Separation
MATTHEW 5:21-25
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlines what life in his community will look like. He takes the Torah, the outline for life within Israel, and radically moves beneath and behind it to get to the crux--it is all about love--the radical love that defines God--a love that is completely self-emptying and other-centered.
Nowhere does this truth become more clear than in this section of the sermon. Real sin is nothing more and nothing less than being divided from someone else.
Nothing could be more relevant to our time and place. This morning, my news feed contained these stories--
Folks at Cal-Berkley refuse to go the American South because they assume they
already know the depth and breadth of the ignorance and bigotry of everyone who
lives there
Liberalism now embraces the negativism of the Right as a key strategy--i.e., there will
be NO dialog, compromise, or outreach to anyone on the other side
Subscriptions to the New York Times were cancelled en masse because they hired a
conservative columnist who will write opinions that do not mesh with those of the
usual readership--i.e., we really won't listen to anyone who disagrees with us
New surveys of those who voted for the President reveal a refusal to see anything
other than success in the first 100 days of the term
Hate crimes continue to rise across the country
In other words, a lot of us have, "You fool!" on our lips a lot of the time. We are painfully separated from each other over ANYTHING that marks a difference between us.
We tend to narrowly define sin as something moralistic--a wrong word or action--some word or deed that is immoral. Jesus, though, almost always defines sin much more broadly--sin is anything that separates us from someone else or from God. And almost always, that which separates us from someone else probably separates us from God; and something that separates us from God probably separates us from someone else.
So, opinions can become sinful. Actions that in some contexts are just fine become sinful when they separate us from someone else. The key is not a pre-definition of what is sinful, but rather noting the consequences of what we say or do before we say or do them.
Jesus asks us to consider love as the first and foremost. What will allow compassion to grow? Will saying something hurt or help? It may be the truth, but if it is going to hurt someone, we need to find a way to speak it so it can be heard and accepted. We need to to spend time with someone before we utter a sweeping judgment on who or what they are.
Within the community of Jesus, we have to wrestle with the fact that Jesus intentionally built his inner circle of people who probably had little or nothing in common, and even felt outright hostility toward one another (Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector), yet miraculously created a communion where everyone had a place at the table and actually and deeply loved one another.
We begin by confessing how we are divided. We admit how we allow distinctions and differences become existential barriers that prohibit any mixing and mingling. We admit how easily we pick and choose, and make belonging a matter of meeting preset standards, moral codes, or attributes, completely blinding ourselves to the reality that every human being is a beloved child of God--every human being.
That needs to be our base from which to live and love.
Then maybe there can be peace.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus outlines what life in his community will look like. He takes the Torah, the outline for life within Israel, and radically moves beneath and behind it to get to the crux--it is all about love--the radical love that defines God--a love that is completely self-emptying and other-centered.
Nowhere does this truth become more clear than in this section of the sermon. Real sin is nothing more and nothing less than being divided from someone else.
Nothing could be more relevant to our time and place. This morning, my news feed contained these stories--
Folks at Cal-Berkley refuse to go the American South because they assume they
already know the depth and breadth of the ignorance and bigotry of everyone who
lives there
Liberalism now embraces the negativism of the Right as a key strategy--i.e., there will
be NO dialog, compromise, or outreach to anyone on the other side
Subscriptions to the New York Times were cancelled en masse because they hired a
conservative columnist who will write opinions that do not mesh with those of the
usual readership--i.e., we really won't listen to anyone who disagrees with us
New surveys of those who voted for the President reveal a refusal to see anything
other than success in the first 100 days of the term
Hate crimes continue to rise across the country
In other words, a lot of us have, "You fool!" on our lips a lot of the time. We are painfully separated from each other over ANYTHING that marks a difference between us.
We tend to narrowly define sin as something moralistic--a wrong word or action--some word or deed that is immoral. Jesus, though, almost always defines sin much more broadly--sin is anything that separates us from someone else or from God. And almost always, that which separates us from someone else probably separates us from God; and something that separates us from God probably separates us from someone else.
So, opinions can become sinful. Actions that in some contexts are just fine become sinful when they separate us from someone else. The key is not a pre-definition of what is sinful, but rather noting the consequences of what we say or do before we say or do them.
Jesus asks us to consider love as the first and foremost. What will allow compassion to grow? Will saying something hurt or help? It may be the truth, but if it is going to hurt someone, we need to find a way to speak it so it can be heard and accepted. We need to to spend time with someone before we utter a sweeping judgment on who or what they are.
Within the community of Jesus, we have to wrestle with the fact that Jesus intentionally built his inner circle of people who probably had little or nothing in common, and even felt outright hostility toward one another (Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector), yet miraculously created a communion where everyone had a place at the table and actually and deeply loved one another.
We begin by confessing how we are divided. We admit how we allow distinctions and differences become existential barriers that prohibit any mixing and mingling. We admit how easily we pick and choose, and make belonging a matter of meeting preset standards, moral codes, or attributes, completely blinding ourselves to the reality that every human being is a beloved child of God--every human being.
That needs to be our base from which to live and love.
Then maybe there can be peace.
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