According to the Age this week, the seven deadly sins have been knocked for six. No longer do we worry about sloth, gluttony or lust. In fact most respondents to a recent survey carried out by the BBC said they rather enjoyed those particular vices. The trouble is, according to a professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick in central England, the word sin can seem "terribly old-fashioned and judgmental".
You sometimes hear people say that they don’t worry about the 10 commandments, they just live by the sermon on the mount. It’s almost as though the sermon on the mount has become the Mrs Beeton of the Christian household. It’s the answer to all your questions on how to keep your life in order so you’ll be good enough for God.
Well that’s all well and good, unless you actually get around to reading the sermon on the mount. Because here we don’t actually find much in the way of comfort and certainly no escape clauses. Rather we find a fairly radical reinterpretation of God’s law that doesn’t leave much room for manoeuvring or slipping through loop holes. In today’s passage Jesus begins by reinforcing the seriousness of God’s law, then proceeds to address the issue of what it really means to avoid murder, followed by a look at sexual purity and marital fidelity.
Fulfilling the Law
First Jesus assures his listeners that he hasn’t come to diminish the importance of the law at all. In fact his coming will fulfil the law. Far from turning people away from God’s word, he emphasises it’s value; so much so that he issues a dire warning to anyone who seeks to lessen the impact of that word: "whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven." And how do you become great in God’s kingdom? By doing and teaching God’s commandments.
You see, Jesus wants us to take Scripture very seriously. He certainly does. He came to bring the Old Testament Scriptures to fulfilment. So here’s the first thing we need to take away from today’s reading: knowing and understanding the Scriptures is vital for a Christian’s walk with God. That’s one reason we encourage members of the congregation to belong to a small group, particularly one where they can read God’s word together and let it speak to their lives. And despite everything we know about salvation by grace alone, God still expects us to live upright lives; lives, as Jesus describes it, that are even more righteous than those of the Scribes and Pharisees.
You see, what we’ll find as we read through the following verses is that Jesus isn’t interested in a simple literal reading of the text. His desire for the value of Scripture to be upheld isn’t an anti-intellectual desire. Rather what we find is that as he reads the Old Testament law he reads it in the knowledge of the character of God that he’s encountered within the pages of those Scriptures.
Murder, Anger and Hatred
So he says, 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.’" At face value, it seems a simple question of law: ’You mustn’t kill people’. Well, we passed that one, didn’t we? What’s next? But hang on a second. It’s not quite that simple is it? He goes on: 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."
Murder is about destroying people isn’t it? But what Jesus is saying is that there’s more than one way to destroy someone. Anger, contempt, ridicule, hatred, are all emotions that destroy. Sticks and stones do break bones, but words are just as effective if not more so, at hurting people.
A good modern example of what Jesus is pointing to is road rage. We all know abut road rage don’t we? It’s the flavour of the month at the moment. In fact it’s really a sign of the times. People are under such stress that when someone does something unexpected they completely lose it; they become totally irrational in the way they respond. And what’s at the root of that response? It’s a desire to destroy the person who’s done whatever it was. The sign of just how irrational this sort of behaviour is, of course, that generally whatever the misdemeanour was, it doesn’t warrant even an approximation of the sort of response it engenders. But it’s the sort of anger that equates to murder, even if it doesn’t quite get there in a literal sense.
But of course we don’t need to have road rage to respond the way Jesus is warning against. Sometimes we simply carry our anger around with us so that it pops out in unhelpful ways. It might be a subtle put-down. It might be a word of contempt, of mockery - "what an idiot!" said in a disparaging way rather than the more friendly Australian ragging way. It might be an accusation of dishonesty - "He can’t be trusted you know!" But the end result is that the person’s character is destroyed.
The message here is to do with the way we use our tongue. James says it’s a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. It’s like a bushfire. No one can tame it. It’s a restless evil, full of deadly poison. It can do great good, but it can equally be an agent of murder.
And notice that Jesus is talking here about these things being said to, or about, a brother or sister; that is, to or about one of our fellow Christians. It’s a very serious thing to hurt a brother or a sister isn’t it? Jesus warns of the most dire consequence: "if you say, ’You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire." He couldn’t put it more firmly could he? This is as serious an issue as any sin you might like to name. So be careful how you use your tongue. Be careful if you’re carrying around anger in your heart, that you don’t end up hurting one of your own brothers or sisters.
If you know that you’ve hurt someone by your words or actions, do something about it. Jesus never leaves us in despair. He immediately tells us the remedy. "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." The gospel always calls for repentance. Whether it’s repentance towards God or towards our brother or sister makes no difference. Our failings need to be acknowledged and forgiveness sought. So, as far as it’s possible, seek to be reconciled with one another. That’s why we always have a time of sharing of the peace after confessing our sins and before taking communion. It’s not a time for sharing the week’s news. It’s an opportunity to set right those relationships that have been damaged by our sinfulness.
Sexual Purity
Jesus continues his elaboration of God’s law: "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." The context of this saying of course is that the vast majority of people were married. So the equating of lust with adultery makes more sense for them than it might for those single people reading this today. But the point is the same. To look at someone with lust is essentially the same as fulfilling the fantasies that are part of the lustful gaze. I guess the thing that’s wrong with lust and that makes it similar to anger is that lust desires mastery over another person. It desires to use another person. Lust gets it’s fulfilment from the exercise of power over another. It takes another person and turns them into an object to be used for my pleasure.
