What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 • Psalm 119:1-8 • 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 • Matthew 5:21-37

[Jesus said to the disciples:] "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 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. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 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. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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. 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. It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. 'But 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. 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.' 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 your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."


I’d like to begin today by just admitting that there is more in this text than can be unpacked in just one sermon. There is something in each of these’ examples of Jesus pushing the boundaries of the Commandments to the extreme in ways that touch all of our lives—for we all have ourselves or know someone who has been angry, who’s called someone a name, who’s lusted for another person, who is divorced, or who has brought dishonor to someone else. If there’s a particular aspect of these teachings of Jesus that troubles your conscience, know that I would welcome deeper conversation with you about this passage. But for today, I’d like us to talk about how this passage comes off the page, rather than what lies behind it.

What seems to come off the page here is that Jesus is either being one of two things: either very moralistic, setting up expectations so high that none of us could meet them; or, he’s setting up such high internal standards for us that we throw up our hands, and the commandments he speaks of lose all their moral content altogether. But what if Jesus is actually talking about neither. What if Jesus is actually speaking about our relationships with one another? After all, the “second table” of the commandments—numbers 6 through 10, the ones Jesus is dealing with here—all concern our relationships with one another, whereas the “first table” of the commandments—numbers 1 through 5—concern our relationship with God. So, what kind of relationship does Jesus want us to have with our family, friends, neighbors and communities?

In the way Jesus speaks in his interpretation of the commandments, he is less concerned with our behavior, and more concerned with the interior motive behind our behavior in relationship toward others. Jesus wants us to see that goal of the commandments is that we may “choose life”—as Moses preaches in today’s first reading from Deuteronomy—“choose life”, and choose to honor the relationships of our lives. The commandments guide us to “choose life” so that we may say “yes” to relationship with others that promotes the health and well-being of the other person, rather than promoting their death and destruction. What Jesus wants for us…is to live in relationships that regard each other as blessed, just as God honors and blesses each of us.

And wouldn’t the world be great, if we all could always make that choice! The trouble is, we make the wrong choice. We don’t choose life. We don’t choose what promotes the health and well-being of our neighbor. In what has increasingly become a more and more litigious society, the choice to blame and accuse has become all too easy and acceptable. When laws become separated from promoting relationships of health and well-being, they can become a destructive and vindictive thing. And when the blame and accuse voices break out, this saying of Mahatma Ghandi starts to become reality: “An ‘eye for an eye’ makes the world go blind.”

What Jesus invites us to remember in his revision of the second table of the commandments, is that in our relationships with one another, legality and accountability is there, it exists because there absolutely are consequences for our actions…but Jesus reminds us that legality is just one dimension of the commandments. The other dimension, the dimension that cannot be forgotten nor separated from the honoring of God’s commandment covenant with us…is the relational dimension, the dimension where the welfare of our neighbors is the closest thing to our hearts, and where we trust that they are doing the same for us.

And the amazing thing is…Jesus places us in that dimension, the dimension where none of us is an island, the dimension where we are intimately connected and woven into relationship with one another. In Africa, there is a concept called “Ubuntu”, a word that means something like “humanity”, and “living together.” Jesus places us into such an “ubuntu” reality because of his mercy that puts him in right relationship with us. “Ubuntu” does not mean, “I think, therefore I am” but rather, “I am, because of you; and you are, because of me.” It is in this reality of “ubuntu” that Jesus guides us, and it is his wisdom that “sees the religious life as a deepening relationship” with God’s Spirit through relationship with the neighbor, “not as the life of requirements and rewards.” (Borg)

This “ubuntu” reality, where none of us is an island, is held together by Jesus. Because we will make the wrong choice. We will anger one another, and disagree with one another, but Jesus reconciles us to one another. Jesus holds us together in an “ubuntu” reality that is deeper and wider than we can know or imagine.

A few years ago I was reminded again of how Jesus holds us together specifically through the act of giving and receiving Holy Communion, with each other. While I attended the 2009 E.L.C.A. Churchwide Assembly, amidst a very contentious atmosphere during a very litigious week, when debate and discussion about the very contentious issues of our understanding of human sexuality in the church…the whole assembly gathered for worship at the middle of each day. And in one case I noticed during worship that two people who had just been arguing one point on the floor, who had been standing hundreds of feet apart, standing at microphones and giving opposing viewpoints on a motion, now were brought together by the common cup of Christ’s blood. One of them was giving communion, and it just so happened that when the other went up, he received the cup of wine from that person he had just been in disagreement with. In that moment, something far deeper than their disagreements defined them…something that only Jesus could offer, something that brought them into a deeper relationship.

So today we too, at Holy Communion, we rehearse what Jesus desires for our daily lives. Jesus sends that reconciling Spirit into our lives, to forgive us for the ways we choose to honor laws legally rather than choosing to honor our neighbor. Jesus’ presence challenges us to ask, what laws do we need to intensify to do justice to the kind of relationships God calls us to? And even as we respond to that questions in different ways, Jesus will continue to choose relationship with us, and help us to more fully embody God’s faithful covenant with us—in our homes, in our communities and in the world. Amen.