is wrong in the hearts of quite a number of people, including
rather young children.
With
this in mind, Jesus tells his audience that before they bring an offering to
the altar (presumably the Temple altar in Jerusalem) they should take care of
their relationship with their neighbors. Lisa Davison writes that “Jesus in
line with many of Israel’s prophets (Amos, Micah, etc.) is acknowledging that
it is impossible to worship God with integrity if we are not in right
relationship with our neighbors” [Feasting on the Gospels—Matthew, 1:97]. This
isn’t an easy task because many of us have a number of people with whom we’ve
experienced some form of alienation. How do we reconcile with all of them
before coming to the Table? Many churches provide a possible solution by
offering some form of confession, either private or corporate. Of course, this
may set things right with God, but perhaps not with the other person.
Jesus
is not finished meddling in our lives. Not only does he address murder/anger,
but he also takes on adultery/lust. He again takes us below the surface.
According to Jesus, it’s not enough to refrain from extra-marital affairs. He
tells the men in the crowd that if they look at a woman (we probably should be
more inclusive here) with lust—that is when we desire to possess or be with another
person in an intimate way, even if we don’t follow through on that desire—we’ve
already committed adultery. It might be helpful
to remember that in the context of the first century, women were considered the
property of their husbands. Therefore, lust is the equivalent of covetousness.
Covetousness is the foundation of most inappropriate acts. Now, the penalty Jesus
prescribes for this act may seem barbaric. It’s hard to imagine cutting out an
eye if our eye causes us to stumble. But the point is, if you can’t see, you
can’t desire (covet) what doesn’t belong to you. Therefore, if you remove the
means of your stumbling, you won’t face judgment. Oh, and Jesus also addresses
one’s right hand. I’ll leave that word to your interpretation!
The
next area of concern is divorce. In discussing divorce Jesus goes beyond
Moses. While the Law provides an out-clause that enabled a husband to
leave his wife if he found something “objectionable” about her (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), Jesus only allows for unchastity on her part. Thus, while Jesus
tightens things up, Matthew (unlike Mark and Luke—Mk 10:11-12; Lk 16:18)
provides an escape clause, at least for the husband. To divorce one’s wife,
leads to judgment. In many ways, this is a call for justice since if a husband
discards his wife, he essentially casts her adrift. On the positive side
of things, Jesus seems intent (in his cultural context) to make relationships
whole. In an age when divorce is increasingly commonplace in Christian
circles, we need to ask what this means for our day. As we contemplate what
this word has for marriage in our day, Barbara Blaisdell offers us a word of
wisdom:
Many good people who join God in hating divorce find themselves nevertheless deciding to divorce—not as a good thing, but perhaps as the least bad of the alternatives available. Given this honesty, we would do well to remember that we have been saved by grace, because none of us has managed to live up to the unconditional love of God and neighbor. [Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, 1:100]
Thankfully, we are recipients of divine grace that heals our
brokenness, including broken relationships. Nevertheless, this word reminds us
of the fragility of our relationships. They can be entered into lightly and left
behind just as lightly. For some divorce is an easy out. Sometimes couples
assume that marriage is temporary, so divorce is already part of the couple’s
future plans. Of course, it’s never that easy. There often is collateral
damage left in the wake of a divorce. So, we might hear in this word from Jesus
a warning against taking a cavalier attitude toward this sacred relationship, while
also leaving room for grace to heal wounds that emerge when divorce is the best
option available to a couple. While Jesus holds out the ideal here, and in many
ways protects vulnerable women, who often suffered horribly in a first-century
divorce, marriages are not indestructible. Divorce is a legal remedy that
allows for an unrepairable relationship to die, so new life can take place. (For
more on the question of divorce, see my book Marriage in Interesting Times, chapter
9).
The
designated reading for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany concludes with the
fourth of the six antitheses. This antithesis focuses on taking oaths. Jesus
builds on the command to not bear false witness. In other words, God doesn’t
like it when we lie or spread rumors. It’s something that has gotten out of
hand, even among Christians who lie about elections and much more. We live in
what is being called a post-truth age, where “alternate truths” and “alternate
facts” are promulgated everywhere, especially on social media. Apparently,
freedom of speech in America means anything goes! As we might expect by this
point, Jesus wants to dive deeper into our motives. Therefore, not only does he
reject bearing false witness, but he bans the swearing of oaths as a general
principle. Our word should be sufficient. There is no need to swear by the
Temple or by heaven or even our own head as a promissory note to guarantee our
truthfulness. A yes means yes and a no means no. As we ponder this word from
Jesus, a question emerges. What does Jesus think about the practice in the
United States of making people swear oaths on the Bible as if the Bible is some
kind of talisman that guarantees truthfulness or loyalty to the nation’s
founding document? For some reason, we’ve been led to believe that putting our hand
on the Bible (or some other sacred text—if allowed, since there are some in our
midst who believe that only the Bible, the Christian one of course, will
suffice) will keep us from corruption. Of course, if we pay attention to what
happens in our context that illusion has been shattered many times. So, Jesus’
solution is simply to avoid making oaths and letting the truth stand on its
own.
Jesus’
message in these antitheses (and the two that follow) is quite radical. He goes
well beyond what is stipulated in the Law, without abolishing it. Jesus doesn’t
have a problem with the commandments, he just wants to root them deeper in our
lives by focusing on our inner motivations. In this way, he believed his
followers, if they truly followed what he called for, would surpass the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees (the Pharisees sought to live righteously, so
again this is a high bar). In this way, one can truly live as salt and light in
the world.
We hear
this message at a time when Christianity, at least its institutional forms, has
been deemed hypocritical and corrupt. It’s not surprising with the large number
of clergy scandals in recent years. Plus, the hate-mongering we see in some
quarters of the Christian community as well as the rise of Christian
nationalism. None of this is new, but the larger community is much more aware
of the faults of the churches. So, what might Jesus want us to hear in these
words about anger, lust, divorce, and oath-taking? Do we set these words aside
because they’re deemed unrealistic? Do we shrug our shoulders and make
excuses? Or do we open ourselves up to God’s healing grace and then empowered
by the Holy Spirit, begin pursuing the righteousness of God? What does it take
for us to be salt and light in the world?
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