Law and Righteousness!

OUR BIBLE lesson for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany is read from the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Following the theme established by Jesus in last week’s study, in the Sermon on the Mount... we find our Lord here explains how we are called to go farther than unbelievers in their attempts to adhere to the Law. This is to occur because we are founded in sure acceptance by the Gospel message.

"You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire. 

 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny. 

 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 

 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 

 "Again you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.'  But I say to you, “Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.”

 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.

                                                                                            (Matthew 5:21-37)

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Radicalizing Law

With the present debate over granting immigration to persons foreign to the United States, and the tension found between the security of our neighbors as weighed against right welcome for the stranger, we need to ask where the Christian should stand? Jesus told his disciples, as recalled by Matthew, how we are to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

 As we know, Jesus had a running debate with participants from the religious powers of his day. During those confrontations, as Matthew related to his community, Jesus took the interpretation of the Mosaic Law to a far realm… into the soulful convictions that drive a person. In our reading, therefore, we Christians have comparisons made between outward demonstrations of righteousness and our inward motivations.

 According to Matthew’s telling, Jesus indicated in the Sermon on the Mount that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees could be thought of as strictly outward. He accused that they made shallow ceremonial gestures for show. He then followed that true Righteousness in the kingdom of God goes far deeper. As such, we who are his followers are yet called to strive and accomplish these tenets.

 For example, first note that our Lord took the mandate against murder found in Exodus 20:13, and radicalized this Law for his followers. He taught those who would be his Church that the spirit behind the act of murder is based in selfishness and anger… and not love. Therefore, "raca" (shame) on us, is spoken by him as a word of contempt… fittingly used against a brother suffering condemnation.

 Also, Jesus taught that shouting "Thou Fool!" to another person would subject the guilty one voicing the epithet to "hell fire". It was considered better to be blind than to be guilty of this type of contempt. When guilty of such, a person was consigned to walk in Sheol or Gehena (hell), and hell was the place best described by the physical valley of Hinnom, wherein human sacrifices were formerly offered. That place was considered to be identical with the hellish “the lake of fire.”

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 These radical references show us God's expression of punishment for our sin, and are presented for us so that we may intensify our thanksgiving for the salvation we now have in Christ. Selfishness and anger are here found as the unjust motivations behind murderous killing, so our Lord admonished his community to see beyond condemnation of the act itself... to the very thoughts and emotions that spur the deed. As God’s people, we are called therefore toward our internal releasing of whatever murderous cause…. i.e. “Let it go!” is interpretive here. This soulful release enables life and love to be freely given both to us and from us.

 As we read in the letters of John.…

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 By this we know love, in that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  (1 John 3:14-16)

 Subsequently, the reading in Matthew moved his community forward in their hearing about the radicalization of the Law. Jesus had taken his original followers beyond highlighting the outward killing to our noting of the inward wanting ill upon another… even if just to be found in the human spirit.

 Jesus expressed that Christians are to let go of this motivation. We are to stand against murder in both behavior and attitude for all stages of human life… from its embryonic beginning… and onward until the natural end of our lives. We are to “love our neighbor as ourselves” and we are to warily consider this mandate whenever we choose to end the life of an unborn child, a military opponent, or enable death to overtake a terminally ill patient or person of advanced age.

 However, we must note with certainty that these radical statements are important whenever sinful persons are forgiven and enabled by the Spirit of Christ. Only when we are in the Holy Spirit can we let go of that which is keeping the angst or fear in place without fostering the growth of bitterness.  We as Christians were called by Matthew to be anchored only in Christ Jesus and subsequently become empowered by that stability. This is to be so in our lives... whether or not the stumbling block is deemed as powerful as a false earthly king... or as lowly as an unwanted pregnancy.

