Matthew 5:21-26
“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.
"Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet." These wise words come, not from scripture, but from the poet Maya Angelou, but they very much apply to our reading today.
I doubt there are too many preachers who really relish speaking on this scripture. It is a pretty harsh teaching, but we can’t just ignore it because it makes us feel uncomfortable. This is still Matthew’s gospel, remember, and Matthew’s primary agenda is to establish for the Jewish people that Jesus was and is the fulfillment of hundreds of years of Jewish prophecy. Jesus must therefore stand firmly on a base of Jewish Law.
This is also still the same story we’ve been reading for the past couple of weeks – still the same hillside, still the same group of listeners who just heard the Beatitudes explained to them – same day, same time, same channel.
To go from the gentle blessings of the Beatitudes to these harsh threats of hellfire (here against hatred and scorn, and in the three other brief teachings that follow, similar dire punishments for divorce done badly, adultery, and lying under oath) seems like such a huge leap. How do we get from “blessed are the meek,” to “you’ll burn in hell for calling someone a fool”?
Every one of these examples begins from the point of the most serious charge and therefore, the most serious punishment. It then proceeds to explain that even what seem to us as minor infractions are still very serious business to God.
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.” This takes the most serious version of this violation and then offers the judgment found in Jewish law and – bingo – there you are with hellfire.
But then Jesus, as usual, takes this further – way further – and tells us that if we even call someone a fool we are risking that same hellfire. As far as God is concerned there is no variation by degree from really bad – murder, to not so bad (to us) – calling someone a name. The punishment is the same.
Now, as luck would have it, I had to go into the Sacramento area yesterday for a funeral, and when I left home in the morning, this message was only half written and I didn’t really know how I might finish it. It’s a 2.5 to 3 hour drive both ways so we were on the road a long time.
And it was a day for idiot drivers. [You can see that I’m in trouble already.] Most of the drivers were just going along trying to get there and back again alive – and then there were the idiots. You know the kind I mean – the ones who drive 90+ on the freeway; the ones who cut in and out through the traffic forcing others to slam on their brakes to avoid being hit. There was one gem who – while in the middle of the freeway construction zone in Petaluma – was so determined to pass the car ahead of him – let me repeat, in the construction zone, that he forced his way into the coned-off, torn-up area and passed the other car on the right. And what did he gain from this maneuver? One car length. That’s it – one car length in a line of cars already crawling at slow speed.
Idiots.
The funeral we were going to was for a dearly loved, long-time friend so we were already heartbroken, edgy, and a little sleep deprived. To while away the tedium of the drive we spent much of our time discussing the idiocy levels of some of the drivers around us, in a half joking/half serious sort of way.
And all the while I’m calling names and discussing what idiots such people are, this reading was running through the back of my thoughts. You know, when someone cuts you off in traffic, forcing you to slam your brakes and skid sideways, it’s really hard to remember this scripture. But ..... I’m pretty sure that God would like us to remember it.
Because, these erstwhile idiots are, first and foremost -- beloved children of God – just like me ... just like us -- however hard that may be for us to believe. My flashes of anger and my judgmental stance are, in truth, me stripping them of their name as child of God. Setting them somehow outside the boundaries of “us.”
Coming up with names to call someone is not the sin. Stripping them of their humanity, is. If we strip away someone’s humanity it is a form of murder – and that carries a consequence we can’t shrug off as “just name calling.”
More than any other thing, Jesus calls us – all throughout his teachings – over and over and over -- to live in community with each other, and to live that community well To care for each other, to share with each other, to love the weak and broken among us – as God loves them; to take the lower seat at the table, to not think ourselves better than anyone else. To be merciful. To be peacemakers. To love our brothers and sisters as Jesus loves us.
Hard to pull off if you’re thinking of them as idiots.
For all I know these drivers were under stress I knew nothing about – either that or they were just rude and unthinking. None of that matters -- they were not mine to judge. We are told quite clearly that the role of judge does not belong to us. That’s God’s job, not mine.
And calling it “joking” doesn’t get us off the hook either.
"Hate (or scorn) it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet."
Lord, forgive me. Forgive my hasty tongue and forgive my messy temper. Forgive my willingness – however fleeting – to shut someone out beyond the pale. Help me to remember when I do that it is only myself I’m shutting out – outside the community of God’s beloved children – and that’s the worst kind of hellfire.
