Hate Crimes, Lust and Divorce

Following His requirement for righteousness exceeding that of the very strict Pharisees, Jesus gives 6 examples. In all of them we will hear what the traditional, Pharisaical interpretation was; and then we will hear Jesus tell us what the right interpretation is. Do not think that Jesus is destroying the scriptures; He is destroying all tradition that, itself, destroys the scriptures. Today we look at the first 3 of those examples.

Matthew 5:21-32

Hatred

• What the Pharisees taught about murder was not wrong; but it was sorely incomplete. Often what we say about God and salvation is not wrong, but dangerously incomplete. Have you ever tried to plot a journey using an online destination planner? Sometimes you’ll get the absolutely shortest route, but if you don’t know that route is along a narrow, winding, mountain road you may think you’re taking the right path.
• Yes, you shouldn’t murder. And murderers go to hell. That’s always been true.
• But, Jesus explains, one can murder another with thoughts and words. It’s the thought that counts.
• His counsel? If you’re going to worship and you remember that your brother (by birth, by blood, by community, by nationality, by faith) has something against you, then don’t continue to the place of worship. Instead, go and be reconciled to your brother. Then, you will be able to worship God.
• “Keep short accounts,” the old preachers used to say. Don’t let your debts, financial or otherwise, get too big.

Lust

• Just as murder was a plain commandment among the 10 of Exodus 20:1-17, so also was adultery. This much the Pharisees preached. But like many a Jesuit and law school graduate after them, they were good at casuistry, the art of twisting the law to suit their own purposes and to hide their own evil deeds.
• Jesus explains that merely gawking at a woman with a lustful eye is having committed adultery in one’s heart already.  Again, it’s the thought that counts.
• And if you have trouble controlling your body parts, it would be better to pluck out your own eye or cut off your own hand rather than have the weakness of the flesh cause your soul to live in deadly sin.

Divorce

• Adultery is a sin. Jesus had already spoken about it.
• Some have thought, with their church’s approval, that they could have a mistress as long as they divorced their wife first. In practice, at least one pretending Christian church allows a man 3 divorces in his lifetime-but no more.
• Jesus explains that the man who puts away his wife for any cause other than fornication causes her to commit adultery.
• And, any man who marries the divorced woman commits adultery, too.
• Make sure you read that passage again. The woman who is divorced for the wrong reason commits adultery if she remarries; and any man who marries her commits adultery, too. The sin of divorce leads to adultery in this case.

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“The Law And The Gospel”

Whether you like it or not, not everyone believes in the same God. Ask Woody Allen, Richard Branson, Lance Armstrong or any of the number of fanatics who would fly 747’s into the World Trade Center again if it were possible. Even among those who profess to believe in the same God, there is a world of difference in the message that God has sent to earth. Today those who use the Bible as their standard of faith and practice disagree whether Man is saved because he keeps the Law, or as long as he keeps the Law, or so that he will keep the Law, or even though he does not keep the Law, or precisely because he cannot keep the Law. What did Jesus say?

Matthew 5:17-20

• Jesus did not come to destroy the scriptures, “the law and the prophets.”
• Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets, the scriptures.
• The world won’t end until every little letter (“jot”) and significant part of a letter (“tittle”) be fulfilled.
• Whoever breaks the least commandment and teaches others to do so, too, will be considered the least.
• Whoever keeps the least commandment and teaches others to do so, too, will be considered great.
• The scribes and Pharisees have a measure of righteousness (and that righteousness is based upon the Law of God)
• Your righteousness must exceed their righteousness (which is based upon the Law of God).
• You will not enter into the kingdom of heaven if your righteousness does not exceed the Pharisaical righteousness (which is based upon the Law of God).

Meditation Points:

1. Numbers of people not only think but also preach that Jesus came to destroy the Law. Their preaching of love, love, love leaves no room for the absolute morality of the scriptures nor for man’s responsibility to be holy.
2. Some teaching on eschatology would have Jesus destroy the prophets, too.
3. If Jesus obeyed the Law, are we then free to live as we please?
4. Are some commandments more important than others?
5. Teaching others to follow our sinful example makes our sin more heinous.
6. The Pharisees are not faulted for having gone too far; they are faulted for not having gone far enough!
7. And, lest you think that this understanding is off base, read the rest of Matthew 5 and you will see that Jesus uses 6 different scriptures to prove that the Pharisees didn’t really understand the law that they cherished so dearly. Theirs was a strictly literal interpretation of scriptures; and Jesus requires a broad, spiritual understanding of the scriptures.

More tomorrow and Sunday…

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The Teaching On The Mount

Traditionally known as “the sermon on the mount,” Matthew 5-7 encompasses a wide variety of subjects. Read the entire passage aloud. How long did it take? Do you understand everything with one reading, or do you yearn for more? It is evident from the variations between Matthew and Luke that neither version is complete. It must have been a “seminar on the mount.”

In today’s reading, we consider the opening teaching of that day

Matthew 5:1-16; Luke 6:17-26

Beatitudes

Matthew lists 8 of these “blessings”; Luke has but 4 in abbreviated form, but he includes 4 parallel “woes.”

• 1. the poor in spirit have the kingdom of heaven/God (Luke:  poor – woe to the rich)
• 2. they who mourn shall be comforted  (Luke: that weep – woe to those who laugh)
• 3. the meek shall inherit the earth
• 4. they who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled (Luke: that hunger – woe to the full)
• 5. the merciful shall obtain mercy
• 6. the pure in heart shall see God
• 7. the peacemakers shall be called the children of God
• 8. they/you who are persecuted for righteousness sake have great reward in heaven  (Luke: when men shall hate you – woe when all men speak well of you)

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