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 Today we can ask why this dialog was so highly developed for Matthew’s community, yet omitted for the churches of Mark or Luke? Were the meanings of scribal and Pharisaic legalisms much more highly pursued in Antioch… so that they became a pronounced theological issue for the early Church? As well, we ask whether the traditions stemming from the Law blocked the path of righteousness more so in that devout community?

 We can see where righteousness (“sedekah” in Hebrew) was shown in the Law and the prophetical writings, but it was a quality that was not attainable by sinful humanity. This perfection could only be acquired through the gift from the “Righteous One”. Continued reading in Matthew identifies the historic identity of that singular person.

 Certainly, we might wonder whether the synagogue community, as long-lived historically... was pressured greatly by their pride, so to adhere tightly to historical legal traditions and arguments. We then also ask why blessed Matthew included not only those things which were earlier written in Mark, but also supplied these tenets from the “Q” (quelle’) document. Surely these were not just filler articles  written into the gospel about the life of our Lord. My thought is that this section was indeed paramount for Matthew’s church.

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 The issue of radicalization was important not only for the faithful keepers of the Law, but also for those who would too easily toss it aside. We may rightly wonder whether there were persons in that break-away Christian community who were not upset over tossing the Law aside. We ask whether these may have possessed a mindset that would too easily declare that they were entirely “free” in Christ from the Law. If so, they may have claimed that Christian salvation permitted them to continue all sorts of behavioral laziness, debauchery and offense. Looking at our modern Church and society and the relaxation of moral requirements for clergy and laity alike… and our persistent controversy over Christian “freedom” or “bondage” that  has persisted since the Reformation era… it seems very likely that this was certainly true. The dichotomy persists for the Church to this very day.

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 With a radical voice, Jesus addressed the issue of adultery as found in the Law (Exodus 20:14). Our Lord voiced condemnation for Christians so that even a lustful look was considered as adultery “in the heart”. What followed is thus considered as a “hard” saying. Jesus so radicalized the Law and its inescapable condemnation of sin that he stated just how far it was considered necessary to go… for prevention of marital betrayal. He stressed the point so much that our Lord said even the gouging of eyes and severing of limbs were preferable alternatives to be considered.

 Was our Lord serious here with that drastic statement? While many scholars believe that this is a figure of speech and is not to be taken literally, I see the saying as the expressed seriousness that Jesus placed on marital infidelity…. for both men and women! He provided that the sole ground acceptable for divorce as that of “unchastity.” In this he therefore echoed the accepted legal opinion of Shammai, as a contemporary rabbinic lawyer. However, the emphasis that Jesus placed on this issue for Christians… is that we are called to live beyond mere legalisms, let alone the condemnations laid upon a society which largely ignored women’s rights while the contemporary male counterparts were rampantly unchaste.

 This radical teaching revealed that our Lord taught us that Christians are to apply the loving intent of marriage. According to Jesus, marriage is to be an enduring human relationship established by God as a permanent foundation for family security (see Matthew 19:3-8). Our Lord firmly condemned divorce… whether initiated for reasons of incompatibility, inconvenience, or abuse… as proof of “hardness of heart”. In today’s frivolous culture where divorce statistics soar, we need to clearly hear this Word of God. We need to recover the permanent, loving intent of our Creator by begging forgiveness and asking his Church for spiritual empowerment in marriages.

 Jesus’ discourse continued in Matthew with his command against swearing. First, let me clarify that there is no reason for us to consider that a solemn oath made in a court of justice or on other proper occasions, are forbidden to us. This is provided they are taken with due reverence and not for the membership of exclusionary groups. I offer that the comments Jesus made do not forbid this legal use, but rather raise issues against profanity…, including expletives found common in our everyday speech. Jesus spoke more to a person’s character, in that our word as Christians should always be beyond even a hint of reproach. The words that we speak beyond “yes” or “no” are to be strictly put forth in the Truth… and Christ Jesus is Truth personified. All profanity and falsehoods are to be far from our lips.

 

 

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 Go the Distance!