I doubt there are too many preachers who really relish speaking on this scripture. It is a pretty harsh teaching, but we can’t just ignore it because it makes us feel uncomfortable. This is still Matthew’s gospel, remember, and Matthew’s primary agenda is to establish for the Jewish people that Jesus was and is the fulfillment of hundreds of years of Jewish prophecy. Jesus must therefore stand firmly on a base of Jewish Law.
This is also still the same story we’ve been reading for the past couple of weeks – still the same hillside, still the same group of listeners who just heard the Beatitudes explained to them – same day, same time, same channel.
To go from the gentle blessings of the Beatitudes to these harsh threats of hellfire (here against hatred and scorn, and in the three other brief teachings that follow, similar dire punishments for divorce done badly, adultery, and lying under oath) seems like such a huge leap. How do we get from “blessed are the meek,” to “you’ll burn in hell for calling someone a fool”?
Every one of these examples begins from the point of the most serious charge and therefore, the most serious punishment. It then proceeds to explain that even what seem to us as minor infractions are still very serious business to God.
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.” This takes the most serious version of this violation and then offers the judgment found in Jewish law and – bingo – there you are with hellfire.
But then Jesus, as usual, takes this further – way further – and tells us that if we even call someone a fool we are risking that same hellfire. As far as God is concerned there is no variation by degree from really bad – murder, to not so bad (to us) – calling someone a name. The punishment is the same.
Now, as luck would have it, I had to go into the Sacramento area yesterday for a funeral, and when I left home in the morning, this message was only half written and I didn’t really know how I might finish it. It’s a 2.5 to 3 hour drive both ways so we were on the road a long time.
And it was a day for idiot drivers. [You can see that I’m in trouble already.] Most of the drivers were just going along trying to get there and back again alive – and then there were the idiots. You know the kind I mean – the ones who drive 90+ on the freeway; the ones who cut in and out through the traffic forcing others to slam on their brakes to avoid being hit. There was one gem who – while in the middle of the freeway construction zone in Petaluma – was so determined to pass the car ahead of him – let me repeat, in the construction zone, that he forced his way into the coned-off, torn-up area and passed the other car on the right. And what did he gain from this maneuver? One car length. That’s it – one car length in a line of cars already crawling at slow speed.
Idiots.
The funeral we were going to was for a dearly loved, long-time friend so we were already heartbroken, edgy, and a little sleep deprived. To while away the tedium of the drive we spent much of our time discussing the idiocy levels of some of the drivers around us, in a half joking/half serious sort of way.
And all the while I’m calling names and discussing what idiots such people are, this reading was running through the back of my thoughts. You know, when someone cuts you off in traffic, forcing you to slam your brakes and skid sideways, it’s really hard to remember this scripture. But ..... I’m pretty sure that God would like us to remember it.
Because, these erstwhile idiots are, first and foremost -- beloved children of God – just like me ... just like us -- however hard that may be for us to believe. My flashes of anger and my judgmental stance are, in truth, me stripping them of their name as child of God. Setting them somehow outside the boundaries of “us.”
Coming up with names to call someone is not the sin. Stripping them of their humanity, is. If we strip away someone’s humanity it is a form of murder – and that carries a consequence we can’t shrug off as “just name calling.”
More than any other thing, Jesus calls us – all throughout his teachings – over and over and over -- to live in community with each other, and to live that community well To care for each other, to share with each other, to love the weak and broken among us – as God loves them; to take the lower seat at the table, to not think ourselves better than anyone else. To be merciful. To be peacemakers. To love our brothers and sisters as Jesus loves us.
Hard to pull off if you’re thinking of them as idiots.
For all I know these drivers were under stress I knew nothing about – either that or they were just rude and unthinking. None of that matters -- they were not mine to judge. We are told quite clearly that the role of judge does not belong to us. That’s God’s job, not mine.
And calling it “joking” doesn’t get us off the hook either.
"Hate (or scorn) it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet."
Lord, forgive me. Forgive my hasty tongue and forgive my messy temper. Forgive my willingness – however fleeting – to shut someone out beyond the pale. Help me to remember when I do that it is only myself I’m shutting out – outside the community of God’s beloved children – and that’s the worst kind of hellfire.
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