A sermon preached at Kowloon Union
Church on Sunday 16 February 2020, Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, by the Rev. Dr. Judy Chan. The
scripture readings that day were Matthew 5:21-48.
Good morning.
Last year, I was at a meeting of KUC’s
Worship Advisory Group, or WAG as we call ourselves. We were brainstorming
ideas. One suggestion I believe came from Hope. She said, “I’d like to hear a
sermon series on the difficult sayings of Jesus.” Now, we usually follow the
lectionary readings like many churches around the world, so we were thinking
how to fit this in, maybe a summer series. It seems though we dropped the idea
for the moment. Maybe too many difficult sayings to choose from, maybe it would
mess up the preaching calendar if the same bible reading came up later in the
lectionary.
Today, however, this morning’s Gospel
lesson would be a prime candidate for a series of sermons on the difficult
sayings of Jesus, all in one passage. We could spend a whole month on it or at
least a series of weekly bible studies. But you only get one sermon on it -
today - because Transfiguration Sunday is next week and we enter the season of
Lent after that. So, I will try to do justice to this challenging passage from
the Sermon on the Mount without overwhelming you with too much
information. I won’t have time to go
into detail though of every verse or you’re going to have a one-hour sermon.
Actually, there’s nothing wrong with a one-hour sermon if you are a good
Baptist preacher. But I’m a Presbyterian and we were trained to preach for 20
minutes. And then sit down. So, let’s see what we can do in 20 minutes this
morning. And then I will sit down.
These difficult sayings of Jesus
concern the following topics: murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation and
loving your enemy. If this seems a bit like curriculum overload, remember what
happened In Matthew before this. In
Matthew Chapter 4, we saw Jesus ministering to huge crowds throughout Galilee.
He was preaching good news and healing many, many people who were brought to
him with every kind of sickness and disease. Then in the Beatitudes at the
beginning of Chapter 5 he proclaims blessings upon those suffering in this
life. He promises that they are not forgotten by God. Jesus thus ministers to
their bodies and spirits before asking anything from them. He offers hope and
encouragement before demanding ‘something more’. As one minister put it, grace
comes before task.
That said, if we take Jesus’ teachings
in today’s Gospel reading seriously, we’re going to need all the grace we can
get. Because that ‘something more’ is nothing less than showing the world what
total obedience to God requires. As we heard last week from Pastor Maggie, we
have to be salt in a world that’s lost its taste for righteousness. We have to
be light to a world that has no idea how to give glory to their Creator.
So just how do we do that?
Obviously, it takes more than just
following the rules down to the letter. The scribes and Pharisees were already
doing that better than anyone. But Jesus warned unless our righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will never enter the Kingdom of
heaven.
We might be thinking, it shouldn’t be
that hard to surpass the scribes and Pharisees. They were a bunch of
self-righteous hypocrites anyway, right? But if we had been right there at the
Sermon of the Mount, we would’ve been shocked at Jesus’ words. Remember his
followers were for the most part just grassroots people. They looked up to the
scribes and Pharisees as religious experts. Scribes were experts in preserving
the Jewish law, Pharisees experts at putting it into practice. If the experts
were getting it wrong, how do we get it right?
Let me give you some examples, says
Jesus.
1. You’ve heard it said, “Do not murder.” I tell
you, don’t even be angry. Don’t call your brother or sister an idiot or yell
that someone is stupid. Hostile feelings and cruel words can also kill.
2.
You’ve heard it said, “Don’t commit adultery.” I tell you, if you’ve even got
the desire to go to bed with someone who’s not your spouse, that’s the same as
doing it. Get rid of anything that even tempts you to be unfaithful.
3.
You’ve have heard it said, “Don’t swear to tell the truth and then lie.” I tell
you don’t make an oath necessary in the first place – always tell the truth so
help you God.
4.
You’ve heard it said, “Revenge is OK as long as the punishment fits the crime.”
I tell you don’t retaliate at all. Find a better way to get justice.
5.
You’ve heard it said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” I tell you,
love even your worst enemy. Pray for those who persecute you. That’s what
children of my Heavenly Father do. They are perfect, just as God is perfect.
Wow. Is Jesus serious? If the Old
Testament law and prophets weren’t hard enough, why is Jesus making them even
harder? Isn’t he the one who said, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you rest?”
I pondered this Scripture passage for a
long time, trying to make sense of it. And then it came to me. Jesus is a Master
Teacher, just like the sages of old. A master teacher never presents students
with the least they can do to pass, right? Good teachers start with where they
want you to be when you’re finished. They show you what’s required to get an
A+, if you really want to shoot for the stars. And really great teachers just
don’t talk about what you have to do to get that A+. They demonstrate it in
their own lives.
So that’s exactly what Jesus is doing
here – 1) he’s telling his followers how to get a genuine A+ in holiness and 2)
he’s going to show them how to do it by his own life. A Master Teacher indeed
but there’s even more. For you know, many of the sayings in the Sermon on the
Mount can be found in similar form in other ancient literature. But they become
Holy Scripture here because it’s Jesus who is speaking, not someone else. For
you see, nobody, nobody had the authority to add ‘something more’ to the law
and prophets except Jesus. And nobody, nobody had the right to ask his
followers to obey that “something more” except Jesus. Because Jesus is the Son
of God, and the Son of God lived and died by those teachings all the way to the
Cross. For your salvation and mine.
