Feb. 16 Mt. 5:21-37
In many ways,the entire wisdom tradition of Scripture as a long set of commentary on our verses from Deuteronomy, this stark choice between the way of life and the culture of death.I keep wondering if anyone is capable of living this way, of coming at life from these angles. No matter how much analysis or therapy we handle, no matter how much spiritual direction, my sense is that our intentions are a thick mixture of mixed motive and intentions.The new movie the Past gives us a good example of how what we do is interpreted differently by others and may well be hidden from ourselves. Jesus points to the way of life of God as a compelling commentary on the 10 Commandments. In this section of the sermon on the mount Jesus goes directly to the core of Christian ethics. Yes, of course, he uses the 10 commandments as a touchstone for human ethics, but only to move well past them to the very root of human sin. He uses them as a baseline, not a standard to seek.After all, most legal system have similar basic calls for respecting human life and interaction.
OK, many people have followed their marriage vow and remain faithful to their spouse, but for males, as Jimmy Carter, reminded us years ago in a Playboy interview of all places, we are not to look at a woman with lustful eyes. Is it me or would that require not turning on the television or looking at advertisements? Are we moved to go the way of Islamic radicals and have women covered due to the incapacity of men to think past their groins? Jesus knows that most folks have not committed homicide, but goes much further as he isolates its root in rage. He then goes into more detail.Incitements of offense such as calling a name, insulting someone are in the forbidden zone.So Jesus locates evil in the human heart, in attitude that leads to action, much as the command against coveting. In schools, we emphasize behavior, or what seem to be called poor choices. Jesus knew better, as behavior emerges beneath choice often, beneath the rational, into the abode of impulses and desires. Second, he realizes that small acts escalate, or they reveal that same hateful motives that lead to the large sins of the 10 commandments. in his way Jesus is following the rabbinic tradition of putting a fence around the Torah. Anyone who could live like this has no concern about the 10 commandments.Let’s drop down a bit. All of a sudden we are more in line with behavior than inner workings of the human nature.the Quakers are a tradition that does not dare swear an oath by this passage, so the Constitution even explicitly allows them to avoid a religious test for office by making an affirmation, an affirmation of being truthful. If I am following the logic here correctly, Jesus is concerned with a capacity for truth-telling. .Why has this one been so ignored? Our own Westminster material has a section devoted to the taking of oaths.
When Jesus examines the commandments he sees the path of life as point to us never treating anyone as less than a valued person made in the image of God. When someone is seen as a mere thing, as a pawn in some scheme, we move to the path of death, then we think and act in ways opposed to the path of life, life enriching, life enhancing ways of being human beings.
I close with a prayerful hope. For a week, may we resemble the Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount as well as being the First Presbyterian Church of Alton, Illinois.
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