Be Reconciled

Scripture:           Deuteronomy 30:15-20,   Psalm 119:1-8,                   1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Matthew 5:21-37

There’s a story about W C Fields, a well-known comic in the first half of the 20^th century.  In his movies, Fields played hard drinking con men who hated children and dogs.  He also joked frequently about the lack of entertainment options in his home town of Philadelphia, such as when he called Philadelphia “a cemetery with lights” and said, “I went to Philadelphia on a Sunday once.  It was closed.”  Someone once saw Fields, a vocal atheist, reading a Bible – perhaps the last book anyone would have expected to see in the hands of W C Fields.  Not surprisingly, the person asked Fields what on earth he was doing reading a Bible, and Fields responded, “Looking for loopholes, young man, looking for loopholes.”

Our Gospel reading this morning continues in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, a collection of the teachings of Jesus that takes up three chapters in Matthew’s gospel.    Last week we read the Beatitudes, a series of blessings Jesus gives to categories of people we might consider unblessed – the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for righteousness’ sake.  Jesus then went on to tell his followers that they must be like salt and light, bringing a unique flavor, a unique perspective, to their interactions with others, preserving relationships and community as salt preserves food, and shining the light of God’s love into the dark corners of the world where injustice and oppression conceal themselves. 

Last week’s reading was fairly warm and fuzzy, but in this week’s reading, Jesus gets down to some specifics about what it means to be salt and light in the world – and as we hear these specifics, we may feel our blood pressure rising.  Jesus begins with teachings from the Ten Commandments or from elsewhere in the law of Moses – do not murder, do not commit adultery, a person asking for a divorce must give a certificate of divorce to the party being divorced, and oaths are faithfully to be kept.  But Jesus interprets these teachings in ways that, among other things, seem to take away nearly all of the loopholes.  Jesus not only instructs his followers not to kill, but not to be angry.  He not only tells them not to commit adultery, but not to commit lust.  He left only adultery as grounds for divorce, and tells his followers that the best way to avoid breaking an oath is not to take one in the first place. 

What is Jesus trying to do here?  It would seem he’s setting his followers up for failure.  After all, depending on circumstances, it may be difficult to get through a day without feelings of anger or lust.  More than once I’ve shared my own struggles with anger when I’m behind the wheel, especially when somebody is dawdling in the passing lane when I’m in a  hurry to get someplace.  It’s the one place where my “Pastor Dave” mask slips or flies out the window entirely, as I hit my horn, use words I never learned in seminary, and perhaps interpret my words with some some creative sign language as well.  And yet obviously I’ve never been overcome with road rage to the point of killing or injuring anyone, nor have I been tempted to – not even close.  So where is Jesus going with all this?  Some have said that the purpose of Jesus’ seemingly impossible standard is to remind us of our need for grace – a true statement so far as it goes, but I don’t think it goes all that far.   One would hope Jesus had a higher purpose to his teachings than to send his followers on guilt trips.

In the Gospel accounts, most of the other religious leaders Jesus encounters seem to be fixated on rules – what kind of animals to sacrifice, how often to fast, how scrupulously to tithe.  I have to say that while this was likely grounded in reality,  the portrayal of these leaders may also reflect the tension between the followers of Jesus and followers of the mainstream Judaism of the time, so that the other leaders were made to look bad so that Jesus looks better by contrast.  But in any case, Jesus seems to be pushing his followers to move beyond focusing on rules – which can always be interpreted in ways that provide loopholes – to relationships and the maintenance of community.  The bottom-line question underneath Jesus statements seems to be, “does this or that behavior strengthen community or damage it?  If a behavior strengthens relationship and community, it should be encouraged.  If a behavior damages relationship and community, it should be avoided.”  And while murder and adultery and the breaking of promises obviously damages relationships and community, so do the attitudes that behind these actions such as anger and lust, even if we don’t act on them.  Both murdering somebody and saying about someone “he’s dead to me” break off relationship – though obviously in the second case, relationship can still be restored.

In order to maintain life-giving relationships, we have to respect one another’s dignity as human beings with something of God inside them.  Often anger results when we expect others to follow the roles we want to assign them, and they aren’t willing to play along and follow our script.  And when we lust after somebody, we often undermine their dignity by viewing them as a collection of attractive body parts instead of as a whole person with a heart and a mind, as well as a body, a whole person created in God’s image. 

In the American church, we need to be reminded of these teachings.   American Christianity is very individualistic and very otherworldly, obsessing on questions such as “what must I do to get to heaven” and “will I see my family members in heaven” – all about “I, me, mine” and all about the afterlife, often to the point of being so heavenly minded as to do no earthly good.  Even in our religious observance, selfishness can creep in, and often take over.  In many self-proclaimed evangelical churches, following Jesus is reduced to walking up front to the altar and praying a little prayer, sort of like getting one’s ticket to heaven punched.  There’s a focus on Paul’s teachings about the grace and forgiveness Christ death and resurrection brings – which are conveniently applied to church members – and a focus on certain passages in the book of Leviticus, which are conveniently applied to people outside the church.  Many churches limit their discussion of social ethics to the hot button topics of abortion and homosexuality – topics Jesus never mentioned even once during his time on earth.  Jesus did, however, have a whole lot to say about how we treat our neighbors, how we treat strangers and foreigners, a whole lot to say about how we use our time and our money – preferably to help our poor neighbors.  Indeed, far from having us obsess over our own status in the afterlife, Jesus seems to urge us to forget ourselves entirely as we plunge into helping others, as he said, “Those who would save their lives will lose them, and those who would lose their lives for my sake and the sake of the good news will save them.”   Jesus valued community, to the point where he formed his own followers into a kind of alternative community – an alternative community into which we as followers of Jesus are likewise invited, where we are invited to live into the values of the Reign of God during our time on earth.  We sometimes forget that Christians were never called to support the ways of empire, the ways of the majority culture – that started during the reign of Constantine, when Christianity became the religion of the Roman empire, and is perhaps where the church began to lose its voice, or, as Jesus would put it, where the salt lost its flavor. Instead, through our words and actions we’re supposed to model alternative ways of living – and Jesus’ teaching in our Gospel reading today (and also next week) gives us some sense of how God is calling us to be in community.

While anger may not lead to murder in our personal relationships, anger can lead to killing when governments set policies – and indeed governments often whip up anger to gain support for their policies  .  Anger can convince us that some lives are more valuable than others, that, for example, children born in some countries are worth saving while children born in other countries aren’t. In Germany, anger at Jews, gypsies and gays led to the death of millions. During World War II in our country, fear and anger at the Japanese led to the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent in our country. This congregation likely encountered anti-German suspicion and anger during World War I and II.   Our church history notes that English worship services were introduced right after World War I, and German services were ended during World War II – and I suspect both these changes were motivated, at least in part, by a desire to fit in as loyal Americans during periods when anti-German feelings were running high.  During the Cold War, fear and anger directed at political dissidents and at gays caused people to go to jail, destroyed careers, led some to commit suicide. And so, when our government tells us it’s ok to be angry at this or that group or to hate this or that group, we need to be very careful.  We need to guard against being manipulated.  Above all, we need to ask the WWJD question – what would Jesus do?

“Be reconciled”, Jesus said.   As we approach Valentine’s Day, may we live in love – not only the kind that causes us to buy cards and candy, but real caring for one another and for neighbor.  May our neighbors say, as the Romans said of the early Christians, “See how these Christians love one another.”  Truly, may they know we are Christians by our love.  Amen.