 In all of this, we see that daily waging war with sinful desires of the heart need be attended to... with even pain-filled and constant exertions. This effort should be done by us in loving Christian witness. This is true in all matters. We are called to give until it hurts... and then give more!

 Jesus taught and endured great pain to save us from our sins, not anchor us in them. Indeed, all of our senses, powers and prayers must be heightened in order to keep us from those things which further our alienation from God. Those who commit transgressions and lead others into temptation to sin in any sense… and then attempt to justify themselves saying that they are freed in the gospel… only make themselves guilty of greater offense. They will be held accountable.
 If painful separation occurs from our leaving behind sinful activities, so that our lives are improved… should not that pain be measured as minuscule when the salvation of our souls has already been greatly awarded?

 We must conclude therefore that Jesus did not toss aside the Law; he intensified it! Though completely innocent of wrongdoing, he took our excruciatingly punishment on the cross and delivered us from eternal captivity.
 Today we still individually and collectively fall short of keeping the commandments, let alone these radical statements. No Pharisaic wrangling will usher us beyond condemnation. Yet, thanks be to God working through his Spirit, that there is mercy within the requirements of the Law. They drive us to the foot of the cross.

 You see, only through the Holy Spirit driving us to claim Christ crucified for us can we view these as the right loving of God and one another. This theological claim needs to be stated repeatedly to those with legal mind. The knowledge of grace was and is still needful, and is provided through faith given to us by the Holy Spirit. According to scripture, instead of eternal death under the Law, we are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus paid the penalty for our sinful legal squabbles which sidestep and ignore these Commandments. He gave up his life, completed his graceful work, and after three days lovingly rose from the dead. Consequently, believing this in faith through the power of the Holy Spirit and working through scripture we are joined with the early Christians of Matthew’s churches. With them we are called to declare redemption in spoken or written form. This message is thus made available for modern, scattered peoples cowering before eternal judgment. During the upcoming season of Lent, let us take a knee and receive these teachings and consolations that enable us to go forward proclaiming the kingdom of God.

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 Know this! I repeat here that the radicalized Law exists to convict us and drive us to seek salvation in Christ Jesus. and so is also providentially useful for the guidance of civilizations around us. Take heed that even while we live in a world where murder and abortions occur, divorces are granted... and Christian persecutions happen in this and other lands around the globe... we are still called to try and try again. No progressive utilitarian political stance shall overcome this. The publishing of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" is basis for demonic, atheistic absurdity. Almighty God rules as judge. As the right view of the scripture occurs, we come to believe in Christ and are freed by the Holy Spirit to try again.  We, who are convicted and driven by the Law are thus chosen by grace as saved through faith given to us in Christ. From this position we need to lend ourselves unto the clear declaration of the Word of salvation to others... in both Law and Gospel. Thanks be to God.

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Eating Light?

THE WORD of God spoken in many churches for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, comes to us from the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. This normative text taught by our Lord tells us of our called purpose, warns us about dismissing God’s mandates as unimportant… and relates to us our personal responsibilities as evangelical citizens of the kingdom.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 

 Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:13-20)

Grit or Grits?

Mixing salt into the textual pot here, the author of Matthew drew much from the earlier written source material in Mark. Most scriptural experts agree, like making grits from a recipe supplied by a loving grandmother, Matthew received the writing of Mark. Matthew made editorial adjustments to fit the needed diet of the particular community being addressed. The gospel followed to some degree, the recipe used by its likely contemporary, the Lukan counterpart… in that both authors did some editorial flavoring. The changing emergence of the Christian church across the fertile crescent during the scant decades between the writings of Mark and the later gospels can account for these subtle changes.

 As example, we note that Mark related the character of a person who should maintain the pure taste of the chief cook.., the Father... who has created all things. Mark closely followed that analogy with a warning…

“Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." (Mark 9:50b)

  The text of Mark thus gave commentary from Jesus about others who were reportedly working beyond the immediacy of the disciples, but were doing good works in the name of Christ Jesus. They were proclaiming the good news about the Messiah. Therefore Mark used the text to highlight the misguided bent toward jealousy. Mark thus related how Jesus did not approve of such attitudes.

