February 16 -- Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

Listen to this sermon HERE.

Grace to you and peace...

We hear these exhortations from Jesus in our Gospel today actually as grace and peace, being offered to us.  But that takes some explanation.  

Remember first of all that this is right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and always in ancient Mediterranean culture the most important stuff comes at the beginning and the end, but especially at the beginning.  Do you remember what was at the beginning of this sermon?  

This text today has to be read in context.  We always want to read sections of Matthew as part of the whole Gospel of Matthew.  

It’s important to remember also, that Jesus is talking just to his disciples here -- not huge crowds like in Luke.  This is insider talk.  They all know the commandments to which he’s referring.  They were good Jewish boys and girls.  They knew their Torah.  And today it’s these three:  thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not bear false witness.

And Jesus is taking it to the next level!  He’s challenging them to see that this Jesus-following life is not about just following the letter of the law.  It’s about catching the Spirit of the law.  And the Spirit of the law is offered to us in love.  It’s offered to us to grant us grace and peace in our lives.  This is “insider” talk: beyond just external, bare-minimum law abiding.

To put it plainly:  Our text today reminds us again that “God cares about our relationships with each other.”  ⬄ not just ⇳ To put it even more plainly:  God doesn’t want us to hurt each other.  

So these passages about anger, marriage and divorce, slandering and lying, lusting -- all of these are situations where human beings can get hurt, and hurt badly.  Matthew’s Gospel, Paul’s letter, and Deuteronomy’s ancient ancient words all invite us to “choose life,” so that we may truly live (not just get by) in this blessed and broken world that God has given us.  

There’s a difference between just following the rules (because they’re the rules) vs. allowing the rules to lead and guide you to a much richer experience of life.  The spirit of the law is good.

The great minds of the Reformation talked about the law as a curb:  Law doesn’t stop us from driving off the road, but guides us smoothly and much more safely to our destination.  And by safely, I mean, when people aren’t getting hurt.  

How we can hurt each other in our relationships: in our sibling rivalries, in our marriages, in our collegial relationships...

There is a certain “hell of fire” that we can experience when relationships are strained or even broken.  That word “hell” in Greek is “gehenna” which everyone of that time knew was the trash dump that was eternally on fire, because waste kept getting dragged out of the city and dumped.  Everyone could see the smoke, and so it was a vivid illustration for Jesus to use.  He is really using hyperbole here...

There is a certain “hell of fire” that we experience when anger, jealously, lust and dishonesty infect our relationships, right?  Sisters and brother in Christ, God cares about this.  Christ Jesus offers us life in his “but I say to you...’s.”

You’ve heard said don’t murder but I say to you, even when you are angry with a brother or sister, you’re liable.  That’s enough for us to work on this week right there.  How’s your anger management going?  

[Story of the Amish going to the parents the same day and attending the funeral of the boy who went on a shooting rampage and killed their children.] 

It takes work.  And our community of faith is so essential to that work.  We need rules, bridles to keep us in check because our anger can come undone!  (Not just externally either.  Of course some of us have issues with shows of anger on the outside, but others of us bury our anger deep down inside so that it festers and comes out in all kinds of unhealthy ways.)  God cares about our relationships, God cares about us, God cares about you.  Don’t bury your anger.  

The same can be said about adultery and divorce.  It’s helpful to remember, first of all, that divorce -- and marriage for that matter -- in that period and place was very different.  If a man divorced a woman, we’re talking human rights issues.  She was thrown out like a piece of trash.  And all the law says is that man needed to obtain the proper paperwork to do so.  Jesus is challenging this treatment.  God cares about relationships and people being hurt.  And not just the woman, in this case, being hurt.  

When people (and especially women) are being cheapened or treated like objects, isn’t it dehumanizing to both parties?  You all know we have rampant objectification and exploitation of human bodies and sex in our culture.  But this isn’t just a women’s rights issue; this isn’t just something we teach our little girls about -- to respect their bodies!  It’s something we have to teach boys and men about too!  For everyone is de-humanized in that activity of lust and adultery, sexual exploitation and rampant commercialization of sex and sexuality.  God didn’t create us to hurt others and to be hurt!  To cheapen others and to be cheapened.  God cares about our relationships.  Sex is good and beautiful and a gift from God.  

And when people are being hurt, Jesus stands up and speaks!  Jesus stands up and speaks when you are being hurt...and when you are hurting others or yourself.  Just flying slightly under the radar, following the rules, isn’t a full life, doing the bare minimum to stay out of trouble.  No, choose life, take risks in your Jesus-following, “May your yes be ‘YES, this is right and good!’, and your no be ‘NO, this is wrong!’”  We’re not mousey Christians, peeping along; we’re giants of compassion and justice, righteousness and God’s grace and peace for this world.

We’re so filled to brim with Christ’s light that we can’t help but live in ways that reflect God’s love to the world.  This is all response-to-God’s-grace stuff!  Having encountered the reality of Christ’s divine presence in Word and Meal, we can’t help but love our neighbors and even our enemies (that’s coming in Jesus‘ sermon next week), we can’t help but keep our relationships in check, and loving.  We can’t help but forgive.   We can’t help but stand up for those who are cast aside, or those who are going through hell at home or at work or in school.  Remember that you are blessed.  Yes, we’re capable of some pretty awful things, but with Christ’s light before us, Christ’s body and blood inside us, Christ’s blessing upon us, Christ’s Spirit below us carrying us, there’s no valley of the shadow of death through which we can’t pass to the other side, still held in God’s gracious and loving embrace!  

This is the Holy Spirit life to which Christ invites us.  And that rich life that abundant life starts...now.