Matthew 5:21-37
“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. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”
It’s easy to read this long passage as confirmation that God is incredibly demanding. Jesus, it would seem from this point of view, takes laws that are already quite difficult and only intensifies them.
But I wonder. Notice how each of these commandments isn’t remotely abstract but instead is intensely relational. Jesus, I think, doesn’t just heighten the force of the law, he broadens it:
- It’s not enough just to refrain from murder. We should also treat each other with respect and that means not speaking hateful words.
- It is not enough to avoid physically committing adultery. We should also not objectify other persons by seeing them as a means to satisfy our physical desires by lusting after them.
- It is not enough to follow the letter of the law regarding divorce. We should not treat people as disposable and should make sure that the most vulnerable – in this culture that was often women and children – are provided for.
- It is not enough to keep ourselves from swearing falsely or lying to others. We should speak and act truthfully in all of our dealings so that we don’t need to make oaths at all.
Do you see what I mean? All the hyperbole of cutting off body parts and burning in hell ultimately serve to magnify just how important our relationships are to God, how much God wants us to treat each other well, how invested God is in our lives and, therefore, in our relationships. The point of the law, then, isn’t to satisfy the demands of a capricious tyrant but rather to reveal the intentions of a loving parent who desires that all God’s children flourish.
Prayer: Dear God, you have given us the law as a gift so that we may get the very most of life. Equip and empower us to use your law to care for one another. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jesus does bring a new relational perspective to the law (of God given to Moses). Jesus is teaching this especially to his disciples (5:1-2). So when he speaks in 5:22 of not calling a brother (or sister) a fool, he is dealing with a family matter; in 12:49-50 he will identify his disciples as his brothers and sisters. Thus he is changing the context of this law (given to the kingdom of Israel) to that of his new kingdom of disciples, his new family. And he is giving not only a new perspective on the former law; he is giving a new law, which sometimes heightens or broadens, and sometimes deepens and narrows–focusing on this new kingdom family.
I wonder how many matters there have been in the history of the church about which “we have heard it said” by tradition, custom and conventional wisdom (and prejudice, too) that Jesus revises and turns upside down by saying, “But I say to you.”?