Both Jesus and Moses encourage us to not fight the law, but to lean into it, to stand upon it, to trust it as a guide for our lives and a reminder that God’s law is truly a matter of the heart. A matter of the lengths that God will go and has gone to make us God’s own – to bless our community and our world.
I love Jesus. He has all the tools in the teaching toolbox and he’s not afraid to use them. We are in the third week of hearing excerpts of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The first week we heard the Beatitudes – last week Jesus declared his followers to be Salt and Light and now this week – this section of Jesus’ sermon has been dubbed by some as “The Hard Sayings of Jesus”.
“Hard Sayings” perhaps, because Jesus takes a walk through a chunk of the 10 commandments and truly ups the ante on them – he amazingly raises the bar on these basic laws that govern the people’s life together.
When I read this passage earlier this week, it occurred to me that this is really a proof text against reading the Bible literally. In fact, if anyone tells you that they believe in a literal interpretation of scripture – you can check on two things – do they have both eyes in their sockets? – and how about their ability to clap – both hands there too?
This is part of the reason why I love Jesus. He uses hyperbole as this great teaching device – and it gets our attention, doesn’t it? Jesus is making a point that moves us beyond the letter of the law and into the heart of the matter.
In order to more deeply understand Jesus’ teaching on the commandments, it would be helpful to think about the reasons the Law was given in the first place. Lutheran theologian, David Lose, writes about this:
First, Lose writes, the law is given as a gift. This means the law is not the means by which to become God’s people or to earn God’s love, but rather a gift given to God’s people simply because God loves them. Because of this, the words “Choose Life!” that we hear this morning in Deuteronomy are less a stern command and more a heart-felt invitation.
Second, the law is given to strengthen community. The “you” in Matthew is always plural. The law isn’t about meeting our individual needs but about creating and sustaining a community in which all of God’s children can find health, safety, and blessing.
The logic behind the biblical focus on community is simple. When you’re looking out for yourself, it’s you against the world. But when you look out for the others in your community, and they in turn look out for you, it’s the community together that faces the challenges, setbacks, and opportunities that the world offers.
And third, the law comes as a gift to strengthen community by orienting us to the needs of our neighbor.
That’s why, I think, Jesus intensifies the interpretation of the commandments in today’s reading – to help us avoid seeing the law as merely drawing moral boundaries and instead alerting us to our responsibility to care for those around us.
One can too easily discriminate against, neglect, or speak poorly of a neighbor all the while saying, “I have kept the commandment because I have not murdered” them. And so Jesus intensifies the law to make us more responsible for our neighbor’s well-being.
One of the things that can trip us up in this interpretation of God’s Law is that the emphasis is on the communal and not the individual – especially because we live in a culture where the emphasis is the exact opposite – and maybe this is especially true when it comes to matters of faith.
So, when Jesus ups the ante on the interpretation of the Ten Commandments, we might imagine that it is for the betterment of the whole community and not just the individuals involved – again, Jesus looking beyond the letter of the law to God’s true intent – that these commandments would be the beating heart of the community.
For example, in today’s reading, Jesus spends the most time on two issues: anger and swearing falsely. We might think of these as commands to care for two relationships – the relationship we have with one another and the relationship we have with God.
Jesus says:
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. (Matthew 5:23-24)
I have said this many times over the years, but there is a direct connection between our relationship with each other and our relationship with God. If one is out of sync, you can bet the other is out of sync too.
And it is real handy – because when our relationships are lined up with each other, it is a good bet that our relationship with God is lined up too – that sign of the cross as a reminder of God’s intent and God’s love for His people.
The reality is that Jesus was calling the people back to the gift that had been handed down generations before –on that ancient day, in that ancient place, Moses had assembled the people to hear again the words of the covenant – the words of his last sermon to them. Think of all they had been through together – the escape from Egypt, the long wandering in the wilderness. The end of the journey to freedom was literally in sight – Moses knows he will not be with them much longer and so he gives them final words of encouragement and challenge, saying:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days… (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
Choose life.
Each day, we too encounter opportunities and challenges – blessings and curses. We too are given choices as to what we will say and what we will do.
Both Jesus and Moses encourage us to not fight the law, but to lean into it, to stand upon it, to trust it as a guide for our lives and a reminder that God’s law is truly a matter of the heart. A matter of the lengths that God will go and has gone to make us God’s own – to bless our community and our world.
Let us pray: Gracious and loving God, thank you for this gift of life. Give us the wisdom and strength to lean into the law you have given to us and written on our hearts. Help us to respond to your call as we choose life in our thoughts, our words and our actions. We pray it all in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Rev. John Berg
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Northbrook, IL
Resources:
- David Lose, “In the Meantime…On Love and the Law” – February 6, 2017.
Readings