By now, if you have been here the last couple of Sundays,
you are noticing
that
during the Epiphany season this year
the
gospel readings have been from the Sermon on the Mount.
A major part of this whole liturgical season – 4 Sundays –
is
dedicated to and focused on chapter 5 of Matthew,
and there are still 2 more chapters for the rest of the
Sermon on the Mount.
Typically folks tend to look at the Sermon on the Mount
as
the high point of Jesus’ message.
And so often these three chapters from Matthew’s Gospel
are
considered to be the summation of Christian moral teaching.
But if we stop there,
with that idea that the Sermon
on the Mount is primarily about morality,
then we aren’t looking deeply enough at it. No,
no, no.
Let me remind you about the last verse from the Gospel
reading last Sunday.
Jesus said,
“Unless
your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Then in today’s reading starting with the very next verse,
we
have Jesus giving 3 examples in which he begins by saying,
“You have heard it said [this]…, but I say to you
[something other]…”
and that “something other” than the familiar and
conventional understanding
goes
beneath the purely outward behavior
based on
law and commandments
to
what is far more fundamental and relational.
"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 or if you insult a brother or sister,
you
will be liable to judgment;
and if you say, `You fool,' –
if you demean and devalue your brother or sister –
you have
made yourself liable to be thrown out into the garbage dump
-
that’s the hell fire mentioned in this verse: Gehenna
the
Jerusalem garbage dump where there were perpetual fires.
In other words, pull someone else down,
and
you pull yourself down.
Anyone else – for they are all your brothers and sisters.
All relationships are on the line.
If one is angry with another, but without awareness of
God,
and
of the real nature of our relationship with one another,
then
that anger is arrogant, prejudiced and judgmental.
And it is self afflicting as a result;
those
attitudes of arrogance, prejudice and judgment
are
self damaging spiritually, self afflicting.
In this passage from the sermon on the mount Jesus is
saying
that
what you do to another, you do to yourself.
Later in chapter 7, verse 12, Jesus says,
“In
everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”
And, I will add, that is because what we do to others we
do to ourselves.
Jesus caps off that Golden Rule by adding:
“This
is the law and the prophets.”
Jesus is talking to his disciples about a just intimacy in
their relationships,
what
makes for a righteous intimacy,
an
intimacy in relationships that is right with God,
that
puts us into right relationship with God.
Back to Chapter 5 – verse 25
Jesus says, “Come
to terms quickly with your accuser
while
you are on the way to court with him…”
In other words,
get
into the just relationship before resorting to the law,
before
getting to the judge!
This is the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes
and Pharisees.
Greater righteousness occurs outside the law, prior to the
law.
and
that’s where personal responsibility lies.
The next example of
“You
have heard it said [this]…, but I say to you …”
is
about adultery –
This section of today’s reading is perhaps the most well
known,
especially
for those who remember Jimmy Carter’s interview with Playboy.
You need to remember that he said out loud
the
truth of every human being.
And this reveals the fragility of marital faithfulness.
But in this context of the Sermon on the Mount,
which
is Matthew’s Gospel parallel of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai,
We need to remember this other verse from last week:
“Think
not that I have come to abolish/destroy the law AND the prophets,
but
to fulfill.”
to
complete it, to bring the law to its fullness and its maturity,
exhibit
its farthest reaching extent.
And the prophets, who continually were calling the people
back to the law,
used
the basic, primal and fundamental relationship to talk about that –
marriage
– the marriage between God and the people of the Covenant
and
the violation of that marriage relationship in adultery.
Essentially all sin is adultery.
All sin is a form of adultery against God.
In the prayer book before the general confession,
the
deacon or priest who bids the confession says,
“Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.”
Our sins are violations of aspects of our relationships
with others,
but
the primary relationship is with God, so God is listed first.
And God sees our relationship as so fundamental and
intimate,
that
ANYTHING we do, say or think impacts that relationship.
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
the Pharisees…”
Righteousness is the foundation, not the achievement.
It is not attained, but imbued.
Righteousness is not attained, but imbued. It is given.
