Year A
Matthew 5:21-37
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
Christians Under Construction
People print all sorts of things on T-shirts, from advertisements to obscenities to affirmations of faith. A T-shit I saw once had the words, “Christian Under Construction” printed on it. We can all appreciate what he meant by that. We can talk about the difference faith in Christ is supposed to make in our lives and about how it is supposed to work. We can even hear and read samples of the new life in Christ that we and others have experienced, but, let’s face it most of us know that we are not yet what God wants us to be. At our best, we are Christians under construction. And that is all right. That is the way it is supposed to be.
Our life in Christ doesn’t happen all at once which is good to know. It takes a lifetime. We are always in the process of becoming what God wants to make us and because of that it is important that we participate in that process very intentionally and joyfully. Last Sunday, in our Daughters of the King study, we talked about the importance of having a Rule of Life. A Rule of Life is a commitment to live your life in a particular way. It is intentionally participating in spiritual disciplines, like worship, study, and service that help us grow in holiness and help us to grow into the person God wants us to be. We literally shed the “old self” and allow our “new self” in Christ to be formed. Yet, for this to happen, we have to go beyond merely checking off the performance of written rules. There has to be a commitment to doing what is right.
Today, the thread that runs through all our texts is this emphasis on rules and ethics—the dos and don’ts of our lives; the shedding of the “old self” to become the “new self” in Christ. Now, there are rules, and there are rules and at first glance, in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, we might think Jesus appears to be instituting a get-tough policy when in truth he was attacking what might be called loophole theology. Some of the people were twisting the intent of the law for their own purposes, with no regard for others. They were going behind the commandments by doing everything short of the commandment itself. They were merely checking off the performance of written rules with no commitment to their motivations or interior life.
Remember the comic strip Peanuts and Charlie Brown? Charlie Brown helps to shed some light today on our subject of rules. Charlie Brown and his sidekick Peppermint Patty were seated under a tree when she asks with a sigh: “Do you know any good rules for living, Chuck?” Charlie Brown proceeds to give this advice: “Keep the ball low; don’t leave your crayons in the sun; use dental floss every day; don’t spill the shoe polish. Always knock before entering; don’t let the ants get in the sugar; always get your first serve in.” Mystified, Patty asks: “Will those rules give me a better life, Chuck?” Well yes, the rules we live by ought to give us a better life, this is what Jesus is trying to convey as he expands some of the commandments of the Torah.
Jesus takes the commands of the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai and contrasts them with a renewed way of looking at these laws, a new interpretation of the law to Jewish folks who had lived their whole lives under the law. He begins the statements with “You have heard that it was said” and he concludes, with, “but I say to you”; thus, presenting the true intent of the law or the original intent of the commandments through the lens of his life and message to bring new life. His coming into the world should be an Epiphany that moves people beyond mere observance of the law, because, following the will of God as revealed by Jesus is more complicated than simply observing or checking off a list of rules.
This new renewed way of understanding the law goes deep into the roots of our personalities to produce a different pattern of behavior altogether; to produce an understanding of the law that will bring health and wholeness among God’s people. St. Augustine of Hippo early church father, stated in his book, “Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount,” that as we consider the sermon, I think that he will find it, so far as regards the highest morals, a perfect standard of the Christian life. It’s a standard of new self that looks at the choices we make and the motivations for our actions in a new way. This can only happen when we intentionally are growing in the Lord. This change calls for a new claim on our lives one of love and honesty so that we hold up our inner motivations, desires, and priorities to this new standard of which Jesus gave to his followers.
When we reflect on the Ten Commandments we discover that God is offering in them a vision of what the best of humanity can attain. The priority is clear: right relationship with God depends upon having a right relationship with our neighbor. And when we boil it all down, what Jesus is saying is that we can never separate the moral and ethical decisions we make from our spiritual life. If we try to do that, it can separate us from God and cause us to fall into hypocrisy, sinfulness. But, how difficult all this is and we all fail. We are all Christians under construction who have to keep on working at doing what is right.
And truthfully, Jesus’ words today set an ideal standard that none of us can meet. We live in a broken world. While we strive for Jesus’ ideal sooner or later each of us must inevitably say, “Lord, I am guilty, who can be saved? And Jesus would say to us what he said to his first disciples: “With humankind it is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” and “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” or “I forgive you, neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Coming to this altar each week, asking for forgiveness and offering one’s gift, is not a bad place to start anew. Jesus invited all sorts and conditions of people to his table and it served to encourage those at the table to begin life again, committed to living faithfully and in harmony with each other. At the altar, we remember once again that in God’s kingdom there is forgiveness and reconciliation of which we are reminded of in these Sunday’s after the Epiphany. We are reminded that Jesus reveals God. He reveals God’s true nature and intent for us. Our job as disciples of Jesus is to continue to listen for and to follow him.
We are being asked as Christians to have a righteousness that exceeds that of those around us. Paul told the church in Corinth that they had missed the boat with all their quarreling and fussiness. He told them to remember they were God’s servants, working together with a common purpose. A common purpose of supporting one another, praying for one another, helping each other and others to live out this new law that Jesus gives us. God’s love can go to the deepest part of our souls, transforming even our most basic emotions so that we aren’t just checking off the rules. Jesus wants us to be good both on the inside and the outside. Then we can bear good fruit. Then we can be salt and light. Then we can build our faith on love. And by God’s grace, because we are Christians under construction, get up and try again and again to live into the vision God has for us and for all creation.