So, friends, a life truly pleasing to
God requires way more than just ticking all the right boxes – even if those
boxes are all good things. You and I are children of the living God! A God who
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes
in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. If you and I believe in Him,
we are capable of so much more than a C- in holiness.
Let me share a story from the Desert
Fathers to illustrate. Abbot Lot came to visit old Abbot Joseph to seek his
counsel. “Father,” said Abbot Lot. “According as I am able, I keep my little
rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation, and contemplative silence; and
according as I am able, I strive to purify my thoughts. Now, what more should I
do?” Whereupon Abbot Joseph stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven.
His fingers became like ten lamps of fire, as he said to him, “Why not become
all flame?”
Why not? Why not? That’s what Jesus is
asking you and me. Don’t settle for a C- when you could have an A+. But we
tremble in our boots when we hear his words. We are afraid. We’re afraid it
requires too much, we’re afraid we’re going to fail. If we can just pass with a
C-, it’s good enough. We never pretended to be a saint. Let someone else knock
themselves out for that A+, and we’ll admire them from afar.
But, you know, Jesus never made two
categories of people – saints and the rest of us. Even if some churches
recognize a few extraordinary Christians as models of virtue, the reality is
we’re all held to the same standard of conduct as children of our Heavenly
Father. We may be far from perfect at the moment (I know I am), but that
doesn’t change what perfection is in God’s eyes or God’s desire that this be
our goal.
N.T. scholar Dale Allison said: Would a
mother not bother teaching her children to be generous simply because she knows
they’re going to be selfish anyway? We know from experience that a standard
must be upheld even when failure is almost certain. The ideal is necessary. It
may not raise humanity to the heights, but it can lift us up from the depths.
And we might just surprise ourselves what is humanly possible with divine
guidance and the power of the Holy Spirit.
O.T. scholar Jack Lundbom compares
Jesus to a doctor who tells you to do something you think you can’t do. He
tells the story of being in this situation years ago when he had both hips
replaced. After the first surgery, on the same day, the doctor came into his
room. “I want you to get out of bed and stand on your feet.” Lundbom said, “I
can’t possibly do that”. However, the doctor and the nurse provided help. And with
effort he did stand briefly on his two feet. During the next few days he had to
walk to the door of his room, then a short distance down the hospital corridor,
and later he had to do therapy exercises in rehabilitation. He says, “I
remember wishing on some days that the nurses and therapists would forget to
come and leave me in my bed. Many times, I thought I could not do what was
being asked. But with effort, and with help from the therapist, I did do it. In
each case it was a ‘stretch’. But that is how I regained my health, was able to
walk again, and became the whole person I so much wanted to be.”
Lundbom remembered two very elderly
women in the therapy room who were also in rehab. One had to be 90 years old or
more. She cried at her therapist, "I can't do it." Lundbom felt so
sorry for her. The therapist was a compassionate man but someone who in earlier
days had trained Olympic gymnasts. The therapist remained firm, saying:
"If you don’t try, you will never walk again." The woman dried her
tears and with effort took a few steps. As the days went on, she progressed to
the point she too was able to walk out of that hospital.
Lundbom says the Sermon on the Mount is
meant to stretch us spiritually. Jesus asks us to do more than we think we can
do, but nothing he asks is impossible. As a Master Teacher and the Great
Physician, Jesus knew his disciples must aim for higher than a C-. Otherwise,
we are never going to enter the Kingdom
of heaven.
He knew if we didn’t reach for the stars, we’d remain earthbound forever.
Needless to say, however, living up to
the Sermon on the Mount in real time is hard. And we will make mistakes and
have setbacks along the way. But thanks be to God we have a Savior who will not
give up on us. Who forgives us when we fail, who gives us courage to start
anew, each and every time. But we do have to try. Because if we don’t try,
we’ll never become the healthy, complete and mature followers of Jesus Christ
we so much want to be. For truly, we are not only asked to do ‘something
more’ for Him. We’re asked to be ‘something more’ through Him who shows
us what it is to be truly holy, to be perfect in the eyes of God.
So, to recap:
1.
You’ve heard it said, “Do not murder.” I tell you, don’t even be angry.
Hostile feelings and cruel words can also kill.
2. You’ve heard it said, “Don’t commit
adultery.” I tell you, if you’ve even got the desire, that’s the same as doing
it. Get rid of anything that even tempts you to be unfaithful.
3. You’ve have heard it said, “Don’t
swear to tell the truth and then lie.” I tell you: always tell the truth so
help you God.
4. You’ve heard it said, “Revenge is OK
as long as the punishment fits the crime.” I tell you don’t retaliate. Find a
better way to get justice.
5. You’ve heard it said, “Love your
neighbor and hate your enemy.” I tell you, love even your worst enemy. Pray for
those who persecute you.
Because that is what children of my
Heavenly Father do.