If
you don’t get in touch with that you are living in poverty.
God is love, and when we are baptized,
we
are baptized into Jesus and that agaph love.
The foundation of all human beings is agaph love.
The inhibition of that agaph love in
our lives
is
what invokes suffering in the world.
Can you see that?
But the recognition of the suffering and affliction is
called compassion.
When
we recognize suffering and affliction, this is called compassion.
All right, now we can talk about what that means for us.
Time for personal reflection –
Think about this:
What
is your response to the issues that are currently of concern for you?
This can be either moral issues or relational issues or
political issues.
Heaven knows we have an overabundance of that!
Almost
on a daily basis we see new issues of concern arise.
Actually we can see that all of our personal transactions
are political in nature.
Let me clarify what is meant by politics.
The word comes from Greek and means literally “affairs of
the cities.”
It can be defined as
the
process of
making decisions applying to all members of each group.
It can also be seen as
the
study or practice of the distribution of power and resources
within
a given community
as
well as the interrelationships between communities.
In
other words, we can see that all of our personal transactions
have
a political element.
Well, what does that mean for us? -- personal reflection –
Think about this: how is your response to the issues that
are of concern to you –
either moral issues or political issues or relational issues –
how is your response obscuring the reality of the issue
you are responding to?
What
is your motivation as you respond?
I use examples from the news about the travel ban
and about this weekend’s ICE raids and round ups of
resident aliens.
These
were enacted with the statement that it’s for safety and security
--
a big concern for many.
If safety and security were the main concern,
then
maybe we should be focusing on gun violence instead.
But since we aren’t, then the issue can’t really be
safety.
It seems that it is more about inclusion and exclusion,
security,
but at the expense of others.
But for us as individuals here in church today and in our
daily lives,
our
security is an internal issue,
not
a refugee or immigration or deportation issue.
That is what the Sermon on the Mount is addressing.
It speaks to the internal values and how we treat others.
So again,
how is your response obscuring the reality of the issue
you are responding to?
What
are your motivations as you respond?
Do we have ears to hear?
Or will we each hear in our own
ways as we are accustomed and prefer to hear?
May I suggest that we first take account of ourselves
regarding
our own issues of violence and security.
How
am I a violent threat to others?
See if this is helpful for personal self reflection:
Consider the issue of the vetting of potential refugee
immigrants.
And another aspect of that consideration we may not easily
realize
is vetting by other
countries of who from here can come to their countries.
We may not always remember but this works two ways.
What
would any country need to know about us
in
vetting us to let us into their country?
especially
given the general negative impact they perceive on their culture
by
this country’s culture?
In a sense, today’s Gospel is about another kind of
vetting.
the
vetting of both our behavior and our attitudes.
So what is your response to the issues most concerning
you?
And
how is your response
obscuring
the reality of the issue you are responding to?
We can each ask ourselves, “Why am I so upset?
What
is it that I am bringing to the issue at hand?”
As I consider myself personally, I find I keep coming back
to an incipient fear
that
has to do with scarceness/scarcity
and
the destructive effect that has on relationships.
In it is an attitude of poverty of resources,
which
leads to the sense of alienation and separateness.
This attitude of scarcity has a destructive result on
relatedness.
Jesus is utterly not about that,
because
ownership was not an issue for him.
“Consider the lilies…” he says, “consider the ravens…”
Therefore no exploitation is needed. There is enough. God provides.
So can we have compassion for others in their affliction
and
where they need support?
The recognition of affliction is called compassion.
To repeat myself,
Our sins are violations of aspects of our relationships
with others,
but
the primary relationship is with God,
And God sees our relationship as so fundamental and
intimate,
that
ANYTHING we do, say or think impacts that relationship,
is
adulterous.
But the fulfillment of the law and the prophets,
the
righteousness that exceeds the religious experts,
is
not attained, but imbued, given, is the grace of our salvation.
If you don’t get in touch with that you are living in
poverty.
Do you realize how vital and relevant the Sermon on the
Mount is?
especially
for right now!
