January 5, 2008 - The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 5
General Comment: Chapters 5 - 7 is a single tapestry of
many colors. Were Matthew here looking over my shoulder he would be appalled at
this dissection of so grand a literary jewel. How can one follow
the intricate threading to see the whole of it by putting the pieces on
three separate walls? We cannot and I suggest the reader read them all in a
single sitting, and read them each day for three days. The Synagogue
schools of Jesus' time taught children their "letters" by
writing in a honey mixture on slate. "Taste how beautiful is the
Law," the teacher would say. Toward the end of the first Century, when the
Rabbinical Council was selecting and canonizing the books that would be
included in the Hebrew Bible, one of the criteria of selection was whether
the text was sweet to the taste. These three chapters are sweet to the
taste.
You will notice that I frequently use the term "reign
of God" to replace "Kingdom of God." Although they are
synonymous, Reign more appropriately describes the idea meant by Kingdom.
Kingdom is not a place, a territory, or a piece of real estate. It is the
spiritual environment in which God's people exist, already begun in Jesus'
ministry, and to be fully realized in God's future. Alternatively it can be
said, if God is reigning in our life, then the Kingdom has already come near.
As Luke quotes Paul in Acts 17:28, "...In [God] we live and move and
have our being."
These chapters contain Matthew's collection from
all of the sayings of Jesus relating to the fundamental qualities of those
who live and abide in the reign of God. In effect this is the new
"Law" and Jesus is the new Lawgiver, sitting down on the mountain,
surrounded by his disciples, and in the hearing of the crowds that now follow
him. The eight Beatitudes beginning with the parable in a single phrase, "Oh
the happiness of..;" one's responsibility to all humanity;
our relationship to the Law; our relationship with others; the three
pillars of early Christian piety including the "Lord's prayer, and other
significant teachings, ending the "holy trilogy" with an admonishment
that we be doers or the word and not hearers only. Read this collection. taste
it, savor it. Live it.
Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes
We will miss Jesus' point were we to think that such
human situations and actions as written here make one's life "Happy"
in this life time. There is no blessedness in being poor, hungry, thirsty or
persecuted in the present. No, the happiness one has is derived from the
assurance of one's future. These are declarations of an inheritance to be
received in that expected future when the God's reign (Kingdom) is fully
realized in all the Earth. It is what John's Gospel refers to as our Heritage,
our share in the life of God. All of these declarations of blessedness are,
intentionally, in contradiction to the prevailing wisdom and values of the
world. In this world happiness, we say, belongs to the comfortable, the rich,
the powerful, the strong, the "rulers of this age" as Paul would put
it. But in God's idea of the world, the situations of the poor, mourners, meek,
hungry and thirsty, persecuted and reviled will one day be reversed. The
merciful, the pure at heart, and the peacemakers, already practicing
the values of that coming Heritage, will see a world in which God's
distributive justice, mercy, and compassion reign in every heart. Matthew
understands Jesus' well here, for this is not some heavenly throne or
mansions above or angelic, celestial existence of which he
writes. Rather it is the transformation of the world itself, the Isaiah vision,
which is the inheritance awaiting the blessed ones.
Matthew 5:13-16 Disciples are called to serve the world with
salt and Light
In the religion of the ancient Israelites, as in
Semitic cultures of our own time, salt was and is the symbol of the
covenant between God and God's people. In Leviticus we are told that no
offering is to be made without the "Salt of the Covenant" present on
the altar as a reminder of that sacred relationship. At times of table
fellowship, sharing of meals with family and others, salt would be present to
represent the earthly covenant one has with those who share in the
meal as well as with the God, who is, to misuse a Dickens's line, "The
author of the feast.". Here Jesus says that his disciples are to
be that salt of the covenant between God and the world. The disciple as
that salt is the reminder of the bond of mutual faithfulness which
exists between God and ourselves. "There is salt between us" the
Arab saying goes.
If salt reminds us that we are symbols of the covenant with
God and in so being we live a life fitting that symbolism, then being
the light of the world is a profound responsibility we gladly accept and
fulfill. As Isaiah has it, "I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the
prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness."
[Isaiah 42:6-9] As we represent the covenant, we are also called to share it.
We are to be "...doers of the word, and not hears only." Beyond that
Jesus tells us that being that light of the world involves the counterintuitive
idea of letting our good works shine before others, for in seeing our acts of
Christian love, mercy, justice and compassion, attention will not be drawn to
us but to the God we serve. Later Jesus will remind us that our good works
flow from a heart filled with God, and not from a desire for our own
recognition or glory.
Matthew 5;17-48 Disciples' and the Law (Torah)
We are reminded by this difficult series of passages that we
are not above the Law. Indeed as Jesus says in verse 20, being part of the
reign of God requires that our righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and
Pharisees, the authorities on Torah. It sounds like an impossibility but think
of it in the context of how each of these sections is introduced: "You
have heard that it was said...but I say to you." Jesus looks at the Law in
certain situations and says to us that the Scribes and Pharisees do such and
such exactly as the Law requires, no more and no less. What the Disciple is called
to do is to go beyond the Law, to do more than the Law requires. Jesus affirms
the Law and then radicalizes it. Concerning anger and apart from the humor in
the parody of verses 21-22, not only does one not murder another, one should
not be hostile, outwardly or in one's thoughts, toward another. Not only is an
act of adultery wrong, lustful thoughts about
another are already considered an act of adultery! Divorce itself has
within it the possibility of inviting adulterous relationships, even though the
Law allows divorce we are reminded of the sanctity of marriage and the need to
nurture and sustain that basic relationship; giving oaths regarding vows to
God are replaced by a simple and honest yes or no; the right to retaliate
when injured by another is replaced by acts of non resistance;
instead of hating enemies one should love one's enemies (agape - wanting
what is right and the best for the other) and pray for them. These are not
lofty ideals one can write on a plaque to place on the mantle. They are, for the
disciple, ways of relating to others after toward which we should earnestly
strive.
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This is a difficult chapter. The language seems so foreign
to us. Understandings of what constitutes happiness, our responsibility to the
world of humanity as models of covenant and good works, our upward call to go
beyond what is conventionally and minimally expected of us. It is what Jesus
means at the close of this chapter, "Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect." Not to take the edge off such a requirement,
we should understand that the Greek word used here (the entire New Testament
was written in Greek) is an abstract concept which, to be fulfilled, would
require that we withdraw from any involvement in the world for fear of being
stained by it. Quite the opposite, we are called to be in the world, even
in its fallenness, on behalf of God and others, to be a light to the
nations, to be the salt of the covenant in the world. We need to take the
meaning, not from the abstractly impossible Greek, but from the Hebrew word
Matthew translates into Greek, the word (transliterated) "tamim." The
meaning is expressed in the first of the 10 commandments, "You shall have
no other gods besides me," and the previously mentioned Shema, "Hear
oh Israel, the Lord. The Lord your God is one and you shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, soul and strength." In other words, being
perfect is to live a life in which we are singularly devoted to this one God in
our life, and to no other.
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