 However, when we examine this text brought forward in both the Matthew and Lukan narratives, the teaching coming from our Lord certainly remained the same in meaning.., but the application changed.

 

Taste and See….

For example, our Matthean text was written and spoken to persons removed in geography and time from Mark, and because of that shined great brightness on the evangelical task. Thus the text remained the same, but the evangelical emphasis arose higher some twenty years after the original publishing in Mark. Therefore the text possessed this additional, spiritually normative quality for Matthew’s particular Christian community. In this, the Word which is yet the Christ of God, spoke subtly concerning their particular situation. Note that the text relates that the salt, losing the taste, is thrown out and is “trodden underfoot.”

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 May we rightly conclude then, that the warning given by the author spoke immediately to the issue that Christians gathering in and around Syrian Antioch were being thrown out of the synagogue and were thus lost their evangelical “taste”. Consequently was the gospel being wastefully trodden underfoot because the community did not keep actively stirring its proper Christian cooking? It seems so!

 The second analogy seems similar in purpose, thus placing double emphasis. In Mark these two were used quite separately. Here in Matthew, however, the author stated the lesson sequentially… possibly to give a stronger flavor bite to the evangelical task at hand. In Matthew, the Light of God, Jesus Christ.., provided for people great blessings as he told his disciples that in themselves they had become the light of the world. Evangelical purpose is thus Matthew’s accented flavoring.

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About Substance!

Amid this good news and revelation of Christ as the Light of the world, however, there were apparently many in the Matthean community that worried about the Law and its purpose. In holding up the examples of both “jot and tittle” (the smallest of written Hebraic alphabetic characters), Jesus related that all the power of the Law still remained intact. In other words, as sinful humans we are yet measured and yet found wanting. Further, our Lord stated that we must exceed the righteousness of those who say that their very task is to study and argue over each little dash of pepper in the lawful shaker. We then wonder as listeners to this gospel reading, “How is adherence to this recipe possible?”

 Consider then. We are brought in this text to the realization that for we sinful, disobedient and finite children… there would be no hope outside of Christ. We would all become salt without taste, persons groping in darkness… except that the Light has come upon us. And because He came, was crucified, and rose again for us.., and continues through the Holy Spirit to give support... Jesus gave our life in him a very pleasant taste.

 The Light of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, worked to show salvation through our evangelical messages. It is only he… Jesus.., who fulfilled the Law. It is only the innocent man Jesus, working with the Father through the Holy Spirit… who took the bitter herbs from the sinful recipe. He offered himself on the cross…

And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. (Matthew 27:48)

 Yes! Jesus drank a sinful, horrid recipe for us. It wasn’t without taste! But taste and see that the Lord is good. Jesus makes our lives palatable. Jesus replaced the horrid recipe of man’s inhumanity as convicted under the Law, and gave us the sweet honey of forgiveness beneath the Gospel. This is the Gospel message that has shed Light. This is good news for those who try to faithfully cook goodness in a dark world that would separate us. This is also warning for those who would work to keep our Christian witness hidden beneath a basket… to be thrown out along with the mush of false religions. Consequently, like the churches of Matthew and Luke hearing his words long ago, let us today be like those who first shined the Light of salvation high. From Antioch of Syria, the Word went out from Matthew to spread across the Middle East, the Greek provinces and Roman Empire. We pray that as a people we may also become so focused on evangelism by the power of the Holy Spirit, that what we cook up will be widely tasted. May we again tastily relish our invitation to Word and Sacrament. Through this blend, may we become beacons to light a path and bring all to an altar where our Lord is rightly praised. So it is written indeed in the Word. So it is our calling… and so it shall be.