But it isn’t just the lust that’s at issue. There’s also the sanctity of the marriage bond. God’s word is very clear on the sanctity of marriage, as we’ll see in just a moment. And to look at another woman with lust or, if you’re a woman, to look at another man with lust, is to mentally forsake the marriage covenant you have with your wife or husband. It’s no use saying "Oh, it’s just a fantasy. I know it’ll never really happen." The very fact of entering that fantasy world takes you away from your husband or wife, even if it’s only momentarily and in your mind. And the reality is that most men or women who have left their spouses for someone else have first done it in their heads, in their fantasies.
Now it seems to me that this is something that’s a real problem for us today. Lust is big on the public agenda. It’s been totally decriminalised hasn’t it? That article I mentioned says that lust isn’t seen as a sin any more. In fact it’s almost unheard of to see a TV show or movie that doesn’t have some element of lust portrayed. Oh, it might be described as love, or attraction, or companionship, or a new relationship possibility, but it’s really just old-fashioned lust. You even see teenage girls telling their divorced mothers they need to get laid because they’re so uptight. And the more we watch TV or movies the easier it is to fall into the same mindset. To think that the one night stand is par for the course. Perhaps even a right. That serial monogamy is OK. As long as you’re faithful to your current life partner. But it’s not OK. God’s desire is for men and women to be joined in a lifelong partnership of marriage, even if, in this fallen world, that no longer is the case for everyone.
Marital Fidelity
So he adds: 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." This is probably the passage that grates most harshly on our 21st century ears. In a world where 40% of people are divorced, where those statistics are true within the church as well as without, we wonder if Jesus maybe got it wrong. Or perhaps he was just thinking of 1st century Palestine. Well the trouble with taking that tack is that this piece of teaching is in among all the rest, where he takes the bald commandment and fills it out. So we can’t just dismiss it.
But let’s think about the context in which Jesus speaks. The legal situation in Israel was that a man could divorce his wife at any time he wanted to. The Mosaic command was set in place to make sure that if such a thing happened at least the legal rights of the woman were made clear. He was to give her a certificate saying that he no longer had any rights over her as a wife. So she was free to marry again. And he had no right to come along later and demand that she return to him. But still, marriage was seen by some men as an institution designed for their pleasure, not as the equal and lifelong partnership that God had intended.
So here Jesus reiterates the principle behind the marriage covenant. Marriage is for life. There is no excuse to divorce except that of adultery, that is, of unfaithfulness on the part of one of the parties to the marriage.
In the reading we had from Mal 2:10-16, we see the same idea expressed by God through his prophet: "I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless." It couldn’t be stronger could it. God hates the way men use women then toss them aside at a whim. He hates the way they use their power for their own ends. He hates the faithless way his people are behaving.
In today’s world, we have a blame free divorce system. It’s as simple as filing a formal petition of separation. There’s no need to have counselling, though it is recommended. There’s no guilty party. It’s just a matter of getting the piece of paper signed and that’s it.
And one of the results of this is that there’s no longer any need for a couple to work on their marriage. If it isn’t working, you simply separate and a year later you can get a divorce. After all, 40% of the population have gone that way, so why not you? Well Jesus says, that’s not the way it should be for God’s people. Certainly there will be situations where the unfaithfulness of one of the couple makes it impossible to redeem the situation. And that unfaithfulness isn’t necessarily sexual unfaithfulness either. It could equally be the sort of unfaithfulness to the marriage covenant that expresses itself in abusive behaviour.
But the fact that a marriage is struggling isn’t an excuse. Marriages always struggle. It’s an unfortunate reality of life in this world. Incompatibility is the given. Arch Hart describes a marriage as being like a car. We’d like to think that getting married was like buying a brand new car. It starts off clean and fresh and it’s only as it goes along and it starts to wear out that problems begin. But he says it actually more like being given a pile of car parts and having to put the car together. It actually starts off broken and has to be fixed up before it’ll work properly. Now I’ve been married for 33 years next month and we’re still finding parts that haven’t been attached properly. And every now and them we come across something that we thought we’d fixed but it’s developed another crack, or needs a bit of tightening up. And I expect we’ll still be doing that in our nineties, if we survive that long.
You see, in the majority of cases, there are things a couple can do if their marriage is struggling; provided they’re committed to the marriage relationship above their own self interest. That’s what Jesus is saying here. The man in question is only interested in his own welfare. But Jesus is saying, "Hang on, there’s your wife as well you know. Think about what this will do to her." And of course even if you’re only thinking about yourself, then be warned. In the parallel passages in Luke and Mark as well as a second reference in Matthew, in ch19, Jesus warns that to divorce your wife and marry another, apart from this proviso of infidelity, is to commit adultery. And as he says in vs29&30 it’d be better to tear out your eye or cut off your hand than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
What we see in this passage today is an exhortation to relate to those around us with integrity and love. We’re to be counter-cultural in the way we fight against the social pressures of our world where the norm is to respond to hurt with anger and revenge, where lust is seen as normal, faithfulness as an option. Rather we’re to respond with the servant love that Jesus himself showed. We’re to love our neighbour as ourselves. We’re to forgive as we’ve been forgiven. We’re to purify our hearts as God is pure. We’re to remain faithful to the covenants we make with each other.
For more sermons from this source go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos/
